THE STOLEN SLIPPER

Mystery solvers Kara and Zed help crack the Cinderella case in the second Once Upon a Fairy Tale chapter book.

Handsome, dashing Prince Patrick and his cute puppy, Duncan, stop in at Kara’s family shoe shop because the glass slipper left behind by the mysterious woman who captured his heart at a ball—his only clue to finding her—has been stolen from his library, and he’s looking for leads on who made it. As it was fairy godmother–made, Kara’s parents can’t help, but Kara offers her sleuthing services, together with her best friend, Zed. When the offer is quickly rejected (after Patrick consults his adviser), Kara decides they’ll solve the mystery anyway. While the villain (and motive) behind the crime is revealed early, setting a trap for and catching said villain is only half of the puzzle. The other half is finding the shoe so that Cinderella’s story can proceed on schedule. The mystery is well-structured for its age group, with all of the pieces (including red herrings) laid out early and then spotlighted at crucial moments, enabling readers to solve right alongside the racially diverse heroes—in the black-and-white illustrations, Kara and Cinderella are pale while Patrick and Zed have dark skin. The art’s expressiveness buttresses the characterization and highlights key amusing animal moments (a welcome carryover from series opener The Magic Mirror, 2019).

Young readers will be enchanted.