HANNAH EDWARDS SECRETS OF RIVERWAY

In the small prairie town of Riverway, sixth grader Hannah is troubled: Her beloved farmer dad, dubbed the Canola King, has been missing for four months.

Pushy uncle Fergus keeps coming over, giving unsolicited advice and cooking subpar meals. When Hannah’s best friend, Sam, claims to have seen a ghost that looked like her missing father, Hannah at first dismisses it—“My dad cannot be a ghost because he is alive.” She decides to investigate, recording her progress with the case in the grief journal her concerned mom gave her to help her cope. But Hannah discovers it’s hard to find clues when the trail has gone cold, especially with an invasive, cloyingly sweet school counselor getting into her business. Debut author Hards’ story is told through Hannah’s first-person narration, which tells more than it shows. The writing often fails to convey the depth of emotion a missing parent would be expected to evoke. One chapter is written in rhyming couplets that scan awkwardly and are organized into paragraphs of text: “Click! That’s the sound Tim’s key made as it slid into Ms. Grant’s door. Tim (previously known as Tim the Timid) was the Hall Monitor of lore!” Although she’s not given an explicit label, Hannah struggles with paying attention in class and is cued as neurodivergent; by the end of the book, she’s being evaluated and given support and validation. Hannah and her family present white; Sam is of Filipino descent.

Passable.