A delightful and surprising mystery that bodes well for further installments.
Teen sleuth Kat Dylan returns to solve another mystery in Wieland’s middle-grade novel.
Kat Dylan and her younger brother, Alec, live in Crabtree, Michigan, a town on Lake Michigan, with Nick Hawkins, who is their grandfather and the town’s police chief. The story begins with a text from Gabby, a classmate of Kat’s; though they don’t run in the same circles, Gabby wants to meet. One clandestine meeting leads to another (Gabby asks Kat some cryptic questions about police interrogations that have something to do with a boy she met), and, just like that, Kat, Alec, and Kat’s classmate, Tommy (who Kat calls her “not-boyfriend”) are on the case, determined to solve a mystery. This situation is more dangerous than the one they faced in the previous installment of the series: the trio soon finds Gabby’s dead body on the beach. Parallel narratives follow in which Kat and her friends mobilize to solve Gabby’s death while Grandpa Nick and his law enforcement officers try to do the same. The case expands to include the kidnapping of the son of a Chicago billionaire and a couple of trips to (and one wild foot chase in) Chicago as Kat and her confederates mostly stay one step ahead of everyone else. Kat is everything readers might want in a young hero: She’s whip-smart, loyal to her friends and brother, and has a wicked sense of humor (“Tom moved. Did he need a doctor? I wanted him healthy before I beat the crap out of him”). Alec, too, comes into his own as a character here; he’s fully Kat’s partner and much more than just her pesky younger sibling. Together, they lead a story boasting some surprising twists and turns and exciting, scary moments. As in the first book in the series, it’s clear that Kat and Tommy are destined to be together, and it appears there will be more time for that to happen in future series entries, which readers will eagerly await.
A delightful and surprising mystery that bodes well for further installments.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2023
ISBN: 97989875701326
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Smart Aleck Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart.
A group of bright friends tackles the puzzle of their lives.
Elmwood, New Hampshire, 11-year-old Gina Sparks is small in stature but big on reporting ongoing dramas for the local newspaper with support from her journalist mom. When an unbelievable scoop comes her way, Gina must rely on her tightknit crew of sixth grade best friends whose initials happen to spell GEEK, a label they choose to proudly reclaim. She and science-minded prankster Elena Hernández, theater kid Edgar Feingarten, and driven math genius Kevin Robinson decide to get to the bottom of things when they learn that the Van Houten Toy & Game Company heir made elaborate plans to leave everything to the town of Elmwood before her death—but only if a member of the community could solve an intricate multistep puzzle. Gina hopes that deciphering the clues and finding the missing fortune will be just the thing to revitalize the down-on-its-luck town and bring the Elmwood Tribune back into the black, saving her mom’s job and Gina’s passion project. The GEEKs work together, using their individual talents and deductive reasoning skills to unravel the mystery. Infused with media literacy pointers, such as the difference between fact and opinion and reminders to avoid bias when reporting, the story encourages readers to think critically. Gina and Edgar read as White; Elena is cued as Latinx, and Kevin is implied Black.
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37793-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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