BENNY ON THE CASE

In western Newfoundland, two 11-year-olds must catch a thief before the permanent closure of a retirement community—and Benny’s own home.

Benny, a white-presenting boy with Down syndrome, lives in Starflower by the Sea, the retirement home his mum runs. Benny’s mosaic Down syndrome is entirely asymptomatic except for some physical differences; he’s never had any health, speech, or cognitive disabilities. Nonetheless, he’s been in special ed classes since he started school—until enough people recognized his above-average grades. Now, both thrilled and terrified, he’s about to begin his first day ever in a mainstream classroom. Benny just needs to make some friends…among kids who’ve ignored or bullied him since he was tiny. Amazingly, the new girl, brown-skinned Salma from Seattle, seems to actually like him. Salma, whose mother is from Newfoundland and implied white and whose father is from Tunisia, is a true-crime aficionado, and she’s invaluable when Benny starts investigating the inexplicable thefts plaguing the retirement home. Though the story drags at first, with extensive scene setting, once the pace picks up, the increasingly high-stakes mystery is gripping. As Benny and Salma rush to find a criminal who might leave the much-beloved seniors of Starflower homeless, they still have time to learn myriad moral lessons as they confront bigotry, bullying, and fighting.

Young sleuths become best friends as they defeat scoundrels and save seniors in this page-turning mystery.