By Piranha T.

When seventh grader Nora Tucker’s school announces this year’s summer homework—a contribution to a town-wide time capsule—she doubts anything worth writing about will happen. Wolf Creek may be home to a secure correctional facility, but the most interesting things which happen are cookouts and carnivals.

But when two prisoners break out of the Wolf Creek Correctional Facility, Nora’s life becomes much more tense. Suddenly, her mom doesn’t let her go outside, police are pouring into town, and her little brother has her check for inmates under his bed.

She also meets Elidee Jones, an African American girl from New York City whose brother is in the prison. And as the search continues and tension runs higher, Nora begins to realize that no matter how welcoming Wolf Creek believes itself to be, it’s still prejudiced—both inside the correctional facility and out.

Breakout was an unusual book which confronted issues of criminal justice and racial prejudice in a way which felt completely natural and was very well done. Kate Messner narrated it in a series of documents submitted by Nora to the time capsule project, mainly by Nora, her best friend Lizzie, and Elidee. This gave the book an unusual feel and depth, and uniqueness, too—there are few books effectively told completely in documents! But instead of becoming dry, it was a really engaging format.

​This book was recommended to me, and if it hadn’t been, I don’t know if I would have read it; however, I’m glad it was. Breakout was an interesting book which covered a lot of issues which I don’t often see in middle-grade books. For anyone who remotely likes realistic fiction, this is a book which is good to read. I would highly recommend Breakout to readers ages ten and up.

By Super Kitty

Ten-year-old Leroy Brown, nicknamed “Encyclopedia” because of his incredible memory, is known throughout town for his amazing gift at solving puzzles. With the help of his friend Sally Kimball, he runs a business solving mysteries for neighborhood kids (25 cents per day, plus expenses). And his father, the local police chief, always knows what to do if he’s stumped on a case—go home to dinner and tell Encyclopedia all about it. In ten solve-it-yourself-style short stories, Encyclopedia and Sally discover clues, track down crooks, and take on everything from local shoplifting to a missing diamond necklace.  

I started reading the Encyclopedia Brown books when I was in second grade, and I still find them utterly brilliant. They’re all but impossible to grow out of, and in fact older readers (from middle-schoolers to adults) with more general knowledge might enjoy them more than younger ones—often all that you need to solve a case is a bit of random knowledge and a skill for noticing details! Encyclopedia and Sally are great protagonists, and various quirky supporting characters keep the mysteries constantly entertaining. Whether he’s outwitting the neighborhood bully or helping his father unravel a perplexing new case, Encyclopedia’s adventures are perfect reading material for mystery lovers ages seven and up. And if you enjoy reading about kid detectives, be sure to check out the Meg Mackintosh mysteries (another solve-it-yourself series) by Lucinda Landon, James Ponti’s T.O.A.S.T. series, and Linda Fairstein’s Devlin Quick Mysteries!

By Piranha T.

Nathaniel is apprenticed to one of the magicians who forms part of London’s government. Although he isn’t entirely content, he’s happy enough to stay that way. But things change when one of the most skilled magicians in London, Simon Lovelace, humiliates him. Keen on revenge, Nathaniel learns spells necessary to get him back—and summons a five-thousand-year-old djinn called Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus isn’t particularly pleased at being summoned by an eleven-year-old boy, but he’s forced to do Nathaniel’s bidding. He’s sent to steal one of Simon Lovelace’s most prized possessions—the Amulet of Samarkand, which authorities have been searching for for years. Nathaniel’s plan is to use it to show the public what Lovelace is really like—but instead, it pulls him and Bartimaeus into a tangle of complex politics, the rebellion known as the Resistance, and the plans of Lovelace—which may be much more ominous than either of them realize.
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The Amulet of Samarkand was an engrossing read, with lots of complicated plot twists so it read like a mystery. Although it alternates between Bartimaeus and Nathaniel, it isn’t confusing. Nathaniel’s narration has more of an upper-class tone, while Bartimaeus has five thousand years of experience and an extremely snarky narrative, which makes the book even better—and much more amusing. I would highly recommend The Amulet of Samarkand to readers ages ten and up, but older readers would enjoy it as well!

By Piranha T.

When Candice Miller moves into her grandmother’s old house in Lambert, South Carolina, she doesn’t expect to find a mystery in the attic. But she finds an old, dusty box there—an old box that’s labeled for her. And in the bottom of it, she discovers a letter, the beginning of a mystery which will bring her all over the city of Lambert. It explains a mystery from the 1950s, the disappearance of an African-American family, and the injustice that was done to them all those years ago.

But solving the mystery isn’t as simple as it sounds. It doesn’t take Candice long to realize that this letter is at the root of her grandmother’s disgrace in Lambert a decade earlier. So instead of telling her mother, she keeps it a secret from everyone but her new friend Brandon. Together, they navigate hidden puzzles, uncovering the past of Lambert, the man who wrote the letter in the first place, and the family who the letter is about. But to Candice, it’s more than just a puzzle. It’s about clearing her grandmother’s name, and living the future she wants to.

The Parker Inheritance was a fun, incredible book which had me thinking at many points how awesome the puzzles were. Candice and Brandon are clever characters who manage to think of things I can’t be sure I would have myself, and both are bookworms, mentioning lots of my favorite stories! Intertwined with the story are ‘flashback’ chapters, relating the life of the family mentioned in the letter and the events leading up to what made them leave.

This book went deeper, though, because it wasn’t just about the mystery and the past. It was also about segregation in the south, social justice, and persecution. Almost all the characters were African-American, often still dealing with similar issues to those related in the flashbacks from sixty years before. These messages weren’t as obvious as they are in other books we’ve reviewed, or in many historical fiction novels. But they were also just as powerful, because it made you think how it’s set in the present day. The Parker Inheritance is completely fictional, but all it tells feels real. It’s not the main course of the story—that’s about Brandon and Candice, and the letter in the attic. But it’s still a major part of the plot, something which leaves you thinking even after you’ve turned the last page.
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I would highly recommend The Parker Inheritance to kids ages ten and up.

By Super Kitty
 
“The Combination,” he muttered, “is a criminal organization. It’s a multi-headed serpent—a hydra, if you will—with an almost preternatural ability to remain invisible. Some might call it supernatural. You may see signs—the effects of their operations—but never the organization itself… And those who manage to unravel the mystery and get to the truth, well, they’re called mad. But when you know the truth, and everyone else believes the lie, who’s crazy then? Huh?”
 
Madman. Genius. Fool. Thirteen-year-old Darkus Knightly has heard all sorts of opinions about his father, the mysterious private eye Alan Knightly, but he has yet to form his own, after his father went into a coma four years ago. Instead, he’s stuck with his mom (who divorced and re-married shortly before Alan went unconscious), his stepfather (who cares about cars and not much else), and his stepsister Tilly (who’s just…weird. Very weird.) He’d give anything to get his father back—but when he does, it’s not exactly the way he planned. Instead, Darkus is pulled into a complex web of clever deceptions, following a set of cryptic evidence which seem to bear no connection to each other, yet may be the key to unlocking an ancient mystery which some might consider supernatural, some might consider a hoax, and a few—a very few—might consider a perfect first case.
 
I always enjoy a well-done mystery, so when I found Knightly and Son, I couldn’t resist getting it—and I wasn’t disappointed. The plot was full of twists and escapes, the characters were vivid and very original, and I particularly liked the writing style, which had a classic ‘private eye feel’ while still creating a cast which feels perfectly believable. I would recommend it for ages ten and up (although it isn’t a murder mystery, there are a few elements of the story that are more in that vein)—while that age range of readers would be fine, it is somewhat darker than most of the other mysteries we’ve reviewed here (including Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls and Book Scavenger). However, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it to readers who enjoy puzzles, action, and brilliant detectives. 

P.S. This is the first in a series, which I have been thoroughly enjoying. You can find out more about them at www.knightleyandson.com. 

By Piranha T. 

When the headmistress of Saint Etheldrada's School for Young Ladies and her brother are mysteriously murdered during dinner, their students decide not to contact the police. Instead, they take matters into their own hands and keep the crime secret. They have complete freedom - but only so long as no one catches them. And that takes more work than any of them expected. 

Faking their way through visits from investigating policemen, disastrous social gatherings, and curious lawyers, they begin to realize that there's even more to worry about. For if the murderer falls for their charade and thinks their headmistress is still alive, nothing's stopping them from trying again. 

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place is a hilarious historical mystery set against the backdrop of Victorian England. It has a funny, distinct characters and a brilliant plotline for mystery lovers. I'd highly recommend The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place​ to readers ages ten and up. 

​By Piranha T.
 
Not many people remember how to see magic anymore. Many years ago, a hundred dragons appeared in Vienna, but now only forty remain. They’ve disappeared, but to where, no one knows.
 
Grisha is a dragon who no longer has a friend. Maggie, the daughter of a famous poet, has never truly had one. Their stories meet one night, and they form a fast friendship. But neither can ignore the mystery of the vanished dragons. Both want to somehow put it to right, but neither knows how.
 
Help comes in the most unlikely places. The Department of Extinct Exotics, which makes sure the dragons stay to the rules. A talking cat who both think is their enemy. But it’s Maggie and Grisha’s quest—and it is they who must brave the final price.
 
The Language of Spells is a beautiful, deep fantasy novel set in a real world which is easy to believe with sympathetic characters. The beginning was a bit slower and harder to get into, but once you do it’s an engrossing read. I think it would appeal to readers of Lisa Schroeder’s The Girl in the Tower. I’d highly recommend The Language of Spells to readers ages 8 and up.

By Piranha T.

Twelve-year-old Oona Crate has no great love of magic. Although she possesses the rare gift of Natural Magic, Oona has a different passion—solving mysteries. And it looks like she might just get her chance. But when the Wizard of Dark Street is stabbed with an otherworldly dagger, Oona must combine magic and logic to solve the mystery before the world falls into disaster.

​The Wizard of Dark Street was a fun, amusing, quick read. A brilliant mystery, pot and world, with funny characters and varied suspects. Although not a ‘solve-it-yourself’ mystery, Shawn Thomas Odyssey gives the reader plenty of chances to uncover the clues right along with Oona. I would highly recommend The Wizard of Dark Street to readers ages eight and up looking for an entertaining, engrossing mystery.

By Super Kitty

Abigail Hunter is an ordinary kid. Well, all right, not ordinary; she and her mom, Jennifer, have traveled around the globe together. Still, she feels abandoned when her mom suddenly ships her off to boarding school, saying she can’t spend the next year getting Abigail out of trouble (Abigail isn’t always quite as well behaved as she perhaps could be). But when she gets caught attempting and escape from her new school, Abigail finds there might be more to it than meets the eye. Before she knows it, she’s on a mission to save her mom—because it turns out that Jennifer Hunter isn’t all that ordinary either. And she might be in trouble. Determined to prove that she is a spy worthy of her mother, Abigail swiftly gets pulled into a conflict that gets more dangerous by the day, especially when the Ghost, a supervillain and her mom’s arch nemesis (yeah, it turns out her mother has an arch nemesis), takes notice of what Abigail is doing—and decides to stop it. In this brand-new, action-packed novel, Abigail must face her fears as she battles the criminals that are stronger—and closer—than anyone expected.

One thing I like about Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls is the characters. Abigail is realistic, and responds to various (less realistic, but still quite thrilling) situations accordingly. She, and the other characters too, have distinct personalities and emotions, and bond and clash accordingly. The plot is engaging, and several twists will keep you on the edge of your seat. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast-paced, funny, and generally fabulous read!
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Note: I would recommend Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls to fans of the Devlin Quick and TOAST mysteries, for although they were about kid detectives in a more realistic setting, and this is about, well, a secret spy center saving the world, they are reminiscent of each other in great characters, reading levels and interests, and generally entertaining writing styles.

​By Piranha T.
 
Twelve-year-old Emily Crane is irritated to be moving yet again. Ever since she was born, the Cranes had been moved to a new state every year—attempting to fulfill their dream of living in all fifty. However, she is excited to learn that they are moving to San Francisco, California, the home of Garrison Griswold, creator of her all-time favorite game, Book Scavenger. Book Scavenger sends players all over the country to find hidden books using cyphers, codes, and other puzzles. A new puzzle is about to be released—unknown to everyone but Mr. Griswold. But on the way to announce the game, he is attacked in a train station, and the next hour brings him to a hospital.
 
Emily and all the other members of Book Scavenger are worried about the game’s future. But when Emily discovers a book--The Gold-Bug by Eager Allen Poe—in the train station in which Mr. Griswold was attacked, she realizes it is the beginning of his new game. Soon she and her new friend, James, are running all over San Francisco, solving clues, cracking codes, and slowly but surely coming closer to the prize. But even though they have the only copy of The Gold-Bug, someone else is trying to reach the final prize—racing against their unknown competitors, as well as the enigmas they are solving, Emily and James try to find the end of the puzzle before someone else finds it first…
 
I liked Book Scavenger because it was a fun mystery/adventure story set in a real life setting with realistic characters but a fun plotline. The game ‘Book Scavenger’ reminds me of a cross between letterboxing and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. There are a lot of fun puzzles and cyphers, but there is also an evil character to make it harder for Emily and James to reach their final goal. It also had a well-wrapped up ending. There is one sequel out, and there will likely—hopefully!—be several more. I would highly recommend Book Scavenger to readers 10 and up, because there are no scary scenes, but a lot of puzzles, adventures, and—most of all—fun!

By Piranha T. and Super Kitty

Eleven-year-old Ada Byron is feeling bereft at the prospect of a tutor after her beloved governess gets married. After all, she’s a genius—what could he possibly teach her? She is not cheered, either, by the fact that a strange girl is coming to study with her: Mary Godwin, an intelligent and adventurous fourteen-year-old eager to make friends with Ada. And, despite a rocky start, friends they become. Soon, they have founded a detective agency and are on a case—gathering clues, developing suspects, making discoveries, and, in the process, getting into Newgate prison, riding an omnibus (roof!), and sailing high over London in a craft of their own making. One thing is for sure: nothing will get between these detectives and the apprehension of the criminals!

When I first picked up The Case of the Missing Moonstone, I thought it was going to be similar to other mysteries I had read. However, it was quite amusing, and the main characters (as well as some of the supporting cast) were based on real historical figures—the main characters were based on Ada Byron (daughter of Lord Byron) and Mary Shelly (author of Frankenstein). At the end, there is an author’s note which says which people were real, which was really interesting. And although the historical aspect was fascinating, it did not get in the way of the story. Even if you are not usually drawn to historical books (Piranha T. is typically not), it is still a really cool story in and of itself. It would probably be best for ages 8+. It is the first in The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series, and there are currently two sequels out. If you are looking for a humorous, fun, and historical mystery with spunky female characters, The Case of the Missing Moonstone is the book for you!
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Note: although many of the characters in The Case of the Missing Moonstone were based on real people, the story was entirely invented.