Monday, August 13, 2012

Hmmmm... It's a Mystery!

Oooh - Everyone loves a good mystery.  And this one is GREAT!  


As a child, I spent a lot of time reading realistic fiction (mostly Sweet Valley Twins,  which is funny considering how much twins freak me out).  It wasn't until library school when I read my first real mystery.  Yeah, I'd been forced to read mysteries in middle school, I am sure... I DID read The Westing Game, after all... but I had never picked one up out of my own volition.  I didn't even read The Boxcar Children, a childhood staple in most lives.  Perhaps it has something to do with how big of a baby I am and how I avoid suspense like it is the plague (I can't even play hide-and-go-seek for fear I pee my pants in anxious terror), but mysteries just never had much appeal.

Enter the aforementioned Shakespeare's Secret.  Perhaps it is that in children's mysteries, the suspense is minimal, or that it only lasts for a few pages, but I loved it.  It was awhile until I picked up another mystery, but I definitely wasn't disappointed in picking up the first in The Red Blazer Girls series, The Ring of Rocamadour.  

As the audiobook selector, I had a conversation about this particular series a few months back.  We owned several of the audiobooks, but not the actual books.  In our collection development policy, if we don't own the physical book, we shouldn't own the audio... so I had to convince our YA selector to purchase the copies or get rid of the audiobooks.  After a 15-20 minute discussion, we decided to keep them and purchase the whole set.  I am SO glad we did (and so is she).

I don't know if it is because they had to use their brains to solve the mystery or because they were the most sarcastic middle school girls I have ever read about, but I felt as if I would have been friends with them when I was younger.  I found myself immediately living with them in their city dwellings, fretting over school-girl crushes, and enjoying the 'Catholic humor' and adventure that ensued.  

As soon as I put the audiobook on in my car, I recognized the narrator as the same one from a different book I had listened to, which always excites me.  I enjoyed the book so much, I also checked out the physical book so that I could be reading it at home, on lunch, before bed, and then listen to it in the car.  I would definitely recommend it to any parent looking for a fun 'girl book' for their daughter that isn't too mature and has just the right amount of 'sass'.

As my coworker says, now we just have to get recommending it to the right kids!

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