Kate Hannigan

Cornelia Warne (twelve years old, give or take) is deposited on her Aunt Kitty's doorstep in a boarding house in Chicago in 1859, after her last immediate family member dies back home in Chemung County, NY. Cornelia - quickly dubbed Nell by her no-nonsense Aunt Kate - is eager to cling to her sole remaining relative, but Aunt Kitty immediately begins looking into orphanages. However, Nell makes herself useful during an outing in Chicago, and Aunt Kitty allows her to stay - temporarily. Nell show more takes to her new life quickly, helping her Aunt Kitty with her detective work for Mr. Pinkerton, but always feels as though her aunt is just about to get rid of her. Meanwhile, Nell writes and receives letters from her friend Jemma, who fled with her mother and baby siblings to Canada after slave catchers came to Chemung County. Jemma, and eventually her father, help Nell and Kate fill in the blanks of what really happened that night in the woods when Nell's father shot his brother Matthew - Aunt Kitty's husband.

In addition to several mysteries, there is plenty of historical detail about slavery and secession - Nell is an avid newspaper reader - and indeed, their final case ties in to current events (circa 1860): they transport president-elect Abraham Lincoln into Washington, D.C., evading assassination plots along the way.

Nell's voice is spirited and lively. She has a stubborn sense of faith in her father, an innocent integrity, and a child's love for her aunt. The audio version is excellent.

Back matter gives some additional historical context and references.

Quotes

And suddently I understood what it meant to have faith in someone. Faith wasn't about evidence and eyewitnesses, like with Aunt Kitty and Mr. Pinkerton's other detectives. Faith was something you knew inside - from your heart all the way to the tips of your toes. (299)

Aunt Kate once said that family is the folks we choose to be with, not the ones we're stuck with. But I had my own notions about family now. To me, family meant taking the folks we're stuck with and choosing to love them anyway. (339) show less

Kids-eye perspective on the Pinkerton detective agency and the very eventful time around Lincoln's election. As with Flavia de Luce, I appreciate an unsentimental and plucky main character; Nell Warne certainly fits the bill -- with her interest in code breaking and her quick-thinking responses to imminent danger.

Hannigan has a deft hand with adding the personal connection to Nell's best friend Jemma, who has fled with her family to Canada, rather than risk slave-catchers who do not care if show more a black person was born free if they can get away with abducting them south. Complex, fast-paced story with a winning main character and a really fantastic further reading section in the back.

Advance reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. show less

As a retired elementary teacher, I find this book well researched and it provides a wonderful introduction of World War 2 to middle grade students. There is a note at the beginning of the book that points out that this story about the War focuses on the everyday heroes, the ones that saved rubber or metal, the ones that walked, the ones that planted victory gardens, etc. and not the major historical figures such as Roosevelt.
The book begins with middle grade age children learning to deal show more with all the changes coming along now that the United States was involved in the War after Pearl Harbor. It proceeds to share simple details of men joining the armed forces, children and women joining the workforce, and families adjusting to a new normal. Women also joined the armed forces in various roles, but I especially like that the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was included. This was the only Black WAC unit deployed during the War. The author does not shy away from the discrimination that Black men and women faced during this time and shares the facts of what happened to help them at the time in a neutral manner. Besides the extraordinary war product production, entertainment options where shared from Negro League baseball and All-American Girls Professional Baseball to movie and radio productions to big bands and dancing. The book does talk about more challenging topics such as the blackouts on both coasts, the Japanese internment camps, Jewish concentration camps, and family grief of a loved one not coming home. I think these pages were well done and could lead to great conversations between the child and families or even in a classroom. The book wraps up with Truman taking over the presidency and the bombs that were dropped on Japan. There are a few pages to explain how life changed moving in the 1950s from air conditioning, automobile production, and penicillin. The first and last pages focus on ice cream and how the kids during the war couldn't have any and by the end of the 1950s so much was available to all-I liked those books ends that children can relate to. The last page contains lots of books and websites to learn more about World War 2.
As someone who reads history and historical fiction often, I found this graphic novel did a great job giving a thorough overview of the War to introduce young readers to such a complex world event. There was nothing too graphic and it focused on facts and numbers to help ground the reader to the story. I thought it balanced positive things people did during the war with those events that showed the opposite in a way that middle grade readers could begin to grasp this period in time. If you have students, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and other kids of this age range, I recommend getting and sharing this book.

Thank you First Second Books and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. show less

Cupcake books are hugely popular right now and I've been buying fluffy frosting reads as fast as I can, so I was delighted to read this book that has all the sweet treats readers expect of a baking book with a little more than the average sugar bomb.

Cousins Willow and Delia just can't wait for their annual vacation on Lake Michigan. Their beloved aunt is getting married and they're expecting the best vacation ever with lots of baking fun on top. Unfortunately, things start going wrong almost show more at once, starting with the horrible flower girl dresses they're supposed to wear, a new cook in "their" kitchen, and a series of mishaps that get them in trouble with, well, just about everybody. Then Willow and Delia find out some really bad news - it looks like this will not only be the worst vacation on Lake Michigan, it might be their last. Can they fix everything they've messed up and make their aunt's wedding a success or do they really just make things worse, in the kitchen and out of it?

Things that I loved about this book

I loved that the girls weren't perfect little chefs; they loved to cook and sometimes things turned out well, but sometimes they were disasters!
I loved that their family was mixed-race and it was addressed in casual ways - parents sharing family history about the Great Migration etc. - but it was never the main point of the story. Delia had a distinct personality and was as pivotal to the story as Willow, although the story was more from Willow's perspective.
I loved the realistic way the girls are depicted. It's hard for them to think about others' perspectives and give up their own wishes, but once they've been gently reminded by an adult to think about how their actions affect other people, they go back and try to fix what they've messed up.
I did think some of the ending solutions were a little unrealistic. Living in a tourist town myself it's hard to imagine a bed and breakfast/gallery being a realistic way to make a living long-term, but it does fit well into the story and the girls' efforts to help the adults. So much of the story is spot-on realistic without being didactic or depressing, like the affect of unemployment on Delia's family, that this is really a minor quibble.

It's a nice length - a little under 300 pgs, but with large type and lots of cute illustrations that won't turn off kids who are reluctant to read anything over 200 pgs. Bonus - it's set in the general vicinity of where I live and most kids here have at least visited Lake Michigan, even if they haven't actually vacationed there!

Verdict: I can't wait to hand this to all my cupcake/friendship story fans! This was a delightful debut and I look forward to more from this author. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781423178309; Published May 2014 by Disney-Hyperion; ARC provided by the author; Purchased for the library show less