Alias Dragonfly by Jane Singer - OPTIONAL

Singer, Jane Alias Dragonfly, 180 p. Bell Bridge, 2011.  $12.  Violence: PG (Civil War violence, not over-descriptive).  

Maddie, 15, has joined her father at her aunt’s boarding house in Washington DC at the start of the American Civil War.  She follows him out to his first battle and becomes involved herself, when she realizes that she saw someone passing secrets to the enemy.  Maddie is approached by Allan Pinkerton to become one of his agents, which is more than happy to do, as she is highly intelligent , unhappy at the Southern sympathizing aunt’s house, and angry at traitors.  And her eye and heart are captured by Jake Whitestone, a reporter for a New York paper and a man with secrets of his own.  

I wanted to love this book – I am a huge fan of historical fiction and Pinkerton agents during the Civil War is not something that I have seen for YA before.  However, I just couldn’t find myself engaging in this.  

MS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library teacher.