Much in the skein of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty Watson, readers meet Lady Ada Byron, a misunderstood lonely genius and Mary Godwin, a girl with a head on her shoulders and quite a bit of smarts herself. When brought together to be tutored, the girls decide to try their hand at detective work and they are able to land a case. Now its up to the two of them to find a stolen acorn moonstone, but along the way they will find themselves in the middle of more mysteries than they thought and some dangerous situations.
I think students will enjoy this book and getting to know these characters. Many younger readers aren’t familiar with the Holmes/Watson dynamic and this will read as very fresh to them. I like that the author did her research, basing the characters on real people, which was interesting. I thought the cover was incredibly unappealing and may result in this series being a total dud. It has zero cover appeal, and is very dark but not in an intriguing way. I am going to give this first one a try with students and base future purchases on the number of checkouts.
EL –ADVISABLE Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.