Maisie lives in old time England. She wants to be a detective but spends most of her time cleaning the lodging house that her Gran runs. When she discovers a puppy in a sack, near drowned by the river, she must figure out a way to keep it and who tried to kill it. Maisie also wants to help out the butchers assistant, a boy who was recently fired. Its not easy but Maisie makes some allies and friends that help her along the way.
This book sounds charming, but there are a few reasons I wouldn’t add it my library. First off, its too babyish/big font/short to be upper grade fiction, so it’s a chapter book. That means 2-4 grade at my school. The book features the plot of trying to discover who drowned the puppy, it mentions drowning like 50 times. I am not going to explain to a second grader how and why a puppy might be drowned. She eventually confronts the adult criminal on her own. Second there is some talk about their maid and her flirting and even Maisie is accused of this and threatened with being sent off. Not going to explain that to a second grader either. Vocabulary is quite challenging too, especially with the old England setting.
EL(K-3), EL –NO Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.
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