THE ROSE QUEEN: Missing Persons Book One
M. E. Rabb, . . Penguin/Speak, $5.99 (186pp) ISBN 978-0-14-250041-5
Despite an uneasy mix of humor and dark currents, this whodunit makes for an entertaining read. After their widower father dies, narrator Sophie Shattenberg, 15, and her 17-year-old sister Sam run away before Enid, their stepmother, can send Sophie to a boarding school "focused on rehabilitating unruly youth." The two head to Indianapolis, where a shady friend of Sam's knows an underworld boss, taking with them the $300,000 that Enid would have inherited. When their car breaks down in tiny Venice, Ind., the New York City teens try to blend with the quirky natives (the sisters pose as orphans from Cleveland). But nasty Noelle, the town's Rose Queen, goes missing after a fight with Sophie, and the siblings become suspects. To clear their names, they investigate Noelle's disappearance. Readers will likely be drawn to smart but ditzy Sophie and appreciate her bond with sensible Sam. Sophie's interactions with the inept brothers who comprise the town's police force and Venice's popular teens ("I
Reviewed on: 07/26/2004
Genre: Children's
Prebound-Sewn - 978-1-4176-3025-7