The Big Sting

When their parents interrupt a family trip by heading to a spa, 11-year-old Leo and nine-year-old sister Lizzie are unexpectedly left with their cantankerous, recently widowed maternal grandfather on Canada’s Heron Island. The kids’ father, who is changing careers and obsessed with personality quiz site Fatefinder.com, has dubbed cautious, curious Leo an “Auditor.” And it’s true that Leo prefers the orderly world of virtual farming game Applewood Acres to Grandad’s dilapidated barn and overgrown field, but he’s also peeved about being pigeonholed and attempts to embrace the shifting situation. “Adventurer” Lizzie, meanwhile, is ready for anything. The theft of their late, pun-loving apiarist grandmother’s dozen hives soon plunges the unlikely trio into a mystery. They set out on an unexpected adventure to track down the beeknappers, with their grieving Grandad declaring, “No. Puns. Allowed”; Lizzie embracing a barn kitten she calls Mayhem; and Leo, true to his careful nature, assessing possible risks along the way. This character-forward beekeeping mystery from Delaney (Alice Fleck’s Recipes for Disaster), considers the limitations of labels and the authentic messiness of IRL adventures. Ages 8–12. Agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Agency. (Feb.)