(4) 4-6 American Girl Mysteries series. On a steamboat traveling up the Mississippi, Marie-Grace helps her new friend Wilhelmina figure out where her recently deceased father hid the gold that will save her family's land. The steamboat setting is well described and though the dialogue is wooden, young readers will enjoy puzzling through some nursery rhyme clues to solve the mystery.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(4) 4-6 History Mysteries series. In each book, a fatherless twelve-year-old uses her wits and courage to protect a sibling and solve a mystery: Rose Taylor risks being shot in Levi Frontier's Wild West Show in 1886, while Emily Scott spies on gang leaders in a 1925 Jersey Shore hotel. Both books are quick paced and exciting despite some underdeveloped characters. Each book ends with "A Peek into the Past." [Review covers these History Mysteries titles: Gangsters at the Grand Atlantic and Danger at the Wild West Show.]

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(4) 4-6 History Mysteries series. In 1754 New Hampshire, Rebecca discovers a thief in the fort where she and her sister live after their parents' kidnapping by Abenakis; in 1878 Kansas, Ida Kate uncovers the truth about her father's mail-order bride; in 1904 Missouri, Orphelia learns a family secret while she pursues her own dream of performing music onstage. Though formulaic, these well-narrated stories feature accurate historical details, as do the brief afterwords. [Review covers these History Mysteries titles: Enemy in the Fort, Riddle of the Prairie Bride, The Minstrel's Melody.]

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) 4-6 History Mysteries series. Well-drawn historical contexts--War of 1812, Pony Express in 1860, women's suffrage movement in 1814, and World Wars I and II--combine with thin but fast-paced mysteries and courageous preteen heroines for satisfactory historical-fiction fare. The best of the group, Secrets on 26th Street, relates the predominantly middle- and upper-class suffragists' efforts to recruit working-class women. Historical notes are included.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger