Book talk: Friday Barnes may be eleven, but she can solve mysteries that stump adult detectives. When she helps catch a bank robber, she uses the prize money to pay for tuition at an elite private school. The classes there aren't much of a challenge for her, but the students and even teachers provide her with plenty of mysteries to keep her busy. She'll go to any length to solve a crime--even performing an analysis on doggy poo.
Rave: This parody of detective novels had me laughing throughout. The characters are all satirizations of tropes. The principal is outrageously incompetent, her academic parents are too wrapped up in themselves to to notice her, and her fellow students obligingly supply mysteries which they are happy to let Friday investigate. It's full of a dry humor and all the hallmarks of the genre. I particularly enjoyed the gentle ribbing of Academics and Friday's partiality to her brown cardigan collection and green felt pork pie hat (because all detectives should have funny hats.)
Every book its reader: I'd give this to students 3rd and up looking for a funny mystery novel.
Topics and trends: humor, mystery, parody, boarding schools
Source: school library
Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt, illustrated by Phil Gosier: buy it or check it out today!
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