The Agency: The Body at the Tower

The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee, 2010 Candlewick Press

     Construction on Parliament's clock tower is twenty-five years behind schedule and set to be delayed even further when a body is found in the work yard at the base of the clocktower. Mary Quinn makes a reappearance in her first case as a real agent.
     Mary disguises herself as a boy to get a job on the construction site. She must battle the memory of childhood hunger, poverty, and the danger of an unprotected young woman in the streets of Victorian London to be successful in her mission.
     Shuttled from job to job, Mary's supposed age and inexperience makes her fit for little more than errand-boy or work in the site office. She becomes an outsider and has difficulty working the case until a character from her past comes back.
     James Easton went to India as head engineer ending a burgeoning relationship. With James's return Mary is again thrown into emotional turmoil whether or not to accept the friendship he offers.
     With James's help, Mary is able to link the threads of the murderer and bring an answer back to the Agency. Mary nearly loses herself undercover on the construction site, but her friendships and the will to move ahead ground her. The tension between James and Mary is different between the first and second installments of The Agency series adding a new layer to the suspense.
     The Agency is a new type of investigative service; readers of all ages can enjoy the logical progression of Mary's investigation and the suspense of finding a murderer. Written at a late elementary level The Body at the Tower is a new kind of young adult mystery.

Curse of the Blue Tattoo

Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being the Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady by L.A. Meyer, 2004 Harcourt

     After being dropped in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls Mary "Jacky" Faber is climbing the walls to get back to her adventurous life at sea. But Jacky was found out and there's no place for a girl aboard His Majesty's Dolphin or any sailing ship. The crew drops their favorite ship's boy at the young ladies' academy with directions to try to become a lady.
     Miss Miranda Pimm is the girls' headmistress and despairs of Jacky's wild ways and unacceptable jewelry. When she meets the girls Jacky finds the majority exclude her; all except Amy Trevelyne. The popular girls are led by Clarissa Worthington Howe, who becomes Jacky's nemesis.
     During a walk through the school's graveyard Amy and Jacky discover and unmarked grave, and Jacky suspects the rather strange Reverend Mather had something to do with it. Jacky soon skips class to enjoy Boston and is arrested for dancing in the streets. She meets a prostitute while in jail and is saved by the local populace's disparaging opinion of Miranda Pimm.
     Jacky Faber is returned to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls and expelled. There she creates several true friendships and begins the unravel the mystery surrounding Reverend Mather. Jacky's promiscuous behavior get her into several scrapes, but her quick thinking and general good luck keep her from getting to far into harm's way. Though rarely apologetic, Jacky maintains that her heart is in the right place, even as she bucks convention. Younger readers will enjoy the adventure, but some of Jacky's exploits are more suitable for readers in middle school or older.

Gathering Blue

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, 2000 Delacorte Press

     Kira was born with a deformed leg and, in a society which casts out any imperfection into the Fields to die of exposure and the Beasts, her leg is a liability. When Kira's mother dies the ruling Council of Edifice comes to her home in the slums and brings her to the ceremonial audience chamber so Kira may prove her worth before the Council sends her to the Fields and certain death.
     Jamison, a member of the council, defends Kira and her needlework skill using an old acquaintance with her long-dead father to find the girl work. Jamison and the council set Kira to work with aged Annabella on the embroidery of a beautiful robe which shows their history. The robe is worn annually at the Gathering where the history of the people's struggle is retold by the Singer and their belief in brute superiority is reinforced when imperfection drives their society from its glory of old to this new existence of bickering and infighting.
     Annabella teaches Kira the magic of dyes and helps her improve her needlework. Kira begins to believe the idyllic life she leads when the begins to make friends in her new home. Matt is a young orphan who lives in the elaborate palace with Kira and the other orphans. Thomas is a woodworker who helps repair the staff the Singer uses to remember the songs of their history. Jo is a young girl whose talent with song secures her a place as the next Singer.
     But Annabella doesn't allow Kira to believe her world is as she dreams. When Annabella dies her offhand comments and pointed remarks make Kira look deeper at the people and events around her. After the annual Gathering Matt disappears. When he finally returns he brings a strange blind man from the Village of Healing. This man's appearance brings the subtle injustices to the forefront and encourages not only Kira but also Thomas and Jo to use their exalted places to alter expectations.
     In his attempt to gather blue for Kira and her needlework Matt links Gathering Blue to The Giver and The Messenger in this post-apocalyptic world. Inability and physical weakness do not determine the fates of Kira, Matt, Thomas, and Jo. Readers of middle ages can easily access this story of hope despite the hard truths revealed.

The Amaranth Enchantment

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry, 2009 Bloomsbury Publishing

     Lucinda Chapdelaine is the daughter of a noble house, until her parents don't come home from a ball at the palace. Since then she has worked in her uncle and aunt's jewelry store, her uncle is kind, but Lucinda must accept terrible treatment at the hands of her aunt in exchange for food and shelter.
    Until the day Beryl, the Amaranth Witch, walks in. Beryl is rumored to be a witch in the village and she has a task for the family gold shop. The witch brings a beautiful and unusual gem to be made into a necklace, even offers fifteen-year-old Lucinda employment, until her aunt's reaction causes Beryl to rescind the offer. In a day full of surprises, Beryl is not the only unusual visitor -- the prince too, walks in looking for a trinket for his betrothed.
    When a pickpocket, Peter, seeks shelter in Lucinda's closet bedroom the kind girl lends the space. But Beryl's unusual stone disappears with Peter in the morning light. So too does Lucinda's uncle leave her, and with his death her aunt ejects Lucinda from the only home she's known.
     Lucinda turns to the town's witch, Beryl with hopes of finding a place to land, but with the theft of her gem, Beryl requires something from the young woman. Lucinda agrees to find the gem, only to discover Peter has sold it to the prince. She convinces the pickpocket to teach her how to steal it back, but discovers her parent's carriage accident may not have been simply an accident. Now, someone is after Lucinda.
    The Amaranth Enchantment was a quick and vivid tale of a young woman who takes charge of her life to survive, and in doing so discovers secrets in her past. Lucinda faces a world which wants to place her in the role of servant, yet she doesn't take it sitting down. A quick romance with the prince and a mystery round out the Cinderella story and create something more. A YA novel for middle readers, the story is enjoyable for all ages.

Once a Witch

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, 2009 Clarion Books

     The Greene family has old magic. On the day of her birth Tamsin Greene is prophesied to be the most powerful of them all, but her magic has never showed up. To avoid being the magical outsider in her family, Tamsin spends most of her time at a boarding school in Manhattan. During the summer she helps out in the family Bookstore/Magic Store and it is there, one summer night, a professor from New York mistakes Tamsin for her Talented sister Rowena and enlists her help.
     At first the quest seems conventional: Tamsin searches for the professor's heirloom. She enlists her friend Gabriel whose Talent is finding things and time travel, but events soon begin to cause problems for the Greene Family.
     Rowena seems to have succumbed to a magic no one can name and the Greene family matriarch has been bespelled, supposedly by Rowena. Their less-than sterling past is brought to the forefront and Tamsin learns more about what brought her family into its prominent place among local society.
     Along the way small events seem to reveal more about Tamsin than she was aware. The search for the professor's heirloom appears to be something much more sinister than Tamsin first thought, and when it unleashes a power more dangerous than she expected the Greene Family stands together to solve their troubles.
     Stereotypes abound throughout the story, though some are shifted from normal expectations. Rowena is perfect in nearly every way, Gabriel is a goody-two-shoes, and Tamsin is the misunderstood younger sister. Yet, most of the characters step outside their allotted roles to become more complete personifications. Once a Witch is followed by Always a Witch, both aimed at high school readers.