Three Times Lucky

This is a fun middle grade mystery. I enjoyed following Mo and Dale around as they solved a crime and saved the day. A few times, there were frightening moments for Mo and Dale, and they had to handle stuff that many middle grade kids will not (operating a store, protecting people from abuse, etc.)

Along the way, Mo discovers that she might be adopted, but she doesn't need to search for her parents because she already has a home.

Setting: well done - I could feel small town North Carolina
Characters: varied & dimensional, children and adults
POV character: young, female, adopted
Topics: adoption, alcoholism, domestic abuse, robbery, murder, amnesia, economic inequality
Tone: strong, adventurous, curious

I love these kids! They are cool with being very much themselves. And the adults encourage them to be themselves as well. They all are facing hard things, but they don't run away from them. And there is a mystery!

I think I'm subtracting a star for the audiobook–the narrator was like, TOO Southern? I mean I get that this book is super Southern, but it was like, Dukes of Hazzard or something.

That said, it's a cute, funny mystery with great, lovable characters.

I loved this book. Normally, I don't write in books. I found myself with a pencil underlining all of the truly great lines in this book. There is so much right in this story-great town, characters, and enough mysteries to keep the pages flipping. I will highly recommend this to my tweens at the library and especially to fans of Ingrid Law. I am already thinking of crafts the mother/daughter book club could work on (using glass bottle, of course).
Today's menu:
A great read with a side of pluck.