i so don't do mysteries by Barrie Summy

I can be a bit of a book snob. I have gone through phases in my life where I would only read certain genres. In elementary school, I spent a year reading all the biographies in the school library. Every single one. Then there was the Nancy Drew year. I spent a year reading every Nancy Drew book. And this was before the Internet made finding books easy. There were two or three early books that took me years to track down.

Then we had our bodice-ripper phase when I was in college. Herbal books, historical fiction, cookbooks, financial health books, religion, and even true crime had its turn. My all time favorite phase (will be ongoing for a while) is the classics. I love the classics. But I've discovered a couple of new categories lately: Fantasy and Young Adult.

There are some really awesome books in the young adult section of your library or favorite bookstore. Of course, I'm too old for them, so it will have to be our little secret.

i so don't do mysteries is a book I would never have picked up in a million years. It screams "tween" all over it. Just look at the cover art. I wanted to read it when I found Barrie Summy's blog, and I only read it because I found her blog. But, I have to say...i so love this book!!

This book is an adorable mystery book, the sort most every tween girl will love to lose herself in. There is dating at thirteen, not something I allow, but I would let my girls read this if they wanted to. Sherry (short for Sherlock) Holmes Baldwin is a 13-year-old girl with a few problems. She has had a crush on the same boy for a while and he starts to notice her. At the same time her father tells her that he is going to marry The Ruler, a teacher from her middle school. Her father did not divorce, her mother died. She was a police officer killed in the line of duty. For about half of the book Sherry's best friend is really upset with her. But the thing that makes this book different is the fact that her dead mother contacts her and asks her to help solve a mystery.

I had the mystery solved, for the most part, early on in the book. I'm not sure if it is because I'm a graduate of the Nancy Drew, true crime, and Kinsey Millhone Detective Academy, or if it is because the book was written for tweens, but either way, having the mystery solved just allowed me to enjoy the story. I enjoyed Ms. Summy's characters immensely. I liked the writing style. I thought she included some challenging vocabulary, just enough that maybe her readers will pick up an intersting word or two, but not so much a tween would feel intimidated. Overall, a great read, and between you and me, I'm going to pick up the next one!!