Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Sleuth or Dare #1: Partners in Crime (and Giveaway!)

First let me announce the winner of The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little. My autographed copy goes to:

Amy Sonnichsen

Yay Amy! I hope both you and your daughter will enjoy this book!

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SLEUTH OR DARE #1: PARTNERS IN CRIME
Scholastic, May 1, 2012, Age 8-12

Whodunit?

When best friends Darcy and Norah have to create a fake business for a school assignment, they come up with a great idea: a detective agency! Darcy loves mysteries, and Norah likes helping people, so it's a perfect fit.

But then their pretend agency gets a real case. Someone is missing, and it's up to Darcy and Norah to take on the search. Unfortunately, there's someone else out there who doesn't want the two detectives stirring up any trouble....

With the help of hidden clues, spy gadgets, and trusted friends, can Darcy and Norah crack the case in time?

Why it is Marvelous - I won a set of the three books in this series from Heidi Grange's blog (thanks again Heidi!) and for some reason, even though we already had Partners in Crime in the house and he hadn't touched it, my son pounced on these and read all three in as many days. Sometimes I will ask my son about the books he is reading... "How do you like it?" or "Did you like it better than this other book?" and really, it's like pulling teeth to get any intelligible answer sometimes. He is 10 afterall. But then I asked "Is there a book you have read that you knew you liked from the first page?" and his answer was Sleuth or Dare! This is a fast, fun read for any mystery lover, and while the main characters are girls, it has plenty of suspense and action to interest boy as well as girl readers.

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The other two books in this series are Sleuth or Dare #2: Sleepover Stakeout and Sleuth or Dare #3: Framed & Dangerous.

Where you can find Kim:
Her Website: Kim Harrington
Her Blog: Kim Harrington's Blog
Twitter: @Kim_Harrington
Facebook: Kim Harrington (Author)

Kim was nice enough to answer a few questions about her books!

1. How did you come up with the idea for these books? Did you read a lot of mysteries growing up?

Growing up, I loved any book that was spooky or mysterious. Whenever the Scholastic Book Clubs flyer came, I would circle all the books with dark or spooky covers and beg my parents for them. The idea for Sleuth or Dare is actually a longer answer, but I wrote it up here (Why I Wrote Sleuth or Dare), including a highly embarrassing photo of me at age ten!

2. Since my 10-year-old son loved this series, I was wondering if your target audience was mainly girls, or did you intentionally write them in a way you hoped would appeal to both girls and boys?

I did hope that both boys and girls would read and enjoy the series. I know what they say about boys never reading books from a girl POV or with a girl on the cover, etc. But I'm hoping there are more open-minded boys out there like your son (and mine). There are other characters in the books who are boys. And I think the suspense and mystery aspects would definitely appeal to both boys and girls.



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And now for the giveaway!  

I have an extra copy of Sleuth or Dare #1: Partners in Crime and would love to pass it on to one lucky reader. All you have to do is leave a comment and I will draw a name next Monday and announce the winner then. It would be nice if you signed up to follow my blog, but not necessary to be entered in the drawing.

No international entries. US and Canada only.

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM) was created by Shannon Messenger. To find other bloggers participating in MMGM go to her blog for a list of links.