Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Hannah West


Hannah and her mom are technically homeless in that they don't have a place of their own. They spend their time house-sitting for others, and are currently residing in Seattle's swanky Belltown Towers. Hannah is an animal lover are quickly finds a job dog-walking for neighbour Dorothy. Between living up on the 11th floor, and her dog-walking gig, Hannah gets to notice a lot of what is happening around town!

The big news is the art heists that are taking place in Hannah's new neighbourhood and even in the Belltown Towers! Can Hannah and her mystery obsessed best friend Lily figure out who is stealing the Mimi Hansen paintings? The task gets both easier and more difficult when Mimi's daughter shows up as one of Hannah's classmates!

Now, girl detectives are nothing new (hello....Nancy Drew), but there is something about Hannah that suggests staying power. Add to this the fact that Hannah is an adopted Chinese daughter to a single white mother, and author Linda Johns is writing to a demographic that has seen itself little outside of books about adoption. This book is not about adoption, which in my mind, is exactly why I will put it into the eager little hands of my numerous patrons who are adopted Chinese girls. And into the hands of every other mystery obsessed tweener!