Seeking Cassandra

February 1, 2016
While she's playing detective to find three ancient Plano arrowheads, sheltered 12-year-old Cassie is also gathering clues about life. Cassie is a girl in transition. Her divorced parents are both following their dreams: her mother is in Germany on business, and Cassie is spending the summer with her dad, who is, to her surprise, in Palo Duro Canyon becoming a park ranger. In the past, Cassie has gone along and tried to fit in. But her experiences roughing it in the semiarid canyon push tenderfoot Cassie, depicted as a white girl on the cover, outside her comfort zone physically and emotionally. Meeting people with a variety of life experiences, learning the history of the land and native peoples, training for hikes, and immersing herself in the mystery of arrowheads that have disappeared from an archaeological dig broadens Cassie's perspective and sharpens her interpretive skills. The setting is vivid and the unusual cast, richly developed. Cassie narrates and is honest, sometimes painfully so, about her feelings and often biased assumptions, particularly with regard to the neighboring family of Latino kids. As she opens herself to new friends and information, Cassie is better able to assess her life and make decisions about her future. Periodic entries in her journal emphasize turning points until, in the end, an eager "Cassandra" writes an entry to highlight the things she learned over the summer. An unexpectedly deep mystery with plenty of talking points. (Mystery. 8-12)

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March 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-Twelve-year-old Cassandra did not expect to spend her summer living in Palo Duro Canyon participating in a nature volunteer program, but that's the reality she faces when her mother's work in Europe requires her to spend the summer with her father, who does carpentry for the park. Cassandra meets two Mexican American boys, Xavier and Hector, and immediately assumes that Xavier must have gang affiliations because he has tattoos, wears "intimidating" clothes, and has a "hard, menacing" face. Using the journal her mother provided, Cassandra scribbles clues and conclusions as to how Xavier and her father are involved in the theft of precious artifacts from the park. Cassandra and Hector establish a friendlier relationship, although Hector's request for Cassandra to help him with English (if he helps with her Spanish) doesn't ring true, because his English is hardly broken. Descriptions of the desolation surrounding Cassandra are apt and don't overwhelm the narrative. Facts about the canyon's flora and fauna are incorporated through dialogue without being awkward or obvious. Unfortunately, characters are one-dimensional and superficial and the mystery surrounding the missing artifacts is weak. Cassandra's enlightenment about Xavier is sudden to the point of being unrealistic, and the mystery of the relationship between Cassandra's father and the boys is rather flat. Instead of this tame and somewhat problematic work, try Elise Broach's "Superstition Mountain" series (Holt) or Gloria Skurzynski's "National Parks Mystery" series (National Geographic) for lovers of nature-themed mysteries. VERDICT With no shortage of kid detective stories, this one is a pass.-Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA

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