4^th Grade and Up

Eleven-year-old Amelia Ashford—Millie to her friends (if she had any, that is)—doesn’t realize just how much adventure awaits her when she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to spend the night in Amelia Earhart’s childhood home with five other girls. Make that five strangers. But Millie’s mom is a pilot like the famous Amelia, and Millie would love to have something to write to her about . . . if only she had her address.
Once at Amelia’s house in Atchison, Kansas, Millie stumbles upon a display of Amelia’s famous flight goggles. She can’t believe her good luck since they’re about to be relocated to a fancy museum in Washington, DC. But her luck changes quickly when the goggles disappear, and Millie was the last to see them. Soon, fingers are pointing in all directions, and someone falls strangely ill. Suddenly, a fun night of scavenger hunts and sweets takes a nosedive, and the girls aren’t sure who to trust. With a blizzard raging outside and a house full of suspects, the girls have no choice but to band together. It’s up to the Amelia Six to find the culprit and return the goggles to their rightful place. Or the next body to collapse could be one of theirs.

Nancy Drew meets Clue in this girl-powered whodunit mystery!

Setting a mystery inside the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum is brilliant. I love a good mystery, especially a mystery with so many twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the very end. Plus, I enjoy any story that involves kids sneaking around and outsmarting the adults.

On the front cover, you’ll see all six girls, including a cat and a rat. Allow me to introduce you to our cast of characters. Starting at 9 o’clock, going around clockwise:

Millie Ashford: the narrator, red hair, anxious, likes mysteries and puzzles, Rubik’s Cube champion

Robin Winters: Blonde hair in a bun, glasses, likes poetry, twin sister of Wren Winters

Thea Cooke: bronze curls, from a family of mechanical and computer engineers

Wren Winters: short blonde hair, bright pink highlights, bold, twin sister of Robin Winters

Cassandra/Cassie Lam: foodie, her mom works at NASA, and under pressure from her parents

Nathalie Ramirez: likes animals and female explorers, owns a rat named Rosie Stancer

Electra: cat, named after one of Amelia Earhart’s planes

Rosie Stancer: rat, named after Arctic explorer, escape artist

With so many characters, I was worried I would have trouble keeping them all straight. But it didn’t take long for me to catch on to each girl’s individual personality. Although I related to Millie’s anxious personality, my favorite character is Nathalie. She carries a rat in her pocket. How quirky is that!? I would love to write a book like this, with a big cast of characters working together. I’m just not confident in my ability to develop multiple characters with their own unique personality and voice.

I was impressed by how much history and Amelia Earhart trivia were packed into the story. I enjoyed learning about her life and the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female aviators.

A seven-page Author’s Note and a reading list ‘for all things Amelia Earhart’ are included at the back of the book.