The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley (A Flavia
deLuce novel)
Ok, picture this.
You’re at your sister’s wedding and as she takes the first cut in
the wedding cake she finds a severed finger. No one else sees the
finger, her sister is carried out of the hall and people are allowed
to believe the poor bride was just overcome. The reception goes on
and the cake is served. Yuck.
Flavia and Dogger
are the only other ones who saw the finger and after extracting it
from the cake take on the task of solving the mystery of whose finger
and who put it in the cake and why and when.
This is pure Flavia.
Following the death of her father she has inherited Buckshaw, their
home, and has teamed up with Dogger, devoted friend of Flavia’s
father, and now Flavia’s partner in their new detective business.
To be honest, I thought Dogger’s powers of perception a little
supernatural as he figures out whose finger it could be after a
cursory look. Is anyone really that perceptive?? Maybe it’s just
me.
The mystery takes
Flavia and Dogger into new territory but it’s her powers as a
chemist specializing in poisons where she shines. Oh, and Flavia?
She’s twelve years old.
Now, I’ve said in
my last blog post about a Flavia deLuce story that we aren’t giving
her the due she deserves by delivering her to adults. Flavia needs
to be read by our girls. If Flavia is twelve years old (and was much
younger when we were introduced to her) then your twelve year old
girls should be reading her.
Please don’t think
you are protecting your girls from the bad things out there by not
letting them read about solving a murder. Let’s get real. What do
they hear on their own, on their social media, on the television, in
the movies, in the news? Let’s look at it another way. How about
letting her read about a smart girl, one who embraces science,
chemistry, deductive reasoning, persistance. You may have enjoyed
Nancy Drew at that age, and yet you didn’t solve murders nor drive
a roadster at twelve.
Read a Flavia deLuce
novel for yourself, of course, but please pass it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment