Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library (Fairday Morrow #2)

Haight and Robinson follow The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow with this delightful mystery that sets the Detective Mystery Squad on the trail of a threat to stories everywhere. Fifth grader Fairday Morrow has recently moved into Begonia House, a “crumbling Victorian” in Connecticut, from Manhattan, where she and her friends Lizzy Mackerville and Marcus Brocket solved more than one case. As Fairday’s parents struggle to repair the house, riddles lead the children to the Talking Library—home to chatting tomes and all first editions—located in a parallel world accessible from Begonia House. The Librarian, Fas, explains that a bookworm is loose, “changing stories and destroying the books’ lives,” and that its feasting could destroy all stories, everywhere. To contact the Myxtress Eldrich, who can defeat the bookworm, the trio must solve more clues and riddles. Along the way, they receive assistance from a retired investigative journalist and must avoid a snooping reporter. This fine combination of clever kids, arcane mysteries, and witty conundrums falls nicely in-line with other novels featuring riddle-solving kids and literary and linguistic references. Ages 8–12. (BookLife)