Patsy's Discovery

Massie's three-book Daughters of Liberty series starts up with this slow-moving tale set in 1776 Philadelphia. After several chapters of exposition, Patsy Black reads a secret cache of letters her innkeeper father had received three years before and learns that he had been a Son of Liberty, opposed to the Crown. Patsy is inspired to form a club, for which the trilogy is named, in which she and her best friend can ""do good deeds for people in secret."" Massie's plot earns high marks for period particulars and scene-setting, yet scores on the low end for action. The duo's good deeds are credibility-straining: when Patsy's mother goes into labor at precisely the same moment the girls discover their nemesis, crotchety Mrs. Brubaker, unconscious in her home, the two fetch the doctor and help care for Mrs. Brubaker; and they pass on to the members of the Continental Congress a crucial note that falls from the haversack of a spy who is thrown from his horse. The second book, Patsy and the Declaration, is due in August. Ages 8-11. (July)