Island of Spies

Turnage’s (The Law of Finders Keepers) clever 1942-set mystery is based on the real-life torpedoing of American ships off the coast of North Carolina during WWII. Observant narrator Sarah Stickley “Stick” Lawson is a white 12-year-old “apprentice scientist and pre-FBI agent if the FBI ever writes us back” who, with best friends 10-year-old Rain, who has brown skin, and white 12-year-old Neb, make up the Dime Novel Kids. Operating out of a lighthouse and using skills they’ve learned from reading mysteries, the kids comb Hatteras Island to solve self-assigned cases, such as trying to catch the island’s petty thief. When German U-boats sink an American ship off the island’s coast and suspicious newcomers arrive, the Dimes pivot their attention to discovering the Nazi spy they are sure is helping to orchestrate the attacks. Stick’s keen observations are as charming and funny as the island setting, the kids’ antics, and the quirky cast, while her passion for equality is depicted through her insistence that girls should be allowed to defend the island and her staunch defense of Rain, who experiences racism on the largely white island. With codes and clues, spies and double agents, and plenty of made-up references to mystery novels, Turnage’s plot is a complicated maze that requires close attention, even as one message is made abundantly clear: “In times of danger, bet on each other.” An author’s note concludes. Ages 9–12. Agent: Margaret Riley King, WME. (Sept.)