TRU & NELLE, by G. Neri

The story: Tru and Nelle are both misfits in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. They're both missing a mother; they both love Sherlock Holmes, and they're both too smart for their own good. So when Tru moves in next door for a "temporary" stay, it's not long before they're channeling their favorite detective and looking for a mystery to solve in their small town. They never expected to run into snake fights, the KKK, or the real Boo Radley--but it's the unexpected that makes a mystery so...mysterious.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language G; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (parental abandonment, racism, segregation; all in mild forms) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: This book was charming, but it's also kind of a puzzler. Truman is supposedly seven, and Nelle is six, when the story opens. They talk like teenagers, however, and you never quite believe they're the little kids they're supposed to be. The biggest problem with this story is that it's written for upper ES and MS readers, but there's no way that middle school kids are EVER going to choose to read a story about a couple of kids who are six and seven. I realize that the story is loosely based on real-life events (and there are plenty of nods to "To Kill A Mockingbird" characters and events) and that that author is trying to be true to the kids' ages and events in real life--but kid readers won't get the allusions, and would undoubtedly prefer narrators who were 11 and 12. I think even good 4th and 5th grade readers will decline to read down for this one (even the cover looks like it was colored by little kids!)--which is a shame, because it's a delightful story and will probably get skipped by its intended audience. I don't expect to buy it for my MS library...with a cover like that, it would simply never get checked out. :P