Drew LeClair Gets a Clue (Drew LeClair #1)

by Katryn Bury (Author)

Drew LeClair Gets a Clue (Drew LeClair #1)
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
Series: Drew LeClair

In this modern take on Harriet the Spy, twelve-year-old Drew uses her true crime expertise to catch the cyberbully in her school--only to discover that family, friendship, and identity are the hardest mysteries to solve.

Drew Leclair knows what it takes to be a great detective. She's pored over the cases solved by her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto. She tracked down the graffiti artist at school, and even solved the mystery of her neighbor's missing rabbit. But when her mother runs off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, Drew is shocked. How did she miss all of the clues?

Drew is determined to keep her family life a secret, even from her best friend. But when a cyberbully starts posting embarrassing rumors about other students at school, it's only a matter of time before Drew's secret is out.

Armed with her notebooks full of observations about her classmates, Drew knows what she has to do: profile all of the bullies in her grade to find the culprit. But being a detective is more complicated when the suspects can be your friends. Will Drew crack the case if it means losing the people she cares about most?

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Kirkus Reviews

Witty kid detectives solve a mystery with believably high stakes.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 5 Up--Drew Leclair is a seventh grade misfit whose mom has just run off with her school counselor. Drew is mortified and she is doing her best to lay low about it, until it is plastered all over an anonymous Instagram account for her school. This particular account goes for the students' most sensitive secrets. Drew, along with her two best friends, sets out to expose the anonymous poster. While she is making crime boards and profiling her classmates, Drew is also dealing with her parents' split and questions about her own sexuality. Drew is not sure why she doesn't seem to be developing feelings for anyone her age, least of all her best friend who keeps trying to kiss her. Could something be wrong with her? Bury deftly handles this topic, as well as cyber safety and privacy, with a sprinkling of other resonant issues like fat-shaming, consent, and acceptance of differences of all kinds, with a light touch that does not veer into didacticism. VERDICT The perfect story for a kid who wants a little more than just a mystery about a school cyberbully. Readers who are ready to progress from Nancy Drew (who the main character was named after) but are not quite ready for One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus will enjoy this book.--Kim Gardner

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

 
Katryn Bury
Katryn Bury works with middle-grade readers as a youth library technician. A lifelong true crime nerd, she has a bachelor's degree in sociology and criminology. Her short and serialized fiction can be found in Suspense Magazine and The Sleuth. She lives in Oakland, California, with her family and a vast collection of Nancy Drew mysteries. katrynbury.com, Instagram: @katrynwrites
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780358639602
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Clarion Books
Publication date
March 20, 2022
Series
Drew LeClair
BISAC categories
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV028000 - Juvenile Fiction | Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories
JUV039230 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Bullying
JUV039020 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Adolescence
JUV060000 - Juvenile Fiction | LGBT
Library of Congress categories
-

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