The Book Case

Gr 4–6—There are strange and ridiculous goings-on at an extremely odd and wacky 1950s British girls' boarding school. Daphne discovers this even before her arrival when she's asked to return a lurid hard-boiled detective novel to the school by a train conductor. While there is indeed a mystery at the heart of this tale, the author muddies the plot development in favor of world-building, done through entertaining scenes featuring goofy but clichéd characters. For example, the titular Emily Lime turns out to be an unlikable, holier-than-thou library helper, replete with "wonky" glasses and a beret, who gets outraged at the thought of people mishandling books. All characters are white and British. Chapters cover one or two simple scenes with a good balance of dialogue, description, and action, and are liberally illustrated with cartoonish ink drawings of the characters, usually in poses suggesting the extreme emotions vividly conveyed the text.