Island of Spies
Island of Spies
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Annotation: "The Dime Novel Kids are spunky, spirited, smart, sassy—and so is Sheila Turnage’s writing. It sizzles and sparkles." —L... more
 
Reviews: 3
Catalog Number: #389693
Format: Perma-Bound Edition
Publisher: Dial
Copyright Date: 2023
Edition Date: 2023 Release Date: 10/17/23
Pages: 374 pages
ISBN: Publisher: 0-7352-3127-3 Perma-Bound: 0-8000-6625-1
ISBN 13: Publisher: 978-0-7352-3127-6 Perma-Bound: 978-0-8000-6625-3
Dewey: Fic
Dimensions: 20 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

For this freewheeling detective story, Turnage chooses a particular and intriguing setting: Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina in 1942. In the early stages of the American involvement in WWII, German U-boats were stationed off this coast, a fact largely hidden from the public. These conditions of secrecy, threat, and espionage make a perfect backdrop for an elaborate tale in which twelve-year-old Stick and her sidekicks, Rain and Neb, tackle a cluster of mysteries involving -- among other tropes -- spies, double agents, strategic eavesdropping, code-breaking, clue-solving, secret messages in lemon juice, explosives, an attempted arsenic poisoning, and a fatal snake bite. The pace slows very briefly for more naturalistic plot points such as Stick's father being missing in action and the endemic racism directed toward Rain and her mother, but the narrative is mainly tried and true: plucky kids outwitting the adults. An added bonus is that our narrator, Stick, is a keen reader of the encyclopedia and of potboiler fiction and has mastered both a wide-ranging compendium of scientific facts and a quippy tough-guy argot, with its delicious metaphors, all appropriate to the period. Her sister's boyfriend has "dimples deep enough to back a Ford into." Funny, crisp, and clever. Sarah Ellis

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

World War II brings U-boats, spies, and adventure to a North Carolina island community.Even before the United States entered the war, 12-year-old Sarah Stickley Lawson, called Stick by family and friends, and her two best friends, Neb and Rain, longing for adventure in their quiet Hatteras Island town, formed a group called the Dime Novel Kids to solve mysteries while they awaited assignments from the FBI. Neb, also 12 and also White, is the son of the former lighthouse keeper, so the trio uses the abandoned Hatteras lighthouse as a lookout. Rain, 10, born on the beach to a mysterious White woman who can't remember her past, has brown skin, stirring up prejudice from some White islanders. While the kids are suspecting the town's postmistress of being a spy, real trouble comes in the form of German U-boats bombing cargo ships off the coast. Meanwhile, Stick's Papa is missing at sea. Turnage takes a little-known piece of American history and sets it solidly among realistic characters and an entertaining saga of island life. Her trademark folksy narration and love of metaphor do this particular tale a disservice, however: The Dime Novel Kids are so quirky and imaginative that it takes readers a long time to realize that the U-boats and possible spies are real, and the plotting and pace sag under the weight of the charm.A mismatch between voice and story weakens this otherwise promising novel. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

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.)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Word Count: 85,566
Reading Level: 4.2
Interest Level: 4-7
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 4.2 / points: 12.0 / quiz: 518378 / grade: Middle Grades
Lexile: 580L
Guided Reading Level: W
Fountas & Pinnell: W

"The Dime Novel Kids are spunky, spirited, smart, sassy—and so is Sheila Turnage’s writing. It sizzles and sparkles." —Lauren Wolk, author of Newbery Honor Book Wolf Hollow

From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Three Times Lucky comes a middle grade WWII spy mystery with as much humor and heart as high stakes


Twelve-year-old Stick Lawson lives on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, where life moves steady as the tides, and mysteries abound as long as you look really hard for them. Stick and her friends Rain and Neb are good at looking hard. They call themselves the Dime Novel Kids. And the only thing Stick wants more than a paying case for them to solve is the respect that comes with it. But on Hatteras, the tides are changing. World War II looms, curious newcomers have appeared on the small island, and in the waters off its shores, a wartime menace lurks that will upend Stick’s life and those of everyone she loves. The Dimes are about to face more mysteries than they ever could have wished for, and risk more than they ever could have imagined.


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