NEW GRANDPARENTS, KIDS AUTHOR OF THE WEEK

FEBRUARY 22, 2010: SOLVING ZOE BY: BARBARA DEE

By Jim Whiting

Eleven-year-old Zoe feels invisible at school. That is, to everyone but the weird new kid, Lucas, who thinks Zoe is a code-reading genius. She reads a single cipher in his notebook, and now he won't leave her alone!

But when Zoe's best friend ditches her, she begins spending time with Lucas. And before long, cryptic notes start to appear in students' lockers, with clues that make Zoe a suspect. Solving ciphers may come easily to Zoe, but can she solve her way out of this?

SOLVING ZOE

Margaret McElderry/Simon & Schuster, April 2009

Realistic fiction

230 pages, including Answer Key to the secret codes and Bibliography

Recommended ages: 8-12

$15.99 hardcover; coming April 2010: Aladdin MIX/Simon & Schuster Paperback

But this is not only a story about school, friends and family; readers will learn about secret codes and ciphers in history. (There's even an Answer Key and Bibliography in the back, to encourage kids to read further.) It's also just fun. Kirkus Reviews called SOLVING ZOE "entertaining and educational," while the celebrated author Frances O'Roark Dowell wrote: "SOLVING ZOE is funny, fast-paced, smart, and totally absorbing, with a twist of intrigue that will keep you reading past bedtime. Barbara Dee's a terrific writer." In New York State, kids have recently nominated SOLVING ZOE for the 2010 Library Association Three Apples Book Award.

Links to reviews:

http://www.teensreadtoo.com/SolvingZoe.html (Gold StarAward for Excellence, Hall of Fame);

Other Books by Barbara Dee:

--Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life (hardcover, McElderry/Simon & Schuster 2006, ISBN-10:1416908617: paperback, Aladdin MIX/Simon & Schuster 2007, ISBN-10: 1416947396), which earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly

--This Is Me From Now On (paperback, Aladdin MIX/Simon & Schuster, April 27, 2010, ISBN-10: 1416994149)

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