Gus and Glory by Sarah Guillory (Roaring Brook Press, 240 pages, grades 4-7). Glory’s mother disappears the summer she’s 12 years old, and since her dad spends most of his time on the road as a truck driver, Glory is sent to live with her grandparents in Louisiana. Glory aspires to be a detective, and she’s determined to solve the mystery of what has happened to her mother. When a bloodhound named Gus finds Glory and leads her to his owner who has broken his leg, she gets an assistant with a big personality and a keen nose. While Gus’s owner recuperates, the dog comes to live with Glory and her grandparents, causing some unexpected changes in their lives. When Glory tries to train Gus in tracking, her grandfather, who’s been depressed since suffering a stroke, takes an interest and begins to rejoin the family. Gus also leads Glory to a new best friend, whose big, warm family welcomes her to the community. As the summer winds down, Glory uncovers some difficult truths about her mother and starts to come to terms with the fact that her life has changed forever. When Gus’s owner admits that Gus is too much for him and offers to let Glory keep him, she sees that sometimes love means letting someone move on to a life that is better suited for them. Gus’s big voice helps Glory to speak up and advocate for herself, and those honest conversations with her dad and grandparents lead to a rich new life for Gus, Glory, and the rest of their family.
I got the impression from reviews that this was going to be more of a mystery, but while Glory aspires to be a detective and does some investigating into her mother’s disappearance, the focus is more on her difficult family situation and the way a beloved new dog helps her come to terms with what’s going on in her life. While I would probably not shelve it in the mystery section, it’s a heartwarming story that will be enjoyed by dog lovers everywhere.
Opal Watson: Private Eye by Brittany J. Thurman (Storytide, 224 pages, grades 4-7). Based on a podcast, this mystery features feisty Opal Watson, a seventh grader who doesn’t let her retinitis pigmentosa slow her down, although she does sometimes use a white cane named Pinkerton to help her find her way. Returning home to Chicago from a visit with her grandmother Meme in Louisiana, Opal discovers that her usually calm father is stressed by the slow renovations being done on the Crescent, the apartment building he manages and that Opal’s family lives in. Some of the other residents report hearing strange sounds and feeling mysterious drafts, and Opal is determined to figure out what’s going on, with the help of her best friend Madison and cousin Frank. A class project with a new girl named Ivy sparks Opal’s interest in the Great Migration that Meme was a part of and turns out to have a surprising connection to the Crescent. Opal and her friends solve the mystery and save the Crescent, but another mystery connected to her school project offers the promise of a sequel.
Opal is an inspiring character as well as a persistent detective, and the story offers not just a mystery but a compelling family story with some interesting Chicago history woven in. I wish there had been some back matter about the historical stuff, as well as a reference to the podcast, which I only learned about from reading the reviews. I look forward to listening to some episodes!