Ada Lace, on the Case

Emily Calandrelli's Ada Lace, on the Case is a science-mad mystery for 6 year olds about a girl stuck indoors with a broken leg and a pair of binoculars.

What happens

Ada's family has just moved to San Francisco. In their first week she tried a bungee jump from a eucalyptus tree (the branch wasn't high enough), and now her leg's in plaster. Mum's away for work. Her best friend Anna is back in West Virginia. So Ada sits at her bedroom window and watches.

She calls it the Juniper Garden ecosystem. She logs every squirrel, every sparrow and every neighbour in her field guide, times and all. Mr Coveralls carrying odd bags home. Jacob and his clever squirrel-proof bird feeder. And Ms Reed's little Yorkie, Marguerite, who barks at everything.

Then one night Ms Reed is out calling for Marguerite, and in the morning there's no sign of her.

Enter Nina from round the corner, who bursts in with an "Aloha!" Nina believes in lucky charms and doorways to other worlds, and she's pretty sure aliens took the dog. Ada believes in Occam's razor (Nina calls it Occam's shaver). Their first suspect is Milton, a boy who chases Marguerite round the garden with a remote-control truck.

The best bit is the two girls together. Ada says the probability seems low. Nina says it's fun to think about, though, right? You watch Ada slowly realise that a friend who thinks completely differently might be exactly what she needs. They have a proper falling-out halfway through too, and it's handled really kindly.

There's real science tucked in everywhere, from why fog muffles sound to how long an ant takes to cross a windowsill. Ada has homemade gecko gloves for climbing walls, rigs up a spy camera and souped-up walkie-talkies. If your reader is the kind who takes things apart to see how they work, they'll love her.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Worth knowing, the girls spy on the neighbours quite a lot and tell Ada's dad a few fibs along the way. The book lets Ada feel bad about that, which is nice to see. There's also a moment where Milton is about to feed a mouse to his pet snake (Nina rescues it).

What to read next

If they want more of Ada and Nina, Ada Lace Sees Red is in the library too. This time Ada's dad becomes her art teacher, and her self-portrait made of equations comes back face down with a note saying "See me".