A Nancy Drew Christmas by Carolyn Keene is a mystery for 9 year olds in which the detective has to solve the whole thing from a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
It opens with Nancy hurtling down the most dangerous run on the mountain, lining up a double flip off a fifteen foot drop. Then the seatbelt announcement wakes her up. She’s on a plane, and in real life she’s a complete beginner on skis.<\/p>\n
She’d settle for reaching decently balanced intermediate by the end of the week, she says. A girl can only learn so much in seven days.<\/p>\n
She’s off to a newly done up ski lodge in Montana, invited because she dug up the evidence that won her dad’s law firm a case for one of the owners.<\/p>\n
Then she wrecks her leg within hours of arriving. Giant cast. Wheelchair. And a week of sitting still ahead of her, in a hotel where things have started going very wrong.<\/p>\n
The grand reopening dinner is ruined. Guests’ rooms are broken into. A pair of rival detectives start sniffing about the place. Nancy can’t chase anybody, so she has to think instead.<\/p>\n
It’s written as her diary, which is a big part of why it works. You get her theories as she has them, including the wrong ones. She’s honest about looking daft too. She trips over a ski bag in the baggage hall and nearly flattens a small girl.<\/p>\n
She’s also very good at noticing people, and there’s no shortage here. A travel journalist who only cares whose name is on the byline. A celebrity chef who left a big city kitchen for a mountain. A business partner nobody has met yet. Your reader will have their own list of suspects well before Nancy commits to hers.<\/p>\n
That’s really who it’s for. If you’ve got a child who likes to race the detective to the answer, this gives them plenty to work with and plays fair with the clues.<\/p>\n
One thing worth mentioning is that it’s thoroughly American. Nancy is on vacation, not holiday, and everything from the food to the school talk sounds like it does on TV rather than at home. Most children take that in their stride, and some rather like it.<\/p>\n
Fancy another one? The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn has Nancy in Charleston for a big society wedding with her best friends Bess and George, who she really misses on this trip, and something is standing at the end of her bed at three in the morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Nancy Drew Christmas by Carolyn Keene is a mystery for 9 year olds in which the detective has to solve the whole thing from a wheelchair. It opens with Nancy hurtling down the most dangerous run on the mountain, lining up a double flip off a fifteen foot drop. Then the seatbelt announcement wakes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11726,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8253,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn","lr_seo_hook":"A wrecked leg, a wheelchair and a ski lodge where things keep going wrong."},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[166],"class_list":["post-8250","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-carolyn-keene"],"yoast_title":"Nancy Drew Diaries – A Nancy Drew Christmas by Carolyn Keene | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A wrecked leg, a wheelchair and a ski lodge where things keep going wrong. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n