Isabel Feeney is a 10-year-old girl living in Chicago in the 1920s – a time of gangsters, guns, and prohibition. Isabel is no ordinary girl because, unlike most girls, she sells the Chicago Tribune and dreams of someday becoming a star reporter like her hero, Maude Collier. When this plucky girl encounters a murder just down the street, she is bound and determined to find the murderer and prove her friend innocent. This leads her to work alongside a reporter on the case, her own hero Maude Collier! It also puts Isabel in danger, as it seems someone is trying to cover up who really murdered the mobster Charles Bessemer. This book by Beth Fantaskey is a great read for anyone wanting to experience the excitement and challenges of another time. The intriguing mystery and endearing first-person narrative by the spunky heroine make this historical fiction an exciting and enjoyable read. 350 pgs, pb. ~ Rachel
It's 1920s Chicago--the guns-and-gangster era of Al Capone--and it's unusual for a girl to be selling the Tribune on the street corner. But ten-year-old Isabel Feeney is unusual...unusually obsessed with being a news reporter. She can't believe her luck when she stumbles into a real-life murder scene and her hero, the famous journalist Maude Collier. The story of how Isabel fights to defend the honor of her accused friend and latches on to the murder case makes for a winning middle grade mystery.
