Quick mystery for your inner child

How do you like the new look?  Thanks to Lyndsey and Chris for Mentor's Reader's new threads. 
Sometimes after a long challenging book, it’s nice to have something a little easier to get through.  Young adult and children’s fiction options are always a nice escape.  I finished The Aviary over the holidays when I just needed a little something to fill up a few hours here and there that I had free.  The description on our catalog reads, “In late nineteenth-century Maine, isolated, eleven-year-old Clara Dooley gains a friend and uncovers a magical secret that changes her life when she learns to care for the once-feared birds in the aviary attached to the Glendoveer mansion where she lives.”  With children’s fiction you never know if the author is going to pull any punches to ensure a safe and happy read.  Kathleen O’Dell doesn’t make this an overly scary or intense read, but she also adds enough detail to make the book realistic.  There’s also a point where Clara sets up some elaborate booby traps in her house, ala "Home Alone," and that’s always fun.  Again, there’s a lot of fiction out there, so even if you’re not so into reading a children’s book, keep this one in mind for a child in your family.