My Secret Guide to Paris

Gr 5–7—Nora has always loved Paris. During her weekly visits with her beloved grandmother Sylvia, they discuss the best shops, foods, shopping, and sightseeing in the City of Light. Just months before their first trip together for Nora's 12th birthday, Sylvia is hit by a car and dies. While cleaning up her home, Nora discovers a trunk with a locked box, three plane tickets to Paris and a treasure hunt-seven sealed envelopes addressed to Nora and a map of Paris with six pink dots. After some convincing, Nora's mother, Faye, long estranged from Sylvia, agrees to the trip. On their first day in Paris, Nora secretly embarks on the treasure hunt. At the first location she is dismayed to discover that she can not receive the treasure without her mother. After encountering the same circumstance at several other places, she comes clean and reveals the truth to her mother. A light and frothy Parisian adventure with hints of emotional heft. Nora's grief and connection with her mother are dealt with deftly and tied up neatly by the end. This quick read will appeal to Francophiles and reluctant readers alike.—Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL