The Amelia Six
by Kristin L. Gray
Published by Simon & Schuster on June 2, 2020
Setting: Atchison Kansas
Genres: Middle Grade Mystery
Pages: 269
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
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Amelia Earhart’s famous aviator goggles go missing and eleven-year-old Millie has to find them before the night is over in this girl-powered middle grade mystery.
Eleven-year-old Amelia Ashford—Millie to her friends (if she had any, that is)—doesn’t realize just how much adventure awaits her when she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to spend the night in Amelia Earhart’s childhood home with five other girls. Make that five strangers. But Millie’s mom is a pilot like the famous Amelia, and Millie would love to have something to write to her about…if only she had her address.
Once at Amelia’s house in Atchison, Kansas, Millie stumbles upon a display of Amelia’s famous flight goggles. She can’t believe her good luck, since they’re about to be relocated to a fancy museum in Washington, DC. But her luck changes quickly when the goggles disappear, and Millie was the last to see them. Soon, fingers are pointing in all directions, and someone falls strangely ill. Suddenly, a fun night of scavenger hunts and sweets takes a nosedive and the girls aren’t sure who to trust. With a blizzard raging outside and a house full of suspects, the girls have no choice but to band together. It’s up to the Amelia Six to find the culprit and return the goggles to their rightful place. Or the next body to collapse could be one of theirs.
The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray invites six middle school girls into Amelia Earhart’s museum for a night stay to have fun and learn more about the legendary aviatrix.
Will the girls learn what happened to Amelia’s now missing goggles from the museum?
The Amelia Six
The girls chosen by the lovely women of the Ninety-Nine aviatrix that continue Amelia Earhart’s legacy. We follow one of the six, whose name is Amelia Ashford, and she goes by Millie instead of Amelia. Millie is a shy young girl, and she is a speed cuber. I didn’t even know something like that existed, but it’s pretty amazing. Millie opens up around these girls, especially after someone steals Amelia Earhart’s goggles right underneath their noses.
The rest of the group is Nathalie Ramirez, who lives primarily with her grandma while her mom is in Antarctica doing her job as a zoologist. Wren and Robin Winters – twin sisters famous via their youtube channel, the Mars Millennium. Thea Cooke is a coding whiz and dislikes ghosts. Cass Lam’s mom works with NASA and is a total sweets fiend. All of the girls are also eleven years old.
The Mystery
The girls were doing a scavenger hunt, per the letter they received that they would do; four of the girls find out that Amelia Earhart’s goggles went missing. Of course, these four girls think it’s part of the hunt and go looking for them. The girls are trying to figure out where they could have gone when the museum’s caretaker falls asleep, and now it’s up to them to find the goggles while keeping them safe until the morning. I figured out part of the mystery but not all of it.
Five Stars
The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray is a great fun mystery set during wintertime, and I loved the concept of it. Six girls getting to solve a mystery while getting to stay the night in a museum sounds like fun to me, except for the mystery parts that could have gone entirely differently. The clues that Ms. Gray sprinkled throughout the story were magnificent. I also had fun learning a bit more about Amelia Earhart as well.
I am giving The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray five stars. For any parents out there looking for an excellent read for their middle schoolers, I recommend this for them and any adult readers.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
About Kristin L. Gray
Kristin L. Gray is the author of Vilonia Beebe Takes Charge, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book, the all-new The Amelia Six: An Amelia Earhart Mystery, and the picture books Koala Is Not A Bear and Rover Throws A Party: Inspired by NASA’s Curiosity on Mars. She lives in Arkansas with her family, dogs, cat, and pet lizard. Her first novel was called “a humorous, poignant, realistic debut story” by Kirkus.
Why I write:
I haven’t always been a writer, but as far back as I can remember, I loved stories. I remember my excitement when my teachers read to us at the end of the school day. My friends and I would sit at our desks, turn our backpacks into pillows for our chins, and listen. Listen to how Wilbur met Charlotte, to how James traveled inside a giant peach, and to how Ramona exasperated Beezus. And whenever the bell rang, we’d let out a collective groan, sad for the day’s story to end.
Thankfully, my parents made sure I had access to great books. I remember slipping my ruler in between the spines at our library while I hunted for the right books for that week. I circled books in the Scholastic Book Fair fliers that came home and borrowed books from my brother and close friends. Reading could take me anywhere and let me be whoever I wanted to be. Every story was an adventure, a safe place, a chance to make a new discovery or friend . . . I guess I never outgrew that thrill as I’m still finding new friends today.
Some of my favorite books are: Charlotte’s Web, Holes, When You Reach Me, The Westing Game, El Deafo, One Crazy Summer, Three Times Lucky, The One and Only Ivan, A Crooked Kind of Perfect, and A Sick Day for Amos McGee.
^ taken from her author bio on her website
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2023 ABC Soup RC
- 2023 Cloak and Dagger
- 2023 Goodreads RC
- 2023 Let Us Read Middle Grade
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