Spy in the Alley

January 1, 2003
Gr 4-6-When a bucktoothed prowler begins to stalk Madge Galloway, a local teen model in Vancouver, British Columbia, her inquisitive younger sister vows to track him down and bring him to justice. Dinah has an appetite for adventure as well as for gleaning fresh produce from the neighbors' yards. When she is not tormenting her sister over her stuck-up boyfriend, whose dad happens to own the agency where Madge works, the 11-year-old uses her resources to fight video-game monsters and sing for free ice cream at the local gelati shop. Dinah befriends a young man who is house-sitting for her neighbors, the Rinaldis, and who also does volunteer work for an antismoking organization. Before long, Dinah begins to suspect that there are connections among the prowler, repeated break-ins to the Rinaldi house, and a deal between the modeling agency and Fields Tobacco. The characters avoid broad stereotypes (Madge actually prefers painting to modeling) and have interesting backgrounds, even though the situations they find themselves in stretch credibility at times. Unfortunately, the vibrant personalities are often bogged down with forced dialogue and overexplained situations. Still, this is a fun, lighthearted story that also deals thoughtfully with serious issues such as substance abuse and self-esteem.-Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA