Yours Truly

December 15, 2016
Following Absolutely Truly (2014), this second Pumpkin Falls Mystery follows middle schooler and gumshoe Truly Lovejoy as she tackle mysteries surrounding a local feud and a family secret. Adjusting to life in Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire, 6-foot-tall, white Truly's looking forward to celebrating her 13th birthday with her visiting cousin, Mackenzie, during Maple Madness, a popular tourist event highlighting the local maple sugaring season. When sap lines are sabotaged at two rival maple sugar businesses, locals quickly take sides, prompting Truly to activate the Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes as they surreptitiously set up video surveillance in the sugaring bush. Meanwhile, Truly's discovery of a hidden diary belonging to her ancestor triggers intriguing historical investigations into whether the Lovejoy house served as an Underground Railroad station during the Civil War. In her down-to-earth, vulnerable, unassuming voice, Truly reveals her love of swimming and bird-watching, her growing crush on a classmate, her unfounded jealousy of Mackenzie, and her irritation with her interfering younger sister. Historical subtext about the Underground Railroad and the New Hampshire setting add special dimensions to this rural mystery. Truly's fans cheer the return of the likable sleuth in this family-oriented mystery in which past and present collide. (Mystery. 8-12)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 4-8-Pumpkin Falls, NH, is a long way from Austin, TX, but it is the place that Truly Lovejoy and her family now call home. It's where her dad's family is from, and when her father was injured in the war in Afghanistan, it's where they returned to be part of the family business, Lovejoy's Books. Mackenzie, Truly's cousin, is visiting from Texas and wants Truly to show her around the town. At this time of year, the biggest thing going on is the Maple Fest. The syrup is flowing, and the town is beset by tourists eager to soak up the charm of quaint Pumpkin Falls. However, someone is sabotaging the maple tree taps, and tensions are rising as people start suspecting one another. The protagonist and her friends resurrect Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes, which originated in Absolutely Truly, in order to investigate. In the meantime Truly and Mackenzie unearth another mystery: a diary left behind by the protagonist's ancestor, the original Truly. As the kids search for the story behind the diary, they begin to wonder if it ties into anything that is currently going on in Pumpkin Falls. Fans of the first book will not be disappointed in this mystery, while new readers will fall in love with Truly and her family as they cope with all the excitement and mystery in Pumpkin Falls. VERDICT A well-written and engaging light mystery. Recommended for most school and public library middle grade collections.-Laura Fields Eason, Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School, Bowling Green, KY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

hopmer1718 - How would you feel if you had to leave your home and move into your grandparents house, To find a mystery that happened even before you were born? The book Yours Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick is about a 13 year old girl. That had to move away from her home in Texas and move into her grandparents house , in Pumpkin Falls New Hampshire, and one day her and cousin discover a mystery that leads back to the civil war. The book takes place in the early fall in a town called Pumpkin falls New Hampshire. In the book the don't say the main character's name the main character tells the whole story and she tells us that she is thirteen. Early in the book the main character tells that on her birthday how had to help out her family with an event they called (Maple madness). While she was there, she meet a boy that she knows and he kissed her on the lips, and throughout the book, she kind of tried to stay away from that boy. In the book the main characters cousin came up to visit and they both found diaries from one of their family members and its Pumpkin Falls private eyes to solve this mystery. I recommend this book to a type of reader that likes mysteries, and like books that put you on the edge of your seat!!