Sara Shepard, Penny Draws a Secret Adventure (Penny Draws, #3), Text Publishing, April 2024, 272 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922790569
The Penny Draws series, by Sara Shepard is a great one for all types of readers as the main character, Penny, is a typical child with typical problems. She’s got parents who are distracted by a new set of twins, she’s got a babysitter who is even more apathetic and she’s beginning to feel like she’s being left out of her friend group. She’s also a ‘take action’ type of person – a great trait in a main character, and she is funny.
In this story, Penny finds a box of old keys which is the start of a series of clues and mysteries that she is determined to solve. Along with her friends, Penny tramps around the neighbourhood trying to get to the bottom of things. Who is behind everything? Is it a parent, her weird teacher with the hand puppet, the ambivalent babysitter, or someone else entirely?
This is a heavily illustrated chapter book. Think along the lines of Matt Stanton’s Funny Kid series. The illustrations are often in comic-book panels with speech bubbles, so they are a part of the text that moves the story forward. This means that strong readers in grades 3 and 4 would enjoy it, but I also think there is enough in the story and character development for a grade 5 or 6 student to still be engaged. This series might be of interest to readers of the Lottie Brooks series, which is a huge hit in my house right now. Each of these main characters, Penny and Lottie, face typical tween issues and both stories have a sense of humour. If you haven’t read either series yet, my recommendation is to try Penny Draws first, it would be a great lead into Lottie Brooks.
Reviewed by Cherie Bell
