When Princess Ingrid is kidnapped, along with her fiancé, Binky Pelly, it’s all over the international news. The King of Norway is distraught. The people of Norway are bewildered. And Ingrid’s bodyguard is fired. So, he calls on his least favourite Interpol agent for help – Friday Barnes.
The trail soon leads them to New York City, where finding a princess is harder than finding a tiara in a haystack. Can Friday unravel the mystery of the disappearing lovebirds? And when a Manhattan rockstar’s book of handwritten lyrics goes missing, it's up to Friday to restore this priceless artefact to its rightful home.---from the publisher
256 pages 9781761349713 Ages 8-12
Keywords: mystery and detective, kidnapping, princess, Europe, New York, part of a series, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old
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The story so far...
Friday Barnes is the daughter of two highly-intelligent, eccentric physicists who are so disconnected from her upbringing that they called her Friday even though she was born on a Thursday. She did have four siblings, all much older than her being born during the four-and-a-half years their mother had allocated for the task. Friday was not scheduled and her birth was fitted in around a lecture her mother had to give in Switzerland. Eleven years later, Friday had largely raised herself and she was happy with that. Her greatest wish was to be unnoticed because you could do so much more that way like eating a whole block of chocolate at once without it being taken off you. Unfortunately, it also means that you do not develop very good social skills particularly if you spend your time reading scientific tomes and educating yourself beyond the realms of anything a school could offer.
However, as well as the non-fiction her parents library consisted of, Friday had a penchant for detective novels because “being a detective allowed a person a licence to behave very eccentrically indeed” and she had honed her powers of observation and logical thought over the years. But the time has now come for Friday to go to high school and given her parents haven’t even realised she is no longer in preschool, it was up to her to sort it. She would have preferred not to go at all because she saw it as being all about “bullying, dodge ball and having to find a date for the prom” but the government was insistent that she do. She tried to compromise by applying for university and passed the exam to study medicine but was knocked back on her age.
So rejecting the idea of the Foreign Legion, the Peace Corps and being smuggled out of the country by people traffickers, after helping her ex-cop, private investigator Uncle Bernie solve a case she finds herself with the means to send herself to Highcrest Academy, the best and most expensive boarding school in the whole country. Her intention is to stay under the radar, do what she has to do and leave. But things do not work out that way. Right from the start, her nondescript self-imposed uniform of brown cardigans, grey t-shirts and blue jeans makes her stand out among the fashion parade that is the elite, wealthy students who also attend and being knocked down in the carpark on the first day doesn’t help either. Nor does being the brightest student in the entire school, being labelled “scholarship girl” by the school bully and being unable to help herself being able to point out the flaws and inaccuracies in the conversation and presentations of others. Antagonising the handsome, previously-smartest student Ian Wainscott adds to her woes, particularly when her roommate, the not-so-bright, filter-free Melanie insists there is a romance blooming, something that Friday scoffs at. But their paths have already been inextricably interwoven…
Now, in this, the 13th episode, the reader joins Friday in New York because Princess Ingrid has been kidnapped, along with her fiancé, Binky Pelly, and it’s all over the international news. The King of Norway is distraught. The people of Norway are bewildered. And Ingrid’s bodyguard is fired. So, he calls on Friday, his least favourite Interpol agent, for help, and together with her now-buddies, Ian and Melanie, they follow the trail which takes them to New York City, where finding a princess is harder than finding a tiara in a haystack. Can Friday unravel the mystery of the disappearing lovebirds? Is their disappearance a crime or something else? And when a Manhattan rockstar’s book of handwritten lyrics goes missing, it's up to Friday to restore this priceless artefact to its rightful home.
When this series was first published in 2014, it quickly became a favourite among those looking for a story that had some meat to it with a heroine they could relate to, including Ms Then-8. Since then Friday’s adventures and escapades have garnered a wide and increasing audience. But as well as the established fan base who are now in their teens - even Ms Now 19 will enjoy revisiting her childhood reads- this is such a timeless and quality series that it is worth introducing it to a new generation of independent readers. For those who like immersing themselves in a series, particularly those who see themselves in Friday - intelligent, quirky, and a bit different from her peers but very comfortable in their own skin, yet deep down wanting to be just like them- having 12 previous episodes to snuggle down with is a dream! And when they have worked their way through solving crimes with Friday and co, they can then indulge in The Peski Kids , another equally engaging series.
This review can also be found here.
Recommended by: Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
