Beth recommends "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie"

Meet Flavia de Luce, one of the most engaging and precocious amateur detectives I have encountered in recent mystery fiction. Flavia lives with her widowed father and two older sisters in a crumbling English manor house. The year is 1950 and Flavia’s passion is chemistry – particularly the study of poisons. She uses her expertise and insatiable curiosity to solve two crimes – one that took place years ago when her father was in school, and the current one which has landed a dead body in her backyard. A couple of very rare – and missing - postage stamps figure into the story as well. This award-winner is the first book in a new series by Canadian author Alan Bradley. I found “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” a very enjoyable read!

Age – Adult, Young Adult

Kara recommends "The Devil's Paintbox"

This is a great book for teens! Full of history and adventure, it covers a slice of Aiden’s life as he travels west with a wagon train, works in the woods of Washington state, and helps his Native American friends defeat the smallpox epidemic that is ravaging their tribes.