Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor

Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor
Ally Carter
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020
322 pages
Grades 5-7
Mystery, Adventure

Life as an orphan has not been easy for April. She has bounced from foster home to foster home, yet knows that one day her mother will return to claim her, having left April with a key that she wears around her neck and a note that she will return. A visit to the local museum reveals a display from the Winterborne family with a chest sporting the same crest as on her key. April hides in the museum after hours to see if she can get her key to fit and finds herself being rescued from a fire by a famous statue. The fire seems to be the last straw. Where will April be sent next? Imagine her surprise when a limousine whisks her away to the Winterborne Mansion where four other orphans reside with connections to the Winterborne family. Gabriel Winterborne, the heir to the fortune, disappeared many years ago under mysterious circumstances and his uncle is trying to locate him. In the meantime, a foundation has been established to educate the orphans and give them a safe home. All is not as it seems, as April hears mysterious noises in the night. Is it that statue again come to life? And what is its purpose?

Best known for teen suspense, Carter tries her hand at middle grade by returning to the world of boarding schools, yet for an younger audience. Though not as sophisticated as her teen fiction and without the prerequisite romance, this series starter contains the action and suspense of her works aimed at older readers. April is a likable and feisty character. Middle grade readers love an orphan and will immediately sympathize with April's tragic life.The creepy Winterborne Mansion with its secret passageways and dark corners will also delight the target audience with a slight Hogwarts vibe. The action never stops and April must be brave at every turn and encounter some slightly scary situations. There is a clear-cut bad guy, which will satisfy readers, who gets his comeuppance by the book's end. There are many mysteries from whatever happened to Gabriel Winterborne to what is the connection of the characters to the estate. Most of them are cleared up-with the exception of how the hero, April, fits in and why she has the key. This will lead readers to the next installment, recently released, Winterborne House for Mayhem and Mystery. An atmospheric read that will keep middle grade readers guessing and turning pages.