The Monkey's Secret

Description

San Francisco, 1900. Thirteen-year-old Lizzy Kennedy would rather be helping her doctor father with his patients than be stuck in frilly dresses. But when Jing, their beloved housekeeper, gets stuck in the Chinatown quarantine when plague rumours are rife Lizzie knows she has to help Jing, whatever the warnings. What she doesn't expect to find is a strange boy called Noah hiding in Jing's room.Lizzie will have to use all of her courage, instinct and cleverness to unravel the mystery of the monkey's secret, save Jing, Noah and Chinatown - and maybe even her change her own destiny.A historical mystery that explores the prejudices of the timeCholdenko's previous novel, AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS, was a School LibraryJournal, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. Choldenko has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and has a Newbery Honor.

Gennifer Choldenko was born in Santa Monica, California, and was the youngest of four kids, all of whom had big mouths. Gennifer spent a lot of her childhood by herself making up words, stories, songs, and jokes, none of which made a lot of sense. After graduating from Brandeis University with a degree in English, she went to work in advertising, but stopped after realising that all of her work was beginning to sound like the that of a big mouth twelve-year-old... At which point she went to Art School, but instead of getting her portfolio together, she wrote her first novel (she does her best work when she's supposed to be doing something else). Read more about Gennifer and her books, including her bestselling AL CAPONE DOES MY... series, at www.choldenko.com or on Twitter: @choldenko

A solid story of friendship, mystery, and one girl's perseverance Kirkus Reviews This engrossing mystery perfectly balances heart and intrigue, proving once again Choldenko's talent for packaging history within a story that kids are bound to love. -- Julia Smith Booklist Choldenko's latest features a fast-paced plot that will appeal to lovers of both mystery and historical fiction School Library Journal Reviews This book is a masterpiece ... wonderfully told and deserves praise galore. The Guardian (Praise for AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS)