No Stone Unturned by Helen Watts (Children's, 11 years +, 8/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

  September 2014, A & C Black Children's & Educational, 272 pages, Review copy 

Content: mystery, suspense, 

Summary from Bloomsbury

Kelly, a Traveller girl, is isolated and unhappy at her new school. Until the hot summer day when she meets Ben.

Ben offers to help Kelly with her history project. It's just schoolwork - except that the investigation quickly becomes compelling. Strange puzzles are revealed. A dark secret of the local quarry comes to life. Soon the mystery of the past is spilling into the present - and into Kelly's own life.

Kelly must bring the long-buried truth to light. And she will leave no stone unturned...
- See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/no-stone-unturned-9781472905406/#sthash.Lh4jQFCZ.dpuf

Kelly, a Traveller girl, is isolated and unhappy at her new school. Until the hot summer day when she meets Ben.

Ben offers to help Kelly with her history project. It's just schoolwork - except that the investigation quickly becomes compelling. Strange puzzles are revealed. A dark secret of the local quarry comes to life. Soon the mystery of the past is spilling into the present - and into Kelly's own life.

Kelly must bring the long-buried truth to light. And she will leave no stone unturned...

Nayu's thoughts  

Knowing only a little about Travellers, I was intrigued about Kelly's life. She is a bit unusual in managing to stay at school when other girls her age quit. She loves learning, but struggles in school with prejudice against who she is. Her parents may seem harsh but I think it's only because they know how people misjudge them based on the not so good goings on some travellers do. They want to protect her as much as they can, although she sees it as them not wishing her to be happy or independent. I thought it was totally reasonable that they wanted to meet Ben, something Kelly got in trouble over due to Ben having his own reasons for not seeing them.

There are more than a few twists to both Kelly's home life and her friendship with Ben. Most I didn't see coming, but a few major ones I managed to pick up the hints dropped throughout the book, which made the ending all the more interesting because I had to wait and see how certain facts/events were learnt/panned out. I'd really like to have more adventures with Kelly, because I think much more can be learnt from her life, and I liked her as a character, although sometimes got a bit frustrated with the choices she made which is partly accountable for the 8/10E grade, and the rest is that it didn't have that extra sparkle some books have that make them stellar reads. This is still a story I'm looking forward to rereading, as it was enjoyable. 

Find out more on Helen's website.