Monday, April 01, 2013

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Mo's always been lucky.  She was born during a hurricane eleven years ago, found on a piece of debris washed up on a creek near Tupelo Landing, North Carolina.  The Colonel wrecked his car in this hurricane, lost all memory of his former life,  rescued the baby and named her, Moses.  He now runs the Cafe in Tupelo Landing with  Miss Lana, his cook, and they are Mo's parents.  Mo's best friend is  Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, and together they have plans for a day of fishing to start this summer.   Mo longs to find her "Upstream Mama" and she writes letters describing her life in Tupelo Landing, places them in bottles and gives them to those who  offer to take them far upstream and let them go in hopes of helping Mo locate her birth mother.  Mo is smart,  sassy and a born detective.  She and Dale form the Desperado Detective agency to solve local crimes, find missing cats and any other jobs that they can find.  But when the town crank, Mr. Jessie, is found murdered, and Dale is a  a possible suspect, she gets to work looking for clues to solve this crime.  A city-slick detective comes to town and his questions disrupt not only her summer but may threaten to disrupt her life, as well.  Will Mo's luck hold on?  Will the Colonel's past come back to haunt him?  Will the new hurricane that comes blowing into Tupelo Landing destroy the only home Mo has ever known?   Will Mo ever find her "Upstream Mama"?  This is a heart-warming read for the young-of-heart reader.  The mystery is suspenseful, the hurricane blows up a tense finale and readers will find they are the lucky ones for reading this book!  Three Times Lucky was an Honor award book on this year's Newbery Award winners for best in Children's literature.

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