LINDA’S MYSTERIES OF THE MONTH FOR KIDS:

For Young Adults

BAD KITTY by Michele Jaffe
HarperCollins, $16.99 (ages 12 and up)
Meet Jasmine, forensic supersleuth and unwitting victim of a naughty feline. All Jasmine really wants is to enjoy her family vacation in Las Vegas... And to avoid her evil cousin Alyson and Alyson's best fiend, Veronique... And to show her suspicious dad that she can be a Model Daughter... Okay, and maybe to meet the hot guy she's been eyeing from across the pool. Is that too much to ask? One moment she's an innocent bylounger, the next she’s the central figure in a Las Vegas-sized mystery. Fortunately, Jasmine is both a forensics enthusiast and possessed of some very special friends who crash the vacation, vamp up Jasmine's wardrobe, and find themselves key players in the most outrageous adventure in a town known for outrageous adventures. All because of a very bad kitty. Chick Lit meets Nancy Drew -- or maybe Ellery Queen? Sherlock Holmes meets Gilmore Girls? Great fun, with some good deductive reasoning hidden within the fast-paced quipping.






For Younger Readers

ALIENS ARE COMING: The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast by Meghan McCarthy

Knopf, $16.95 (ages 5-9)

It was an ordinary night in October of 1938, until a news bulletin interrupted the dance music on CBS radio. Aliens were invading the United States! Meghan McCarthy’s hilarious ALIENS ARE COMING! tells the true story of the Halloween radio prank that duped much of the country into believing that Martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actual War of the Worlds radio broadcast to build suspense, and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930s (before the time of televisions and computers), as well as facts about Orson Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based. McCarthy built a spaceship in her garage at the age of six, and has been hoping to be abducted by aliens ever since. Great illustrations, reminiscent of the pulp magazines and dime-store novels of the day the story was first broadcast (with a hint of influence from Bart Simpson & Co.).