With the April meeting of The Book Review Club – hosted by the fabulous I So Don’t Do Mysteries middle grade author Barrie Summy – landed on April Fool’s day, I knew I had to review a book especially appropriate for the day. Especially since Barrie is such a prankster herself. Hmmm… I wonder if there’s an April Fool’s “I So Don’t Do” mystery in the future…

After searching online I found the perfect book to review: April Fool’s Day: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew by Carolyn Keene, of course. And it was available on Kindle. And because our household just got a Kindle, it was the perfect book for me to take Kindle out on a test drive. So I downloaded it on Saturday and finished reading it by Sunday. Being able to immediately download a book was a huge plus – my amazon.com order for my print books just arrived yesterday.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Nancy Drew book. My last Nancy Drew sighting was the movie, Nancy Drew: The Mystery of Hollywood Hills. Used to experiencing Nancy Drew the teenager, this was the first time I was introduced to Nancy Drew, the middle grader – but up-to-date with cell phones, gamer girls, and computers. I would think the middle grade set would love it! Hmmm… I’m sounding rather old just saying that…

Apparently, the Clue Crew was started in 2006 and there are now 24 titles in this series. Here’s the blurb for April Fool’s Day:

Nancy, George, and Bess have been invited to an April Fool’s Day party at their new schoolmate’s house. It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun — each guest is bringing a gag to the party, and the best prank will win a special prize.When two of the guests’ fancy new electronics go missing, Nancy knows something’s up. Is this someone’s idea of a joke? The Clue Crew certainly isn’t laughing, and they’re on the case to find the missing gadgets.

It really was a lot of fun to read, even for me. It took me back to my childhood reading all about Nancy, George, Bess, and Housekeeper Hannah Gruen. But I missed the teen-aged Nancy and boyfriend Ned Nickerson. The best thing about this is that for those middle-graders being introduced to Nancy Drew at this age, they have a whole lot of fun awaiting them with the entire Nancy Drew series. I kinda wish I had a middle grader to introduce Nancy Drew to.

To read more April reviews from The Book Review Club…