cbr15bingo: Nostalgia: For the days when I first read this author, a young kid with no adult problems!
When I was asked who my favorite author was as a kid, usually I would say Mary Downing Hahn. I had others (Walter Dean Myers, R. L. Stine, Christopher Pike, to name a few), but she was always one. Then, as an adult a gal I met via pen palling said she liked her too, so we bonded over our like of this author. And when I saw What We Saw: A Thriller, last year, I knew I would have to read it. Unfortunately, it started out a bit slow, and the reader copy I had was misplaced. So the other day in June 2023 (after starting in October 2022) the book was finished.
In the meantime, I was taken back to my preteen years with a classic feeling of best friends and a wild murder mystery adventure. While modern (the kids have cell phones) it feels as if it could be set anytime. Some concepts might not be for sensitive readers (triggers: affairs, drug use, a murder, use of firearms and the death of an animal) it is good for 10 and up.
The idea of growing up and out of crushes, certain friendships, and dealing with different parental styles is a familiar one, but this would be a good introduction to Hahn and to the murder-mystery genre. The ideas that come out of what Abbi and Skylar learn, how they deal with it and how things change and stay the same, are good, and easy to relate to, too. But as said above, there are a few things that are not easy to deal with, but Hahn is your favorite, cozy grandmother. One that kills off the local art teacher as she bakes you cookies, but she does not shock for shock value.
NOTE: edited the image on 8-25-23 (no other changes made)
