Tween Tuesday: Girl's Best Friend by Leslie Margolis

4 soft and warm chocolate chip cookies!

Cover Love: Honestly, I don't love this cover, but I like the drawing of Maggie, and I like how the background is neutral so that Maggie is the thing that sticks out.

Why I Wanted To Read This: If you have ever worked around upper elementary or middle school readers one genre of book they ask for all the time is mystery books. In other words, I am always looking for mystery books for my readers!
Here's the synopsis from Bloomsbury:

Imagine a young Nancy Drew-with a dog-walking business, a twin brother, and a thoroughly modern, fresh perspectiveDogs are disappearing in her neighborhood, and Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair knows all about it. After all, she has a semi-secret after-school gig as a professional (ok, amateur) dog-walker. Maggie hates to see a pup in trouble, so she's even willing to help her ex-best friend Ivy recover her rescue-dog, Kermit. Kermit's being held for ransom, and Maggie has noticed some suspicious behavior lately. But she never suspected her crush Milo could be involved . . .

I Kept Reading Because:
Maggie is adorable! I love her voice and the book was well written and fun to read!

Romance?: The start of a super cute tween romance (or two).

What I Liked (& Didn't):
As stated above I adored Maggie. She has a great voice and was not afraid to speak up for herself. She handled most her conflicts well without being too bratty. I want to read more about Maggie stat!

However, she didn't stand up for herself with her former best friend (now a mean girl) Ivy. What a SNOT Ivy was! I really wanted Maggie to get some backbone there.

I liked that Maggie was not crushing on the most popular boy in school. She had a realistic crush and it was very sweet.

And, I LOVED how Maggie described her aversion to Nancy Drew (she's too perfect, her life is one big lovefest that is not realistic). She does get over that, thankfully. I don't know that I could adore a main character who truly didn't like Nancy Drew!

I also liked that there were a few small mysteries that Maggie was able to solve and that they were mysteries that a tween could solve. Both the mysteries were just small ones that most people overlooked, but Maggie was able to put all the pieces together.

What I Would Like To See:
I want to know what Ivy seems to think Maggie did that caused Ivy to drop her (she seems to hint at something in the park, I want to know what it was).
I also wonder if we will see Jane again, that story didn't seem to get tied up!

To Sum Up:
I am going to get this for my library and I am going to recommend it to those sixth and seventh grade readers who just aren't ready for the more grown up themes in some books. It is just a sweet story with a very engaging main character!

Book received from Bloomsbury (thanks Kate!).

Tween Tuesday is hosted by Sarah, the GreenBeanTeenQueen. Check her out!