The Lady's Slipper: A Melody Mystery

American Girl Mysteries

by Emma Carlson Berne, Juliana Kolesova (Illustrator)

Melody is impressed by her sophisticated new friend, Leah Roth, but she wishes her cousin Val would stop being so standoffish to Leah! Melody meets Leah's grandfather, Dr. Roth, a botanist who escaped the Nazis and brought a rare and valuable Lady's Slipper orchid with him to America. When Melody's own grandfather becomes a suspect in a burglary, Melody turns to Val and Leah for help. Yet Leah seems to be hiding something - something to do with her grandfather that could hurt all of them. Can Melody catch the orchid thief before it's too late?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens, Historical, Mystery Thriller

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2017

About the author

Emma Carlson Berne is the author of the YA thrillers STILL WATERS and NEVER LET YOU GO (coming Fall 2012 from Simon & Schuster). She has also written the thrillers FIGMENT and CHOKER under the pen name Elizabeth Woods. She lives and writes in Cincinnati. Learn more about Emma and contact her directly at her website, www.emmacarlsonberne.com. Or check out Emma Carlson Berne Books on http://www.facebook.com/EmmaCarlsonBe... or follow her on Twitter.

Reviews

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guessed the culpits halfway through but I still liked the book.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great AG marathon continues. Again, reading for the first time as an adult, inspired by the American Girls podcast.

This is easily the most predictable of the AG mysteries I've encountered so far. Leah clearly had something shady going on, and it wasn't hard to put the basic pieces together. If anything, I expected worse from her than the author delivered: I thought it was suspicious that she was so interested in suddenly making friends with a younger girl, and was afraid that she was deliberately trying to frame Melody and/or Poppa.

The connections drawn between the Black community and the Jewish community are a great element, and as always in books set around this time, I had to remind myself how recent the events of WWII and the Holocaust still were. (1944 is to 1964 as 2002 is to 2022...)

Again assuming that music was going to be Melody's central thing, I had in my head that "the lady's slipper" was going to be something owned by Lady Day, Billie Holliday (which, I realize now, would have needed to be posthumous to work at all, as she died in 1959 and this is set in 1966). Anyway, I should have just looked more closely at the cover art, because we're actually talking about orchids, and as book 2 made clear, Melody is more plant mom than performer.

[Mgrones · Rating 1 out of 5]

American Girl has been hit or miss with publishing since Mattel bought the company. This one is definitely a miss. It is advertised as a mystery, but no problem or mystery appears until chapter 9 of a 13 chapter book. Then the problem is easily solved and has very little to do with the main character, 10 year old Melody. The first Melody books, by a different author, are extremely well written and delve into racial conflicts of the 60s while introducing a wonderfully developed extended family. This book all but ignores Melody's family while she forms a friendship with a Jewish girl and learns about the holocaust. Spoiler alert and a warning for parents: A 14 year old girl commits a serious crime and no consequences are shown. In fact, the author seems to justify the crime. This is a line of books meant for 8 year olds.

[Historical Dolls Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

The oppression Jews have faced in the time period of 2,000 years and still today is not one meant to be left ignored nor swept under the rug. Jews have faced the most discrimination not any group of people of all human history. Thank you American Girl for writing this mystery and to teach young girls that Jews wanted and had to fights for their rights as well. ❤️❤️

[Alexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melody's first mystery book is really good! In this book, Melody meets a girl named Leah. Melody is fascinated with Leah's style and wants to be her friend. However, Melody's cousin Val doesn't trust Leah and feels cast aside when Melody spends most of her day with her.
Meanwhile Melody's grandfather is blamed for a crime he did not commit, Someone has been stealing orchids from the conservatory. Also Leah is acting strange especially when she talks about her own grandfather and how he was treated by the Nazis in Poland
I figured out who the culprit was very fast. This book shows just how far someone might be willing to go for family or money. The Inside Melody's World(formally known as the Looking Back section in the older books)discusses orchids, orchid theft, Belle Isle, the holocaust and racial stereotyping

[Melissa Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this melody mystery . The subjects of racial profiling and the Holocaust appear in this book. It was interesting to see the correlations between the similar struggles between black people and Jewish people. Both suffered hate crimes ,discrimination, segregation( Europe), and were treated badly by the dominant groups where they lived. It makes sense both marginalized groups would work together . I love Melody and think 2 or 3 more mysteries should be written about her. Because after all , the historical character mysteries are very unbalanced with characters like Kit( 7 mysteries),julie(5) and Samantha (5) having plenty of mysteries. While on the other hand, characters like Kirsten( one mystery) ,Kaya(2)and Addy(1). It not fair to these characters being denied a bigger story

[Danielle T · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mystery books are written by different authors than the mainline books, so I'm really curious about how this differs from those (which are #ownvoices, vs this one by a prolific middle grade/juvenile lit white author).

The core of the mystery is over stolen orchids, and Melody makes a new friend. The book draws parallels between treatment of Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland to Black people in the Jim Crow South, and while they are comparable, I felt like the way Poppa reacts to his treatment could've been done with more nuance (a minor nitpick). Overall, a quick read.

[ElsaMakotoRenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

As just another Melody book, I really enjoyed this! The actual mystery aspect is pretty much nonexistent though. It’s so odd to me how some of the AG mysteries do really well on the mystery part and others- like this one- are SO predictable that I don’t feel it should even be marketed as a “mystery” lol. Especially when the actual “mystery” in this one didn’t even show up until 2/3 into the book, unless we count “what’s going on with Leah” as The Mystery, I guess.

So final verdict: pick up The Lady’s Slipper as an extra novel about Melody, not a mystery book:)

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for one of the mysteries. This book introduces Leah, a new, slightly older friend for Melody. Leah is Jewish, and her grandfather is a Holocaust survivor. Introducing them as characters lets the author explore, however briefly, Jewish allies during the Civil Rights movement and the long-term effects on Holocaust survivors. The actual mystery itself was hardly mysterious to me as an adult reader, though there are a few red herrings that may throw off younger readers.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story but not the mystery. It wasn't really that big of a mystery at all. I liked that Leah got introduced, it was neat to learn about a different culture from Melody's point of view. I really like Melody but this book was weak and didn't reflect as much of the warmth I got from her other books. Her culture was lacking/almost non-existent. I mean, it's not the original author, or even a black author, so that probably has something to do with it.

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book and it dosen't just show the injustice that African Americans had to suffer in bit also the injustice that Jewish people had to suffer in during World War 2. This book was a little easy for me but, overall it is a good book and American girl sould write more mystery Melody books.

[Laura Alley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! I enjoy the American Girl historical mysteries so much. It was interesting to read about a post-war Jewish family in the 1960s and how they adapted to life in America after unfair treatment in Europe. I also didn’t really know about how valuable certain kinds of orchids are, so I learned a lot! I wish Melody had more mystery books - she definitely got left out.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Readable, with relevant friendship issues. It seemed like the core mystery arrived in the plot a little late, and the setup made for a more obvious culprit.

Different author than the original stories.

[Jessica Kuznicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too predictable. And the friendship issues were a bit annoying although I can see how it could be relatable to 9 year olds. The flower was a very interesting take, and it brings up important issues that need more written on.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a mystery, it’s terrible. I sniped who the thief was before the theft had EVEN HAPPENED. Which was easy to do, since the plot of the book didn’t get started till more than halfway through.

However. As an addition to the Melody canon. It’s lovely.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a sweet book, but I knew who did it from the beginning.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery for youth. Not too scary but enough to make you keep reading. I loved learning about the different types of orchids.

[Brittany Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5