What a great paragraph — in a novel that says it's for "ages 8-12" — as protagonist Friday Barnes confers with her best friend Melanie:

Friday sighed. There was no point arguing with Melanie. Words had very little semiotic meaning for her. She usually lost concentration somewhere between the beginning and the end of a sentence.

... and later on that same page:

... Friday had received an A+ for her presentation on Rosalind Franklin and how Watson, Crick, and ovarian cancer had combined to cheat her out of a Nobel Prize for her role in the discovery of the structure of DNA. ...

That's not atypical prose for R. A. Spratt's book Friday Barnes, Girl Detective. It's a delightful fast-paced tongue-firmly-in-cheek first-in-a-series of stories featuring a scary-smart somewhat-shy socially-skewed young lady who solves crimes and other mysteries. The author is Australian, and (judging by an interview with her) much like her central character. Highly recommended for all who cherish cleverness and silly fun.

_{(cf Three Man Boat (2002-01-10), Detectives in Togas (2003-08-06), Frog and Toad (2009-01-09), Enchanted Castle (2010-07-17), ...) - ^z - 2023-10-18}