Vonda Skinner Skelton Bitsy and the Mystery at Amelia Island

Bitsy Burroughs needs money. Her struggling parents are unable to come up with the hundred dollars required for her camp fees, so the spunky twelve-year-old enters herself in a talent contest and, as a backup plan, starts her own business. (Bitsy's Bangles are monogram necklaces with a "double-your-money-back" guarantee.) Finances are never secure in Bitsy's world, but she's optimistic as she takes a week to visit her friends Garrett and Ellie on Amelia Island, Florida.

The song Bitsy has chosen to perform in the talent show, "I Enjoy Being A Girl," couldn't be further from her own personality, but she's determined to mold her image to fit, making an effort to change her hair color and even consider the possibility of (shudder) actually wearing makeup!

The feisty Bitsy has recently resolved to "live in peace with everyone" until she encounters Ernie, the neighborhood bully. For Bitsy, being a "sissy" is never an option, and she's prepared to back that up with her fists. Unfortunately for her new "girly-girl" image, Ernie is more than a match for her, and she emerges from the fight a bloody, black-eyed mess.

To further complicate the situation, rumors of ghosts are thwarting the adults' efforts to establish a resource center for handicapped youngsters next door, and of course Bitsy and her friends feel they must help investigate.

Author Skelton never condescends to her young audience. She especially shines in the action and crisis scenes, where it's touch and go for Bitsy or her friends. (Watch for an early nail-biter that involves being buried in the sand.)

In this second Bitsy mystery, Vonda Skelton has again given young readers a thoroughly three-dimensional character to cheer for--and occasionally laugh at--in a warm family atmosphere. As young womanhood looms on the horizon, Bitsy is making an effort to control her hair trigger temper, but she's not going to give up being a tomboy without a fight!

Bitsy and the Mystery at Amelia Island

Vonda Skinner Skelton

Twelve years old South Carolina native Bitsy Burroughs is visiting her best friends, Garrett and Ellie Price who recently moved to Florida's Amelia Island when she meets the local bully Ernie van Tache in a confrontation in which she refuses to back down. Ernie roughs up the smaller Bitsy until his twin sister Bernie warns him off or else he will face the wrath of their aunt.

Not long afterward, the townsfolk debate whether to convert an abandoned house into a resource center to help children. Strange things begin occurring including a ghost trying to chase away anyone entering the abandoned house. Bitsy leads a team of preadolescent investigators made of the twin bullies and the Price siblings, along with the neighbor's dog and a cockatoo trying to expose who is behind the seemingly otherworldly happenings.

BITSY AND THE MYSTERY AT AMELIA ISLAND is an excellent amateur sleuth "ghost" story that targets the younger middle school student, who will enjoy the antics of courageous heroine who stands up to a bully, a witch, and a ghost. The storyline follows Bitsy's escapades as she bravely takes on one antagonist after another. Young readers will enjoy her adventurous vacation on Amelia Island.

Silver Dagger, Jul 2005, $8.95, 192 pp.

ISBN: 1570723079

Harriet Klausner