Well, sort of. I mean…oh, how do I put this? Donna Parker’s not a special agent in the sense that—she’s no junior CIA agent or that sort of thing, but she is a special agent in the sense that—ah, but we wouldn’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, do we? You’ll just have to wait until page 257 (of 282) to find that out.
Meanwhile, read about Donna Parker, our heroine, who as the story opens is just beginning her senior year of junior high school in the fictional city of Summerfield. Of Summerfield, we know that it’s a small town with a massive junior high school (the characters go up to the fourth floor of the building at one point). Donna finds herself in a quandary as the story begins—her best friend, Fredericka (who goes by Ricky) really wants to do drama club. Donna wants to do whatever club her friend does, but she also really wants to be a newspaper reporter—and ultimately, she joins the school newspaper instead. Ricky might have considered joining the school newspaper to, were it not for the tyrannical Joyce Davenport, daughter of the editor of Summerfield’s newspaper, who’s considered bossy and stuck-up by all who know her. In fact, Donna’s friends all want Donna to be elected editor of the paper, but Donna’s never edited a newspaper before, so she convinces them to vote for Joyce instead. As it turns out, Joyce is in a very bad accident shortly into the book, and Donna will wind up taking over as editor—much to the humbler girl’s chagrin, but she immediately gets to work organizing the Summerfield Sum-It-Up’s new project—a mock election for the school, designed to get kids interested in voting.
But meanwhile, let’s meet some of the other characters. In addition to Ricky, we are also introduced to Tommy Sheridan, son of the man who owns the local helicopter factory. A humble kid by nature, Tommy has to be forced to tell his friends that he designed some clever new helicopter plans which are to be used in the plant. So impressive are his accomplishments that Tommy fears spies might be going after them, in order to sell them to a foreign power for use against the U.S.
And speaking of spies, let’s not forget about Roger Norcross. One day, when Donna gets home from school, she finds her mother speaking with a strange man who introduces himself as her uncle Roger, Mrs. Parker’s younger brother who ran away from home over ten years ago and hasn’t been seen for quite sometime. His business in Summerfield—well, it’s all rather mysterious. In fact, he says his job has something to do with movies, but he never says much about it. He also seems to be an expert on photography. Despite his charming manners, Donna realizes that her mother and father didn’t really recognize him when he showed up, causing the observant girl to suspect that this man might not even be her uncle—but if he isn’t, then why does he say he is, and why has he come to Summerfield in the first place?
This isn’t the first book in the Donna Parker series—it’s the first one I’ve read, but apparently it’s the fourth. If you have run across this series before, and you recall reading one mentioning a French count, then that one will tie in before this book’s through (though you don’t need to read that one first to still enjoy this). Certainly a mystery, the book’s not quite the same type as the Nancy Drew series. If this were a Nancy Drew book, you’d have a pretty good idea of what the mystery was early on, and the book would be about Nancy solving the case. This book’s a little different—it’s more about Donna Parker’s life, and what the case is about doesn’t become clear until around page 200—rather late in the book. However, the whole thing’s fun to read, and those first 200 pages do set up the exciting climax later on. My only complaint with the book is that it emphasizes the importance of voting, but doesn’t do a good job pointing out the need for voters to be familiar with their candidates, suggesting it’s a good idea to vote even if you know nothing about who you are voting for—something which anyone with a brain can see could have terrible consequences—but, like I said, that’s my only complaint. The pace is fast on this story, Donna Parker’s a wonderfully nice individual who’s always putting others ahead of herself, and the book does a good job keeping you guessing. If Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys aren’t quite long enough for you, give this thing a try if your lucky enough to stumble across it!
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