BIRDS, MAGIC, AND MYSTERY

Kathleen O'Dell's book The Aviary presents a most unusual situation. It starts as a story about an old lady dying in a rundown mansion cared for by a young girl, her mother, and a housekeeper. Mrs. Glendoveer, the old lady, was married to a magician who performed all over the world and was struck with tragedy when her six children were kidnapped. Five of the children's bodies were recovered, but the youngest boy Elliott was never found. That would be enough mystery for one book, but there's more. Clara, the young girl, is frightened by the five birds in the aviary who were supposedly part of the magician's act. One day when Clara actually speaks to the birds, they surprisingly talk to her. As Clara learns more about Mrs. Glendoveer's children from the birds and snooping around the old mansion, she realizes that she may also be learning about her missing father. This mystery with a touch of fantasy slowly reveals the unusual circumstances that occurred almost fifty years before.

While not a brand-new book, this one does appear on the Anderson's Mock Newbery list and I've been waiting to find time to read it.  It was worth the wait.