The Secret Library
by Kekla Magoon
Intermediate    Candlewick    384 pp.
5/24    9781536230888    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536237498    $18.99

Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Delilah “Dally” Peteharrington’s mother wants to prepare her to take over the family business. Every afternoon, she meets with tutors to learn “important business-ish things,” but what she really wants is to go on adventures like the ones her grandfather took her on before he died. When her mother refuses to let her sign up for Adventure Club at school, Dally decides to take matters into her own hands. She sneaks into her grandfather’s study to find the envelope he left for her—which she is not supposed to open until she turns twenty-one. Inside is a map that leads Dally to a secret library; from there, she can go back in time. With each visit to the past, Dally learns more about the Peteharringtons and how they got their wealth. Magoon adeptly and naturally weaves issues of race, class, and gender into a creative fantasy adventure. Readers will enjoy time-traveling with Dally and learning her family secrets, and many will especially enjoy Dally’s time as a pirate. A family tree shown near the end of the book helps make connections among the many characters.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.