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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller

Genre: Fiction, Youth
Length: 387 pages

Reviewed by Willow Locksley

“When I grow up, I’d like to be dangerous.”

So declares twelve-year-old Kiki in Kirsten Miller’s book for dangerous girls of all ages, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City.

Aspiring to study giant squid hasn’t won Ananka Fishbein a lot of friends at her posh school in New York City. Fortunately her promising combination of intelligence and curiosity is recognized by the enigmatic Kiki Strike. Kiki is the undersized mastermind behind a team of pre-teen females, each recruited for their unique skill set. Their mission: explore, map out, and safeguard the Shadow City, an abandoned network of belowground tunnels and rooms once inhabited by thugs and smugglers. Not to mention rats. And skeletons.

It’s obvious that author Kirsten Miller is aiming to counteract the damsels-in-distress stories of yore with something a little more modern and daring. Her strong female protagonists rely on self-defense, technological savvy, logic and plain old pluck to overcome challenges. A succinct, fast-progressing plot and Miller’s humorous advice on a number of topics (among them How To Prepare For Adventure, How To Care For An Injured Colleague, and How To Plan An Escape Route), make this an undeniably entertaining read.

The message of this book can be summed up in two words: girl power. Kiki and her friends scorn their ditzy, gossiping, party-going peers and get their kicks from disguises, gadgets, and explosives instead. What for some of them begins as a way to find adventure and riches eventually morphs into an obligation to save New York City from bad guys. Unfortunately they justify lying to parents, sneaking out of the house at night, creating fake IDs, and other activities that would, in real life, be extremely unwise behavior. Young readers may be tempted to emulate Kiki’s foolhardier actions. As always, parents should take an active role in deciding whether this story is suitable for their child.

I trust I’m not alone when I recall the imaginary epics I starred in as a young girl, joining a board of geniuses, trumping evil-doers, surviving thrilling escapades (in other words, being dangerous), all the while looking spiffy in my dress-up hat and heels. This fun foray into make-believe continues with Kiki Strike: The Empress’s Tomb.

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