Title and author: Tess, Terrorists, and the Tiara by Terry Baldwin
Publisher: Middleton Books
Pages: 221
Release Date: August 10, 2012
ISBN: 9780971661189
Source: The publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
Thirteen-year
old Tess has never been able to compete with her “perfect” older sister, but
now she must—if she wants to inherit her grandmother’s priceless tiara. The two
girls have been invited to their grandparent’s lake house for the summer to
help take care of Grandma who’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The
sister who earns the most “helpful points” wins the former beauty queen’s
crown.
"It’s not easy for Tess, who seems to always get things wrong despite best intentions. And who is that mysterious stranger who’s just moved next door to their grandparents’ summer cottage?
Does he know that Tess’ grandmother was once the winner of a famous patriotic beauty contest? Or that she keeps her tiara where anyone can steal it? And why doesn’t he have a face?
"It’s not easy for Tess, who seems to always get things wrong despite best intentions. And who is that mysterious stranger who’s just moved next door to their grandparents’ summer cottage?
Does he know that Tess’ grandmother was once the winner of a famous patriotic beauty contest? Or that she keeps her tiara where anyone can steal it? And why doesn’t he have a face?
My Thoughts:
While
the novel’s heroine, Tess, is thirteen, the core audience for this book seems
to be a bit younger, maybe ten or eleven.
Tess
is a delightful character that a lot of young girls can find a piece of
themselves. She is on the cusp of being a teenager, she has an older sister
everyone seems to prefer, and she is quite forgetful. But the one thing that
causes her to stand out from her sister is that she is not motivated by
anything other than being herself. She is who she is, and she will not
compromise that, even if it means she will lose a shot at her grandmother’s
tiara. After all, her sister is overly helpful, and she seems to always beat
Tess at volunteering for everything.
So
what happens when Tess takes out the boat to explore the waters only discover a
possible terrorist plot that is designed to steal her grandmother’s tiara? A
misunderstanding. This is where the novel’s message lies – to not jump to
conclusions without knowing facts; to open one’s heart and one’s mind to find
the truth; to not allow irrational fears to overtake reason.
The
chapters of the novel were short, and they helped set the pacing of the novel.
While the pacing itself was quite fast, the development of the message was not.
The message of the novel is quite clear, but it does not become the center of
the story until toward the end. This is a mistake because it causes this part
of the novel to feel disjointed from the rest. Since I am an older reader, this
might be something I notice more than a younger reader, who will be caught up
in who will win the tiara and who/what is
the faceless creature Tess keeps seeing.
Ultimately,
this novel will appeal to female tween readers because it is an adorable tale
of acceptance and being true to one’s self. And let us not forget the alliterated title, which will have many tweens picking it up off the shelf.