Clio at War

Peggy Gardner

During WWII, Clio's mother decides she needs to visit the front lines as a war correspondent. Since that is no life for an eleven-year-old girl, Clio is deposited in rural Oklahoma with her great-aunts, the two women who raised her mother. After learning about the mysterious disappearances of several young women over the past few decades, Clio is determined to figure out the mystery.

This book contained many era-appropriate cultural references that went over my head, making the story difficult to follow. As a result, it took me a while to really get into the story. I also had some trouble determining who was supposed to be the target audience for this book. While the main character is eleven and the writing style is appropriate for upper middle grade or lower young adult, there were more adult themes (inappropriate touching and hints of adult relationships) that would have me believe this was for older teens.

As I continued to read, I felt the story jumped around a lot and felt very rushed. There were many areas where I wanted to see more of the action instead of having it summed up for me. I found myself confused as to what was going on because scenes were hurried along and summarized.

I was very disappointed in the ending as well. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but I wanted to know a lot more information. While I was pleased to see I had correctly guessed the whodunit, I would have liked to have seen the aftermath. Did they find more bodies than the three people Clio knew about? Did more people eventually believe Clio?

Overall, I found myself confused for most of the book and not very engaged. I would rate this story three and a half quills and place it on my bottom shelf.