Allreaders.com
Author Jenny Carroll booklist (click here)

Book Review By Debbie
Code Name Cassandra by Jenny Carroll

Jessica "Jess" Mastriani had finally convinced the FBI, the press, the military and everyone else in the vicinity of southern Indiana that she had lost her psychic powers and could no longer find missing people. Well, sort of. See, Jess knew that she was being followed by the FBI and that they were just waiting for her to accidentally show that she still did have her powers, but Jess had a system. When Jess had the chance to become a camp counselor at Camp Wawasee for the summer with her best friend, Ruth, she jumped at the chance to get the feds away from her house and to escape having to work in one of her family's restaurants for the whole summer. After all, how bad can a camp for musically gifted children be?

Well, with a lame name like Camp Wawasee, Jess should have realized that her summer wasn't going to go the way she planned it. First, they took her Frangipani Cottage away with all of her little female campers who would have adored her and assigned her to Birch Tree Cottage where the little male campers were intent on making her life miserable - especially Shane. Shane was a football player wannabe who was stuck at music camp because that is where his mother wanted him to be. Jess would be just as happy to have him at football camp and she cannot believe that anyone who acts the way he does can play like an angel. She definitely has her hands full trying to keep Shane from picking on the other kids and trying to get him to believe that she really did lose her powers (even though she didn't).

As if Jess didn't have enough problems, Jonathan Herzberg, a desperate father approaches Jess and begs her to find his daughter Keely. Jess refuses and tries to tell him that she doesn't find people anymore, but when he shoves the picture in front of her face, Jess knows that she will wake up the next morning knowing where Keely is whether she wants to or not. She isn't going to make the same mistake as last time though, this time she is going to make sure that Keely wants to be found....

This is the second book in the Lightning Girl series of the 1-800-WHERE-R-U series and it is just as entertaining as the first. Jess is a great lead character who is laugh out loud funny throughout the whole book. The other characters are great, too, but Jess is my favorite. Jess has a knack for getting herself into impossible situations and having to be creative to get out again and so it is always a surprise to see what she will do next. I highly recommend this series - all four of the books in this series (When Lightning Strikes, Code Name Cassandra, Safe House & Sanctuary) are all must reads!


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - upbeat
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Kids: - solving crimes (scooby doooo!)
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over
Is this an adult or child's book? - Age 11-14
Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Has magical powers? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - a kid
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
United States Yes
Farm/Ranch? Yes
Farm/Ranch: - ranch
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Back To Main Menu