Trial by Journal - Softcover

Klise, Kate

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380816725 ISBN 13: 9780380816729

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 2002

Synopsis

Get ready for a trial unlike any Tyle County has ever seen. Sixth-grader Perry Keet is missing, and Bob White, his co-worker at Tyle Park Zoo, will stand trial for the alleged murder. But Keet's disappearance is only the beginning of this legal thriller.

The real story is told by twelve-year-old Lily Watson, a classmate of Keet's. Watson was selected to White's jury because of a new law requiring a juvenile juror to serve if the case involves a child victim.

Part of Watson's duty will be to listen objectively to the testimony of Tyleville's wealthiest citizen, Rhett Tyle. His testimony is expected to be the key to White's conviction.

White's fate now rests in the hands of Watson and fellow jurors Fawn Papillon, Anna Conda, and other Tyleville locals, as they try to uncover the truth before it's too late!

About this title

About the Author:

As a correspondent for People magazine, Kate Klise covered everything from celebrity scandals to serial killers. After writing several bestselling children's books, Kate decided to write In the Bag, her first novel for adults, when she found a note from a fellow passenger in her carry-on bag.

From Publishers Weekly:

The sisters Klise once again use the format they mastered in Regarding the Fountain to cleverly recount Lily Watson's experience as the "first juvenile juror in the state's history." The sixth grader here records her experience as a sequestered juror for a research paper assignment, in order to avoid attending summer school. With little knowledge of protocol ("I have NO idea how to do footnotes or a bibliography, so you can forget about seeing any of that stuff"), Lily puts together a montage of her own journal entries plus newspaper clippings and formal and informal letters to and from jurors, as well as maps and pamphlets to trace the highly publicized case of a classmate's mysterious disappearance from the city zoo. The mystery's unraveling is fairly predictable, but the book's hyperbolic tone, all-in-fun parodies and hilarious illustrations (all of which center around an animal motif) will keep readers involved and entertained. At times the zoo theme becomes cloying (characters' names include Bob White, suspected of 11-year-old Perry Keet's murder, and Rhett Tyle, a parasitic mega-tycoon, as well as fellow jurors Fawn Papillon, an aging movie star, Anna Conda, designer of exotic fashions, and Bernie "Buzz" Ard, a gossip columnist). This three-ring circus, with Lily as capable ringmaster, will set in motion readers' flights of fancy from beginning to end, when a "wolf in sheep's clothing" receives his comeuppance and the innocent "jailbird" is set free. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0380816725
• ISBN 13: 9780380816729
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 238
• Illustrator: Klise M. Sarah