I am indebted to Colleen at http://www.chasingray.com/ for this as well as the Sisters Grimm… I think she wrote a column about mysteries for kids and teens last summer. Somehow I missed the first in the series and started with the second… though I made it through without noticing, you might wish to start with the first book, The Case of the Missing Marquess.
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer. Read by Katherine Kellgren. Enola is the much younger sister of Sherlock – just 14, and knowing her older brother mostly through Dr. Watson’s famous books. Her mother recently ran away, and Enola is now living on her own, hiding from her brothers, who want to send her to boarding school. She and her mother communicate via ciphers in the newspapers, which enterprising readers could try to solve for themselves. Enola is posing as the secretary to a Scientific Perditorian or finder of lost persons, intending to do the finding herself. Dr. Watson comes to her office, seeking help in finding her, but accidentally leading her to the case of a missing society lady, only a few years older than herself. The police and Sherlock Holmes assume that she’s eloped, but Enola doesn’t believe it and uses her wits and multiple disguises to solve the mystery. Enola is an excellent character, determined to stay independent but still figuring herself out, and ever conscious that her name, backwards, spells “Alone.” Raised feminist by her mother, she knowingly manipulates the Victorian conventions regarding females to fit in multiple places without resorting so low as to disguise herself as a man, from high society houses to London’s poor and sooty underbelly. My husband and I both very much enjoyed these. For the children it’s actually aimed at, parents should be aware that there is some violence that could be disturbing for younger or sensitive children – I’d put it as more appropriate for 12 and up than the 10 years I read on the case. Katherine Kellgren’s assured British accents are perfect for Enola and adapt themselves well to the many characters of different classes in the book. Enola might not exist without Sherlock, but she’s well worth reading in her own right, a strong character in a vivid (if vivid is the right word for sooty fog) setting with just the right balance between plot tension and introspection.
Darkborn by Alison Sinclair In the city of Minhorne, Lightborn and Darkborn have always lived side by side, despite the fact that light is fatal to Darkborn and vice versa. Dr. Balthasar Hearne, Darkborn, gets a knock on his door just as the sunrise bell is ringing, and obeying ancient laws of hospitality, opens it. It’s his estranged younger brother’s former lover, now betrothed to a high society lord. Before next day comes, she has given birth to twins whose father, she impossibly claims, came to her in the day. Yet the unwanted twins appear to be sighted, impossible for Darkborn. Bal’s sister, the attending midwife, takes them to safety. That night, Bal is attacked and beaten by ruffians demanding the twins. He is saved by his Lightborn neighbor, but as they flee, they find his wife, Telmaine, and two daughters returning home from a society visit, unexpectedly accompanied by Baron Ishmael di Studier. The ruffians snatch the older girl on their way out. Despite his title, Ishmael is disreputable, a known mage who uses his powers to hunt the Shadowdwellers on the borders – important, but hardly proper for a baron. And only the Lightborn consider magic use truly acceptable. Lady Telmaine herself has magic, which she has concealed even from her husband her whole life and never learned to use. But now, with the plot rapidly thickening and both her husband and daughters’ lives in danger, she may need to risk her position in society. 
The Sisters Grimm: Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley This is the first book of a delightful fantasy mystery series for elementary-age kids. Everyone has heard of the Brothers Grimm, but what if the stories they wrote down were real? Sabrina and Daphne Grimm didn’t think so, until their parents disappeared, the only clue a red handprint painted on the dashboard of their car. Two years later, they’ve been shuttled from one bad foster home to another, when someone claiming to be their grandmother comes to take them home to Ferrytown. Daphne trusts Granny Relda immediately, even when she starts telling them things that can’t possibly be real. The older Sabrina is more skeptical – even when a first attempt at running away has them surrounded by stinging pixies. But the next day, Granny Relda brings them along as she investigates a crushed house, crushed into what looks remarkably like a giant footprint. Many of the old fairy tale characters came to America when life got too uncomfortable in Europe, she tells them. They’ve mostly settled in Ferryport, where a spell the Grimms arranged for keeps the Everafters safely inside and unwanted people out. It’s not an entirely popular solution, and the modern-day Grimms face a good deal of resistance as they investigate the crime and try to keep the peace. The premise is remarkably similar to the excellent graphic novel series, Fables by Bill Willingham, though appropriately lighter for a younger audience. Still, we find, for example, Prince Charming mayor of Ferryport, and not entirely popular among the many princesses he’s wed and left. Strong characters, an engaging setting, and a fast-moving plot make this a great choice for young readers, or even their parents looking for a light read.
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. This is a classic parenting title. The 20 year edition, which I read, is now nearly 10 years old. Many of the ideas are familiar to me from newer gentle parenting books, but this is still a good summary. Especially if you find your parents’ destructive speech creeping into your own speech with your children, this is a very good introduction to dealing respectfully with children. It includes cartoons and summary pages to easily grasp main ideas, role-playing exercises and similar situations for adults to test how you’d react, as well as examples and questions from real parents at the end of each chapter. 
No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. MacDonald I saw this book six years ago and just now got around to choosing it over knitting porn. But how delightful! The book is filled with pictures and anecdotes, talking about where, what and why people knit from colonial times through the late twentieth century. In colonial times, women knit to gain independence from British textile imports. Children of both sexes, notorious for wearing through their favorite red socks, were required to knit an inch a day before being allowed out to play. But looking at knitting, an archetypal feminine activity, involves looking at the overall roles of women in society. It was used both as a method for defining the appropriate sphere for women: girls’ schools advertised prominently that they taught girls to knit and wife wanted ads listed knitting along with preserving as an important skill for brides. Women, children and older men all joined in knitting – mostly socks – for every war from the Revolutionary through the Korean. On the other hand, women also expanded their roles through knitting, as early craft fairs successfully raised money for civic ventures where male efforts had failed. They found themselves more competent outside the home than they had ever before thought themselves and were reluctant to return to their confined spheres. Changing fashions also illuminate social change, as Victorian shawl patterns gave way to daring bicycle stocking and tennis costume patterns, the tiny-needle patterns of earlier centuries likewise making way for the broom-handle dress patterns of the seventies, so loosely knit that they required body stockings underneath. Published in 1988, it predates the current resurgence of knitting, so that the final chapter is filled with happily unjustified doubts about the future of knitting. This book is a bit denser than I normally read these days, and I was surprised at how quickly I got sucked into it and how fascinating I found it.
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon Ai Ling was a scholarly girl who mostly stayed properly home with her mother. Then, her father gives her a jade pendant before leaving for a month at the emperor’s palace. Months later, their family finances dwindling, Ai Ling decides that it’s time to go find her father. It’s not easy for a girl of marriageable age to travel alone in China, but Ai Ling finds herself facing one demon after another, recognizing them from the book that she’d thought her father forbade only because the stories were so frightening for a young girl. Early on, she is rescued by the handsome and exotic Chen Yong. He’s travelling in search of his real parentage, a secret even from his adoptive parents. They start travelling together, and are joined on the way by Chen Yong’s adoptive brother, the openly flirtatious Li Rong. Their straightforward journey to the palace takes unexpected turns as mountain paths lead them to strange lands mentioned only in the classical texts that Ai Ling and Chen Yong have read. Eventually, they are given a deeper quest by the Goddess of Records. Ai Ling is a delightful and sympathetic heroine. Though she finds the courage she needs to fight off the demons attacking her, she also never develops Amazing Martial Arts Prowess, instead finding her own magical abilities. She also has a refreshingly large appetite, which gives plenty of opportunity for vivid descriptions of the food. This was a delightful adventure with a Buffy meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Kids, Parents and Power Struggles by Mary Kurcinka 
Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein Lake and Epstein start this positive and empowering look at birth with explaining how even a woman in love with her Tylenol PM could want to try for a natural birth, and their own birth stories. It’s first and foremost about opening up choices about birth, including choosing your place (hospital, birth center or home), care provider (OB, GP or midwife), and back-up team. (They even suggest finding a doula first, who can help you pinpoint your birth style and direct you to doctors and midwives in the area who share your philosophy.) Though they don’t hesitate to point out that the U.S. is at the bottom of the world charts in terms of maternal and infant safety during birth, they focus more on what women can do than on the depressing statistics. They talk about what interventions are out there, risks, and when they are really appropriate. The C-Section chapter talks about both medically unsound reasons to do them as well as ways to make your c-section as gentle as positive as possible if it turns out that you do need one. They talk about communicating with providers and hospital staff, birth for survivors of sexual abuse, different (and more American-focused) birth class/philosophy options, and postpartum care. They include profiles of “birth goddesses”, including birth activists, celebrity moms who opted for natural births, and regular women with amazing births. 
alibrarymama 