The Fortune Tellers Club is a delightful series by professional storyteller Dotti Enderle. This series, geared towards ages 9-12, features three best friends--Juniper Lynch, Anne Donovan, and Gena Richmond--who use divination to solve mysteries, explain relationships, and understand life experiences.
Avery School is opening up a brand new library, and students are giving oral reports on the book they plan to donate. Juniper Lynch, the truly psychic member of the Fortune Tellers Club, loves the Psychic Circle series. These books come with a fortune-telling device used to solve the mystery.
Having difficulty choosing just one, she finally selects book 3 in the series--Grave Dangers. This particular book includes a pendulum, and Juniper explains the plot of the story, as well as demonstrates how to use a pendulum.
The mother of one of Juniper's classmates complains to the principal and launches a community-wide campaign to expel Juniper, purge the school of "evil", and ban books such as Grave Dangers.
Juniper, Anne, and Gena attempt to discern the motives of uptight, upright Mrs. Greeley and the fate of Juniper and the donated book by consulting the pendulum and tarot cards. The pendulum provides a clue that ends up shocking the FTC--and eventually the entire community.
Based on the personal experience of the author, The Burning Pendulum is a bracing commentary on religious zealots who seek to ban books and ruin the reputations of others based on their fundamentalists views.
I applaud Ms. Enderle for tackling this controversial subject. Beyond the insightful observations she makes through her richly drawn characters, The Burning Pendulum is a fascinating story about fear, hypocrisy, and prejudice--as well as the importance of the First Amendment. Highly recommended for young and old alike!
Dotti Enderle's FORTUNE TELLER'S CLUB keeps getting better! The cover of THE BURNING PENDULUM is spooky and intriguing, and the mystery involving the controversial topic of book banning is compelling.
Based on the author's own experience with censorship, this is an excellent book to start a discussion about the First Amendment and the consequences of book banning.
In THE BURNING PENDULUM, Juniper is embarrassed when she tries to donate a book to her school library and a parent objects. Her embarrassment grows as her mother fights to protect her First Amendment rights. But it's Juniper who eventually solves this problem through research and fun detective work with her Fortune Teller Club friends.
Another great installment of the Fortune Teller's Club! Don't miss it!!
