Gilda Joyce and the Dead Drop (Module 8)

Summary
Gilda Joyce is a 14 year old (and eleven months) girl psychic detective. She has an internship at the International Spy Museum in Washington DC during the summer and while there she finds a mole in the CIA. This all begins when she has psychic dreams about Abraham Lincoln, and a spy begins haunting her dreams and the Spy Museum. Through her work at the spy museum and her dreams, Gilda solves the mystery and meets her idol, another psychic detective.

Suggested Activities
This would be a great read for an all girl book club at school, since Gilda is such a strong and unique character. You could really delve into her differences- the way she dresses and acts, her strengths- independence, bravery, and her weaknesses- her impulsiveness. This would be a great way to show girls how a strong heroine can be many things and can be different all at the same time!
Review
Gilda Joyce, psychic investigator Jennifer Allison. Dutton, 2005. $10.99. 0-525-47375-0. Grades 5-8 Restless during the summer before ninth grade, Gilda Joyce contrives to get an invitation to visit a distant  cousin in San Francisco and his teenage daughter, Juliot Her plans to become a detective or a psychic inspire her to solve the mystery behind the death of Juliet's aunt years.
Odean, K. (2006). YA FICTION: KATHLEEN ODEAN. Teacher Librarian, 33(3), 21-21,66. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224878023?accountid=7113

Thirteen-year-old Gilda Joyce finds herself caught up in her first real psychic investigation after she invites herself to visit a distant cousin, Lester Splinter, and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Juliet, in their Victorian home in San Francisco. Narrated in third person, primarily from Gilda's point of view, the story follows the ebullient teenager as she sweeps Juliet into her investigative plan and uncovers the truth behind a mysterious family tragedy involving a suicidal leap from the backyard tower. Gilda's typed letters, inserted throughout the story, add humor, while the more somber tone of the subject matter keeps the action darkly gothic—especially as Juliet begins to exhibit a suicidal morbidity. However, Gilda's relentlessly cheerful investigation carries the day, and she returns to boring Michigan knowing she's done some good in the world. Neither a true gothic mystery nor solely a chick-lit misadventure, this is nonetheless an attractively lively story about believable characters in outlandish situations.


Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Volume 59, Number 1, September 2005, p. 5 (Article)
Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/bcc.2005.0198

My Thoughts
Overall I really liked this book, which surprised me. I sort of dreaded reading it because I don't like mysteries and I thought the "psychic" character was a little cheesy. But overall, I liked Gilda and her spunky fashion sense, along with all the history I learned. There was a lot of information about Abraham Lincoln and the 1960s Cold War spies and the KGB in the Soviet Union. I did think that some of the story could of tied together a little better. At one point, Gilda's kept awake every night by a grouchy neighbor who flicks their lights on and off all night. Gilda thinks this is in connection to the crime and mystery she's trying to solve. It turns out it has nothing to do with the mystery and is described at the end of the book as the neighbor  just has OCD and isn't so bad. It seemed odd to even include this in the story if it ended up meaning nothing and then having such a simple, short explanation. It's a good story and I will be interested in reading the rest of the series.
Bibliography
Allison, J. (2010). Gilda joyce and the dead drop. Speak: