The first book in the series says, "I went to Annie's house. Annie has brown hair and brown eyes. And she smiles a lot. I would like Annie if I liked girls." My daughter and I took Nate's feelings about girls more of an "eeewwww girls have cooties" kind of dislike than a contempt dislike. Nate does, however, mention how "strange" one female character, Rosamond, is throughout the series. I can't really say it's any worse that the harsh storylines or over characterizations written in your everyday fairy tale though.

That said, Marietta's comments made me think of another book in the children's mystery genre that we recently discovered in our library: "Alec Flint, Super Sleuth: The Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria." It's a good, solid mystery, but more importantly I liked it for many of the concerns raised with the Nate the Greats series. The story features three-dimensional kids that set really good examples for the book's readers. I really liked that Alec took other people's thoughts and feeling into consideration even when he didn't always want to. And he showed gratitude and respect, especially to the girls in the story. And I loved that the two lead characters used their local library to research an important clue involving a missing Christopher Columbus exhibit (Yes, the story offers a bit of a history lesson as well). Definitely give it a try if your child is into mysteries. A second Alec Flint book, "The Ransom Note Blues: An Alec Flint Mystery" is due out in stores this month, so I believe it may be turning into a series.

Allie, I loved this school-aged kids reading review post. I look forward to reading more recommendations and reviews throughout the summer.