Twelfth

by Janet Key

Overview

Better Nate Than Ever meets The Parker Inheritance in this heartwarming mystery about finding your people and accepting others as they are.

Twelve-year-old Maren is sure theater camp isn’t for her. Theater camp is for loud, confident, artsy people: people like her older sister, Hadley—the last person Maren wants to think about—and her cinema-obsessed, nonbinary bunkmate, Theo. But when a prank goes wrong, Maren gets drawn into the hunt for a diamond ring that, legend has it, is linked to the camp’s namesake, Charlotte “Charlie” Goodman, a promising director in Blacklist Era Hollywood.
 
When Maren connects the clues to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, she and her new friends are off searching through lighting booths, orchestra pits and costume storages, discovering the trail and dodging camp counselors. But they’re not the only ones searching for the ring, and with the growing threat of camp closing forever, they're almost out of time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316669313
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/17/2022
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	389,999
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

When Janet Key was twelve, she sang and danced onstage, stayed up too late reading Shakespeare, and had a closet full of themed, handsewn vests. This is her first novel.l. 

Editorial Reviews

03/21/2022

Beginning with a cast list and alternating between perspectives in the 1940s and 2015, Key’s debut mingles a rich tradition of theater history and superstition with a Berkshires camp setting and a summer production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” In 2015, rising seventh grader Maren Sands, her family’s “smarty-pants,” is experiencing quickly changing circumstances. With her musician father frequently on the road and her mother busy in Boston with her college-age sister Hadley, who is navigating depression, Maren is sent to Charlotte Goodman Theatre Camp—where Hadley once flourished, but where Maren feels out of place. It quickly becomes clear that the 60-year-old camp’s future is uncertain, thanks to the arrival of determined developers, and Maren soon falls into a mystery surrounding a fire, a missing diamond ring, and the camp’s late namesake, Charlotte “Charlie” Goodman. Alongside the puzzle, Maren navigates the murky waters of peer relationships, particularly with nonbinary bunkmate Theo Templeton, cued as Latinx, who lives life to the fullest. Deftly comparing past and present, the novel explores themes of gender identity and sexual orientation during Hollywood’s “Lavender Scare” and today. Most protagonists read as white; back matter offers real-life facts behind the novel and discusses gender diversity. Ages 8–12. Agent: Heather Rizzo, Rizzo Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2022

Gr 4–8—It's June 2015 and 12-year-old Maren is not all that excited to be attending the Charlotte Goodman Theater Camp for the summer. However, Maren is soon drawn into a mystery involving a series of clues that may lead to the missing diamond ring of Charlotte "Charlie" Goodman, the famous director who was said to perish in a fire and for whom the camp is named. Maren soon befriends aspiring filmmaker Theo, and together they begin to unravel the mystery, hoping to find the ring to save the camp, which needs funding. The novel deftly tackles serious topics like depression, homophobia, and transphobia. It also is wonderfully inclusive, as Theo is nonbinary and Charlie is gender nonconforming. Key wisely uses Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as the backdrop for her narrative, serving as the camp's main theater production, the basis for the clues for the mystery, and as the lost film Charlie had been working on before her demise. The story includes flashbacks to Charlie in the 1940s and 1950s, interspersed between Maren's chapters, which are set in June 2015, only weeks before gay marriage was made legal. End notes feature facts on theater, film, and LGBTQIA+ history as well as information on ways readers can seek help if they are struggling with depression. VERDICT A engrossing mystery with a diverse cast of characters; an insightful exploration of the topics of gender, depression, and sexuality; and a satisfying and comprehensive conclusion. Highly recommended.—Laura J. Giunta

School Library Journal

2022-03-02
A mystery takes center stage at a drama camp.

With her mother busy caring for her older sister, who is struggling with depression, rising seventh grader Maren Sands gets sent to the Charlotte Goodman Theatre Camp in the middle of the Berkshires. Being away from home for the summer could be a chance to start over fresh, but Maren, the quiet and thoughtful type, is determined to remain inconspicuous. Her plan gets derailed when she befriends Theo Templeton, her nonbinary bunkmate who seems to be camp prima donna Allegra Alvin’s nemesis. The drama goes beyond the interpersonal when Maren and Theo find a secret note that sparks a search for a long-lost diamond ring. Turns out they aren’t the only ones looking for it. But who else is after it? And why? Debut author Key constructs a well-paced treasure hunt, as much a mystery as a love letter to theater and its history. Spot-on references show an insider’s knowledge of the art form and its idiosyncrasies. Alternate chapters dig into the history of the camp’s namesake, Charlotte “Charlie” Goodman (who is inspired by a real figure). The overall structure creates a compelling dialogue between past (Hollywood’s blacklist era) and present. The cast assumes a White default, though Theo is cued as Latinx; several minor characters bring some diversity in ethnicity and sexual orientation.

A layered, unexpectedly poignant mystery with over-the-top characters. (map, cast list, author’s note, resources, physician interview about gender diversity) (Mystery. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Twelfth:

A 2023 Bank Street Best Book
 

*"Key weaves an intriguing mystery together with a sensitive exploration of gender identity, mental health, and family relationships in the historical and present-day settings."—BCCB, starred review

"Debut author Key constructs a well-paced treasure hunt, as much a mystery as a love letter to theater and its history... A layered, unexpectedly poignant mystery with over-the-top characters."—Kirkus Reviews

"Film and theater lovers will particularly delight in frequent references and lore, but the sensational summer-camp mystery will easily appeal to all."—Booklist

"Deftly comparing past and present, the novel explores themes of gender identity and sexual orientation during Hollywood’s “Lavender Scare” and today."—Publishers Weekly

"Key does a good job of bringing in such topics as the 1940s Hearings Against Accused Communists in Hollywood and related “Lavender Scare” without letting history overwhelm the storytelling...and of allowing the book’s themes of gender and sexuality to develop organically."

—The Horn Book

From the Publisher