Solving Zoe Book

Zoe Bennett feels lost at her fancy private school.

She's not the star drama queen like her sister, or a brainiac math genius like her brother. Luckily her best friend, Dara, is just as content as Zoe is to stay in the shadows — or is she? When Dara gets a part in the school musical, Zoe feels abandoned. What's worse, Zoe's practically being stalked by the weird new kid, Lucas. Then Lucas accidentally drops his notebook and Zoe finds it's written in symbols and numbers — it's complete gibberish. Yet she sees her name in there, plain as day. Now Lucas is telling her she's a natural code-reading genius — or some kind of mental freak.

As Zoe's daydreaming lands her in trouble at school, anonymous notes start to appear in students' lockers, and Zoe is the number one suspect. Solving word puzzles may come easily to her, but now there's more at stake — will Zoe be able to solve her way out of this?

With plenty of wit and insight, Barbara Dee has created this fresh, funny story of a girl who discovers that fitting in sometimes means standing out.

Children's Literature

Zoe Bennett is following in her siblings' footprints by attending the fancy private school for gifted children. There is only one problem: While they have proven themselves to be gifted in theater and math, Zoe has just been treading water. Flying under the radar. Trying to get by. And that is not good enough at this prestigious school. Things get worse when Zoe begins to sense that she is being followed by the strange new kid, Lucas. His attention makes her feel keenly uncomfortable, and that feeling is heightened when Lucas drops his notebook and she sees it is full of gibberish. Zoe's trouble at school grows when strange notes begin appearing in her classmates' lockers. Zoe seems to be discovering her talent—cracking puzzles and codes—but will that be enough for her to figure out what's going on at school and save her school career? Barbara Dee's Zoe is a likeable protagonist, and the plot is unique. Any youth who has ever wondered where he/she fits in his school or where her life is going will be drawn into Zoe's story—and who among us has not? Reviewer: Heidi Hauser Green