A really lovely queer Harriet the Spy style book for middle grade readers. Would recommend to all of the middle grade readers in my life.

A huge fan of Drew! She is such an original, spunky character and love the angle on criminal profiling. My 10 yo daughter enjoyed this as a read aloud. Looking forward to more!

I have a particular soft spot for middle grade mystery novels and this one just made my list of favourites!

I really loved Drew as a character, she’s kind of your typical 12 year old in that she’s still figuring some stuff out, she’s got stuff to deal with like a parent leaving but I thought she was really cute and quirky and she’ll be relatable to the target audience!

Granted the mystery solving might not be so typical but it WAS fun! I loved Drew’s whole process and that the mystery was relatively easy to follow without being ridiculously simple so you didn’t have everything figured out straight away. I also loved that it really brought Nancy Drew style stories into the modern era with Instagram and cyber bullying and such.

I also really loved the representation! Both when it comes to sexuality and trying to figure out who you are but also asthma which might seem like not that big of a deal and it was treated as such in the book (as it should be!) but when myself and my cousin were around Drew’s age, she was diagnosed with asthma and it was a very big and life changing thing at the time and I think it would have been comforting to have had this book at the time!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

Drew Leclair Get's a Clue, is about a 12 year old murderino, who attempts to solve the crimes at her school via the techniques learned from her Criminal Profiling hero. She navigates the ups and downs of real life (such as your mom running away to live in a yurt with your guidance counselor) by going into her profiling place. It's such a fun and hilarious read for all ages! But would especially be loved by the young mystery lover in your life.

Growing up, I was the kid who spent every Friday night watching America's Most Wanted with my mom because it fascinated me, even though I always ended up being freaked me out. This book felt like it was written for the kids like me.

As much as I loved this book as an adult, I know I would have loved it even more when I was a kid.

Drew is the kid who is different than her peers. She'd rather talk about murder podcasts than sports, she doesn't have crushes like the other kids her age, and her relationship with her mom leaves much to be desired. Drew Leclair Gets a Clue is a mystery but at it's core, it's about a young girl just trying to figure out how she fits into the world while staying true to herself.

The true crime references in this were awesome and anyone who's interested in true crime will appreciate the name drops (even the fictional podcast host names were definitely nods to the hosts of a real life popular podcast). There were also multiple references to Nancy Drew, Drew's namesake, and my favourite sleuth as a kid. Nancy is still a popular girl sleuth today but Drew Leclair is a more relatable girl detective for the crime and mystery loving kids and I loved that.

Overall, this is the perfect book for the kid with a "weird" interest in true crime and dreams of doing the crime solving themself. I will definitely be picking up the next book in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley, Clarion Books, and Katryn Bury for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an hoenst review.

Drew is such a fantastic main character, and she's what really sells this book. There have been a lot of parallels drawn to Harriet the Spy, and they're definitely warranted - this book kind of updates that story and takes a new twist on it. Fantastic middle grade mystery novel for kids who are so inclined to mysteries.

This was a very fun, intriguing and poignant read. Drew really embodies a modern day Harriet the Spy, taking notes on all her classmates and not really knowing when she has gone too far. I loved her character and all her friends, who really felt like real people. This book tackles a lot of heavy issues, but in a very insightful and thoughtful way. I cannot wait to recommend this to middle grade readers.

I thought this book was really cute and handled well all the things Drew is dealing with in her life: her mom leaving, cyberbullying, and finding friends. I loved the odes to Nancy Drew as well.

What worked:
The topic of cyberbullying is at the center of the conflict, so the book echoes one of society’s major issues. A hacker publishes shady photos and videos about Drew and some of her classmates that are very humiliating and hurtful. The bully knows the students by name and targets all kinds of personalities. Attacking anonymously via the internet makes the culprit hard to find and gives them the freedom to be especially malicious. Drew’s life is complicated when her mother leaves town with Drew’s counselor, and an embarrassing picture is posted that makes her one of the victims.
The book’s plot involves Drew’s efforts to solve the mystery and discover the identity of the cyberbully. Drew’s named after Nancy Drew, and her hero is a famous author and criminal profiler. The book shares many techniques used in profiling, as Drew has been practicing the skills for years. She even creates a crime board with all of the evidence she’s collected which she uses to analyze suspects’ personalities, motives, and abilities to commit cybercrimes. Readers will read the same evidence as Drew and make predictions about the offender’s identity.
Friendship is an issue since Drew isn’t very good at it. She has one best friend, Shrey, but their relationship’s gotten weird since he tried to kiss her. Trissa is a new girl and seems almost too good to be true. She’s smart and kind, but she’s another one of the cyberbully’s victims. Drew’s unemotional approach is useful when solving crimes, but it’s can be disastrous when dealing with friends. Her analytical mind even starts to wonder if the bully might be someone helping her with the investigation.
What didn’t work as well:
Drew seems to suspect everyone at some point during the story, even herself! Readers may find this overkill, as books normally introduce a more manageable number of suspects to consider. Halfway through the story, Drew actually finds more suspects, not less, although this also leads to solving the crime. Her methods are systematic and scientific, so some readers may not enjoy this style quite as much. However, that’s her personality and what makes her memorable.
The Final Verdict:
While the main conflict is catching a cyberbully, the real story involves Drew’s struggles with being a friend while trying to handle her mother’s absence. The book reads like a popular children’s mystery, but Drew’s character will make this book entertaining for all readers. I recommend you give it a shot.

This was a great read! I absolutely adored Drew, she was hilarious, sassy and just a wonderful main character. I loved her relationship with her dad too. This book made me laugh a lot too, which is always something I love in books. Drew's exploration of her sexuality and worries about not being mature enough when it comes to relationships was very well done . I think that issues like that will be very relatable for a lot of kids. I also loved that Drew didn't know everything and was still figuring things out about herself. That's so realistic and I loved that the book highlighted that there was nothing wrong with still questioning things about yourself. I loved the mystery too and the way it tied into bullying in schools. I especially loved how it highlighted just how easily bullying can happen and just how often it goes unnoticed by teachers.

This was a really sweet book and I LOVED the main character, Drew!! It was great seeing representation with cyberbullying, especially since it's so prevalent with young kids.

I really enjoyed reading this one! The mystery of the cyberbully was neatly laid out and relatively easy to follow, but still so very exciting. I was genuinely eager to find out who the mysterious Ella Baker Shade was. I loved the characters too. Drew Leclair is an utter darling, and I loved every bit of her journey - from accepting that she still has a ways to go in figuring out her sexual orientation, to her dedication to doing the right thing, to her genuine quirkiness and her love for her friends. Her best friends, Shrey and Trissa, are utterly perfect for her, nerdy enough to keep up with her interests but grounded enough to make sure she doesn't get her head lost in the clouds. I especially love how this book also dealt with the difficult topic of a parent leaving, with hints of healing from trauma handed down from grandparent to parent to child, and of breaking that cycle.

This was such a soft, lovely middle grade book with plenty of lessons to learn all while having fun!

DREW LECLAIR GETS A CLUE is a modern-day, queer Harriet the Spy, a middle-grade comp to Maureen Johnson's TRULY DEVIOUS. Loved it.

True crime enthusiast Drew (named for Nancy Drew, obv) is self-proclaimed a little bit creepy, a little bit weird, and going though some growing pains: her best (only) friend has just tried to kiss her, her mom has left their family to go to Hawaii with Drew's guidance counselor, and a cyberbully is harassing her school. So naturally Drew decides to solve the case.

I really loved this book! The fun of the case is balanced out by the awareness that Drew is clearly trying to distract herself from her mom's abandonment, and various issues are left pleasantly open-ended: Drew's dad resolves to be more of a parent than a pal--but hasn't gotten there yet; Drew knows she's not interested in kissing for now, but also decides that it's okay not to know if her crushes on all genders of fictional characters will develop into sexual feelings or if she'll end up deciding she's asexual. Bury adds onto this Drew's anxieties about feeling as though she should be maturing as fast (or faster) than her peers (a peril of the 'old soul' narrative) in a way that is refreshing and smart. There were a few vaguely weird moments (Drew's comments about her 'pastry belly' didn't feel QUITE as developed as some of the other fat-positive discussion in the book, but neither did it feel gross, but this is a really minor complaint in a book that overall really nailed why it's not okay to be cruel about others' bodies, even when the person in question is a bully) but overall this was so smart and engaging. A real middle-grade gem.

Drew Leclair Gets a Clue
by Katryn Bury
Pub Date 01 Mar 2022
Clarion Books (formerly HMH Children's Books), Clarion Books
Children's Fiction





I am reviewing a copy of Drew Leclair Gets a Clue through Clarion Books and Netgalley:








Drew Leclair understands what you need to be a good detective. She’s pored over the cases solved by her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto. She tracked down the graffiti artist at school, and even solved the mystery of her neighbor’s missing rabbit. But when her mother runs off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, Drew is shocked. How did she miss all of the clues?





Drew does her best to keep her family life a secret, even from her best friend. But when a cyber bully attacks others at the school its only a short time before Drew’s secret is out.



With notebooks full of observations about her classmates, Drew knows what she has to do: profile all of the bullies in her grade to find the culprit. But being a detective is more complicated when the suspects can be your friends. Will Drew crack the case if it means losing the people she cares about most?



Drew Leclair gets a clue is a modern day take on Harriet the Spy and I give Drew Leclair gets a clue four out of five stars!




Happy Reading!

Drew has a lot to deal with - her mom is leaving their family to live in a yurt with her new boyfriend, Drew’s guidance counselor, and now someone from Drew’s school has posted a picture of her mom kissing Mr. Clark. This isn’t the first time the cyber bully has struck in school. Drew admires a famous criminal profiler and decides she wants to find out who keeps posting the pictures. Drew organizes her evidence and suspects looking for a pattern. She knows she needs to think like a profiler and use her instincts. Can she help find the person responsible for the cyber bullying?

I did a test request on this and so I'll review it but I wrote it so I might be biased?

This book is perfect for a kid who wants a mystery but has outgrown chapter books like A-Z, Nate the Great, and chapter book style series. Drew is set in contemporary time and deals with real kid issues.

Hope you all enjoy the read!