Cogheart

Gr 5–8—This series introduces Lily, a young girl at Miss Octavia Scrimshaw's Finishing Academy, who is having a hard time fitting in and keeping up with her studies. She would rather read her penny dreadfuls and dream of amazing adventures. Her life takes a dramatic turn when her housekeeper shows up to take Lily home after her father is presumed missing or dead when his zeppelin mysteriously vanishes. The young girl is swept into an adventure when she meets Robert, the son of a local mechanic, and Malkin, a mechanical fox who has a message from her father. Soon Lily and Robert must escape men with mirror-eyes and find themselves in the midst of an airship fight that will lead them straight into the heart of steampunk London. Swiftly paced with clever details, this novel's world of weird mechanical creatures, heroes, and villains in a fantastic Victorian England setting will appeal to young readers.