47. From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

listened to audio on Libby through Bosler Library
narrated by Bahni Turpin
Unabridged audio (6:10)
2020 Katherine Tegen Books
304 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF
Finished 3/6/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.35 - 554 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Boston/Somerville/Cambridge, Massachusetts

First line/s:  "The day I turned twelve, I was certain it'd be my favorite birthday yet, but then I got the letter."

My comments:   Ms. Marks has written a book with a wonderful 12-year-old voice, real and believable, with faults and fears, ambitions and beliefs.  Becoming acquainted with her imprisoned father for the first time and following clues to help the Innocence Project get him out of jail was the biggest premise of the book.  She also loved to bake, creating a new recipe for Fruit Loop cupcakes as she interned in a local bakery for the summer.  The setting of Boston/Somerville/Cambridge with an emphasis on Davis Square was detailed and fun for this suburban Boston native.  She wasn't perfect, and that made her all the more real.  I didn't like that the mother had completely given up the father as a murderer, even though he protested he'd never done anything wrong.  Then she blocked her daughter from any access to him.  This was harsh and a bit unbelievable.  Put the book down a a point for me.  However, what a great story for kids!  I wasn't super crazy about the narrator, although her reading ability was right on.  Highly recommended.

Goodreads synopsis:  Zoe Washington isn’t sure what to write. What does a girl say to the father she’s never met, hadn’t heard from until his letter arrived on her twelfth birthday, and who’s been in prison for a terrible crime?
          A crime he says he never committed.
          Could Marcus really be innocent? Zoe is determined to uncover the truth. Even if it means hiding his letters and her investigation from the rest of her family. Everyone else thinks Zoe’s worrying about doing a good job at her bakery internship and proving to her parents that she’s worthy of auditioning for Food Network’s Kids Bake Challenge.
          But with bakery confections on one part of her mind, and Marcus’s conviction weighing heavily on the other, this is one recipe Zoe doesn’t know how to balance. The only thing she knows to be true: Everyone lies.