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DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER By Ally Carter
By Allie Costa
Cammie Morgan attends the Gallagher Academy, an all-girls school that is known for its emphasis on academics. Adults know it is prestigious; local kids wrongfully assume that the students must be privileged snobs. What outsiders don't know is the school is actually training the young ladies to become spies. Gallagher Girls are trained in the martial arts, taught "real" history, learn political secrets, and are multilingual.
Cammie's mother and father are spies - or were, in the case of her late father, whose death is shrouded in mystery. Her mother, Rachel, is a retired CIA operative and the school headmistress. Cammie is an only child who finds solace in her best friends and classmates, such as clumsy but lovable Liz, brassy British Bex, and Macey, a politician's daughter.
DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER, Ally Carter's third book about the Gallagher Girls, is a little more serious than the first two books. At the end of her summer vacation, Cammie visits Macey in Boston, where Macey's father is about to accept a nomination for the vice-presidency. When Cammie follows Macey (and Preston, the presidential hopeful's son) to an appointed place, something happens that neither of the trained spies was expecting: a kidnapping attempt.
It would be easy to say that they escaped unscathed, but that's not true. The attack shakes the girls up; leaving physical and emotional marks on them that will take months to heal. (This, combined with Macey's parental political associations, reminded me of Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White.) By the time they begin their junior year at the Academy, things have yet to really settle down - in fact, they're about to be shaken up even more.
Favorite characters from the first two books appear throughout the third, as do a few new interesting faces. Cammie notably matures throughout the course of the novel, becoming more introspective as she considers what it means to be a spy - what she has to gain, and what she has to give up. While Macey becomes more and more withdrawn, Cammie becomes more determined to figure out the identities of the kidnappers. In one memorable scene, teacher Joe Solomon discusses motivation; then and throughout the story,
Cammie wonders not just who the attackers are, but why they would do such a thing.
DON'T JUDGE A GIRL BY HER COVER will be released on June 9th, 2009.
Read the Gallagher Girls books in order:
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover
Though the Gallagher Girls series is all about spies, it relies heavily upon the comedic aspects of Cammie's misadventures and has very little violence. It is appropriate for girls in middle school and up, great for adults who read light spy stories, and perfect for fans of The Princess Diaries and Moonlighting.
Ally Carter is hard at work on the fourth Gallagher Girls book. The title, plot, and release date are all well-guarded secrets.
When she shares this intel with the public, I'll let you know.