In The Hidden Room by Caren Cantrell, it was raining very hard when Mrs. Bustlebottom rushed into the room, saying her cat, Snooker, was missing. Riley and Ava offered to help find him, and while looking for him, they heard Snooker’s meows coming from the basement. Snooker was stuck behind boxes in the basement. Riley and Ava moved the boxes to free him and saw a hidden door behind the boxes. Riley had to know what was behind the door; they found a furnished room. Riley and Ava decided to make the room a secret hideout. They also found a diary, a locket, and a photo album at the bottom of a chest. They read the diary, and when the diary entries suddenly stopped, they Googled the writer. What Riley and Ava found sent them on an adventure to solve the mystery surrounding Juliette Kingsley.

The Hidden Room by Caren Cantrell is an outstanding children’s mystery. The pace allowed the suspense to build, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Themes of friendship, curiosity, and history are woven through the plot. The illustrations by Bianca Clark are professional and complement the story. I could picture everything Riley and Ava experienced during their adventure by looking at the illustrations. The chapters flowed into each other, and past and present connected perfectly. The magic in the story felt natural, like an everyday event. It was easy to like Riley and Ava right from the start. They were compassionate and courageous. The story was beautifully written and engaging. This story teaches children the value of compassion, responsibility, and courage. It began by searching for a missing cat but ended in much more.

The Hidden Room by Caren Cantrell is a lovely story of two best friends, Riley and Ava, who live in the same apartment building, the Veil Crest Manor Apartments, which used to be a mansion before being turned into luxury apartments. The two girls are bored on a rainy day and wander around in the basement, where they discover a hidden room that turns out to be full of secrets. They find a cedar chest with the initials J.K., with a diary and a photo album inside. Burning with curiosity, they start reading the diary and find that it belonged to a young girl, Juliette Kingsley, in 1973, half a century in their past. This discovery is the perfect adventure for the two girls, as they turn instantly into sleuths, intent on discovering everything about this past mystery. Searching through the internet with their iPhones, they soon find out about the tragic fire that killed Juliette's parents back in 1973. Who was Juliette? What happened to her? Why did she leave all these personal belongings in the secret room?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this charming mystery for pre-teens, full of intelligent problem-solving, following hard-to-find clues, and using their imaginations, fired with curiosity. The characters are extremely well drawn, familiar to any reader. The pacing is excellent, slowly revealing snippets of the story and leading to an unexpected solution at the end. The language is fine-tuned to the ages of the characters, and the plot ends very satisfactorily, explaining all the twists and turns in this fascinating tale. The illustrations by Bianca Clark make the story come alive. I very highly recommend The Hidden Room by Caren Cantrell to children and parents alike, showing them how rewarding it can be when intelligence and curiosity are combined creatively.