The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

337 pages

"The Glendoveer mansion was once the magnificent home of a famous magician and illusionist. But now it is crumbling and nearly closed down - home only to the magician's aging widow, a cage full of exotic birds, a cook, a housekeeper, and the housekeeper's eleven-year-old daughter, Clara.

Clara loves Mrs. Glendoveer, but the birds in the aviary frighten her - they always seem to screech and squall whenever she's near. Until one day when the mynah...speaks. 'Elliot,' he says. 'Hurry!'

When Clara asks if the name Elliot means anything, she unwittingly tugs at the edge of a decades-old mystery. She learns the tragic tale of the Glendoveer children, who were kidnapped and later drowned - all but baby Elliot, who was never seen again. No arrest was ever made, but the children's own father, the great magician, stood accused until his death.

As Clara digs deeper into the Glendoveers' past, she stumbles onto secrets from her own past as well. Will the mysteries never end? Somehow the birds in the aviary seem to be at the center of it all, and Clara can't shake the feeling that they are trying to tell her something. If only the mynah would say more than 'Elliot!'" -Dust Jacket

This book is a fun magical mystery. I think it's perfect for the age group it's written for, which I think is grades 5-9. It's sort of reminiscent of movies like The Prestige and The Illusionist.  I love the cover of the book with the green and black. I think, however, that it gives away a little too much of the mystery of this story. I think it would have been better also if the book's description didn't reveal that the birds can talk. Adults can easily and rather quickly figure out who the birds are. The mystery then lies in who the villain is and what will happen to the birds.

The story itself was suspenseful enough to keep me picking it up any chance I got. I was eager for that ultimate confrontation between the villain and Clara and Daphne so I was a bit disappointed that it was so short and sort of Home Alone-like. I wanted it to be scarier! But, for young people who read this book it was just right - entertaining and a teensy bit scary - and Clara is only eleven after all. There's really no other way Clara and Daphne could have confronted adults. There were a couple of twists at the end that made the story wrap up nicely.

As I was reading, my 12-year-old daughter kept asking, "Is it good, really good, or great?" I kept making her wait for my answer until the end. I'd say it was "really good" and recommend reading it. It might even be a fun 8 o'clock club read at our house.