The Butterfly Clues

December 12, 2011
Penelope, aka “Lo,” has several obsessive urges—she is drawn to multiples of the number three, repeats the word “banana” for security, and steals various items that she hoards and carefully organizes in her attic bedroom. These compulsions have intensified since her beloved older brother, Oren, died, as has her habit of roaming from her suburban home into different neighborhoods of Cleveland. On one such journey to a seedy section of town dubbed Neverland, Lo is almost hit by a stray bullet. When she learns that a girl was murdered nearby and discovers some of the dead girl’s jewelry at a flea market, Lo becomes determined to find the killer. The mystery pulls Lo into an underworld of strip clubs, drugs, and crime, and also introduces her to Flynt, a street artist who she connects with. In a strong, twisty thriller of a debut, Ellison builds tension effectively, creating credible (if slightly romanticized) portraits of both the decaying, violent streets of Neverland and the compulsions that make Lo such a complex and memorable heroine. Ages 14–up. Agent: Foundry Literary + Media.

December 15, 2011
An engaging mystery starring a teen girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Wandering in an unfamiliar Cleveland neighborhood, Lo, who's recently lost her brother, happens dangerously close to a shooting. When the next day's paper reports the murder of a 19-year-old named Sapphire in the house Lo visited, Lo finds herself compelled to find out more. Her journey takes her to Neverland, a seedy neighborhood where runaway teens and other misfits make their homes. There, she meets a boy, Flynt, who calls her pretty but may be lying about his connection to the dead woman, and ventures inside Sapphire's house and the strip club where she worked. As Lo becomes more deeply entangled in the mystery and begins to attract the attention of the murderer, her repetitive behaviors are ever-present: She taps her thigh in numbered patterns, whispers the word "banana," steals objects and arranges them, then rearranges them in her room. Though Lo's behaviors sometimes slow her down and embarrass her when others notice, this is no problem novel: The behaviors are simply a part of her experience, to which some characters react with hostility and others with tenderness and understanding. Lo encounters hints and artifacts relevant to the case a bit too often to be believed, but the mystery is well plotted, with danger escalating and information revealed at a consistent pace. A pleasing mix of realism, tension, intrigue and romance. (Mystery. 14 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from March 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Though 16-year-old Lo lives in safe, suburban Lakewood, she is drawn to a seedier part of Cleveland called Neverland, where her beloved older brother died of a drug overdose. In an incident that sets off a chain of events, Lo is grazed by a bullet while standing outside the house of a stripper who is not much older than she. Inside, Sapphire is being murdered. Lo's proximity to the crime only feeds her compulsions, which force her to repeat words, count, collect, and steal. After Lo comes into possession of some of the dead girl's things, she becomes obsessed with solving the crime, at increasing peril to herself. First-time author Ellison would have had a fine mystery if she had simply stuck with Lo's quest to find the killerwhile falling for an adorable street artist, Flynt. But by layering the narrative with subplots about a broken family and high-school horrors, all the while revealing what it's like to live inside the head of someone whose life is circled and squared by embarrassing urges, she provides a fascinating, fully fleshed-out story. The one false note comes in the not-unexpected reveal of the killer, who borders on clownish by the conclusion. But Ellison has the art of the page-turner down flat, and readers will be swept up by both the terrorand the romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

Starred review from February 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-From the very first page of this novel, readers know that Lo is a girl with issues. While exploring a crime-ridden neighborhood on the outskirts of Cleveland, she steals an angel statue on impulse and hears a gunshot as she runs away. The next morning, she's back in her comfortable suburban home when she hears that a young woman was murdered right where she'd been the day before. An interest in finding out about the victim becomes an obsession with discovering the truth behind her murder. In the midst of this thrilling mystery, readers also find out more about Lo's compulsive behaviors, which include lying, stealing, hoarding, and behavioral tics like tapping and counting. The details surrounding the death of her older brother are also slowly revealed, and an awkward romance begins to bud between Lo and an older runaway. The strands of these story lines are artfully woven to a satisfying conclusion. This book casts a spell over its readers with its fast-moving narrative and seamless plotting. Teens will appreciate the honest and realistic portrayal of a character with complex issues, which nevertheless are not the main focus of the book. The excitement of the unfolding mystery and the unique characters make this a great addition.-Sunnie Sette, New Haven Public Library, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2012
Driven by compulsions and unhappy at home, sixteen-year-old Penelope feels compelled to investigate both the murder of a young woman named Sapphire and a part of the city known as Neverland. From the halls of high school to nightclub backrooms, insightful "Lo" works to unravel the truth around Sapphire's death in an effort to save herself. An intricate and uncommon mystery.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)