The Aviary, Kathleen O'Dell

As a young child, Clara Dooley had felt that the Glendoveer mansion contained the whole world. George Glendoveer had been a famous magician and illusionist, and he and his wife, Cenelia, filled their home with curiosities from around the globe. Even the construction of the house owed its beauty to the arts and crafts of far-flung places: intricately carved woodwork with birds and flowers from Germany, Italian murals that made the ceilings into night skies scattered with stars, glowing Persian carpets int he shades of peacock feathers. 


"Twelve-year-old Clara Dooley has spent her whole life in the Glendoveer mansion, where her mother is a servant to the kind and elderly matron of the house. Clara has never known another home. In fact, she's confined to the grand estate due to a mysterious heart condition. But it's a comfortable life, and if it weren't for the creepy squawking birds in the aviary out back, a completely peaceful one too. But once old Mrs. Glendoveer passes away, Clara comes to learn many dark secrets about the family. The Glendoveers suffered a horrific tragedy: their children were kidnapped, then drowned. And their father George Glendoveer, a famous magician and illusionist, stood accused until his death. As Clara digs deeper and deeper into the terrifying events, the five birds in the aviary seem to be trying to tell her something. And Clara comes to wonder: what is their true identity? Clara sets out to solve a decades-old murder mystery—and in doing so, unlocks a secret in her own life, too. Kathleen O'Dell deftly weaves magic, secret identities, evil villians, unlikely heroes, and the wonder of friendship into a mystery adventure with all the charm of an old fashioned classic."


Though The Aviary starts out kind of slowly, it eventually picks up and becomes quite interesting and suspenseful. I loved the birds in the story, especially the honeycreeper, but also the cockatoo. They really helped Clara in her investigations. I love books set in creepy old houses with mysterious pasts! I was drawn into the mystery and really wanted to find out how it would all end. But Clara's mom seemed really kind of too overprotective; she never let Clara go anywhere. Even though she has a heart condition, she still needs to go outside and get to know other girls, and I found it unrealistic just how protective she was. I mean really. It was interesting though how *SPOILER ALERT* the birds were actually the missing children transformed.

Read The Aviary:

• if you like mysteries
• if you like birds (hint hint McKenzie)
• if you are looking for a suspenseful book
• if you like dark fantasy
• if you like books with ghosts

337 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!