The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley

I found this book on the summer reading list at my local library and gave it a rating of four out of five. Franny and her twin siblings are accepted into the Allbright Academy, a school for gifted children that will train the become future leaders of America. Actually, Zoe, Franny's sister, is recruited for the school and Franny and the twin are accepted as part of the package. The school and students almost seem too perfect to be real, and Franny later discovers why. The school leaders have some tricks up their sleeves and a plan to create influential people in society. They even have a former student in line to run for president of the United States. The school seems so perfect, but what will Franny and her friends do when they discover the truth?

I wondered about those brownies when they were first introduced into the plot. The organization of the school seemed ideal which made me wonder about what was actually going on. The author did a nice job of introducing clues throughout the plot and created a clever mystery. It became one of those stories where kids discover a problem but will have a hard time getting adults to believe them. The students had a big surprise when they thought they found an adult to help, but many characters needed to come together in the end to resolve the conflict.

Lexile level from lexile.com 830.