Brown, Teri. Velvet Undercover. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2015.

For a teenager living in Europe in the midst of World War I, life can be a series of suspenses. Samantha’s father has disappeared. Her mother is lost without him. She comes in a sad second in her Girl Guides’ competition. Enter La Dame Blanche and the offer to serve her country as a spy. While challenged and intrigued, she feels she dares not leave her mother, but then the ultimate card is played. If she spies, she gets information about her father. She feels she must. What follows is a true spy adventure. She is trained and placed into undercover among royalty in Germany. She is quickly thrust into the intrigue of double agents and chemical weapons.

While this title didn’t rock my world, I will be pleased to share it with my students. Samantha is incredibly smart and stunningly capable. She learns over the course of her adventure to heed the voice within her and recognize her own strengths. These are the kinds of heroines I love to give my girls. Also, the glimpse into the intrigues of World War I and the life of spies is a solid one. Our junior readers are looking for world history books for independent reading for social studies. I’m excited to add this one. I am selling Elizabeth Wein’s protagonists everywhere. While I am not quite as enamored of this title as those, I am indeed excited to have another title to offer.