The ending did not hold up. The resolution of the mystery was ok, although a little convenient in terms of the rescue. But everything after that. Lo’s father who has clearly never accepted her, let’s call them foibles, suddenly has a complete turn around? Jeremy and Keri end up together because Lo suggested it to Jeremy? In fact, I really think the book would have been stronger if the entire school subplot had been excised. I never felt invested in that because Lo wasn’t invested – the only reason it seemed to be in there was to provide the one red herring attack and to show how alienated Lo feels from her peers. Heck, except for Keri and Jeremy I couldn’t even remember which of the other girls was which.

I agree that, while I wish Flynt was real, he’s a completely preposterous character. And I couldn’t believe the strippers would all just talk to her about Sapphire and let Lo take her stuff! Seriously? I don’t know any strippers and haven’t been to a strip club ever so I cannot speak from personal experience, but I have friends who have, and from what I understand this is a pretty idealized version of that life – or maybe not idealized so much as glossed over. So maybe I could see the strippers talking to Lo, but I can’t imagine none of them would have protested the removal of Sapphire’s things.

The amount of coincidences is pretty far-fetched as well – I can see Lo believing that the universe meant for her and Sapphire to connect, but are we supposed to as well? Because I as a reader did not feel setup for that little bit of magical realism/destiny/etc. at all. There’s just too many holes here for it to make the Printz top five.

I really enjoyed it and will recommend it to others who like mysteries with complex characters. And Lo feels like a living, breathing person I might meet – that’s the real accomplishment to me – bringing to life this complex girl trying to deal with her overwhelming grief at losing her entire family (and this is a very real portrayal of grief in my opinion – you don’t just lose the one person, your entire family has to rebuild itself around the hole and sometimes they can’t and even if they can your relationships never look or feel the same) and caught up in something scary that, because of who she is, she can’t let go. I particularly love how Ellison made us feel how clearly Lo felt the loss of her mother – who had been the person who understood her and helped her cope with her foibles – without hitting us over the head with it, but by showing us concrete differences in Lo’s life – like the meals. Which is amazing, but not enough given this year’s field in particular.

Annie, I agree — Block uses the glitter as a commentary on the grit; her girls twirl in tutus to hide from or defy the darkness. In Butterfly Clues, the darkness never really gets past the lovely low light of afternoon, gilding everything just a bit too much.