The Intrepid Polly McDoodle

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Nothing is going right for Polly McDoodle. First of all, she is
outgrowing her clothes every other month. Then Robyn, one of her best
friends, moves away, and Erin, the girl who moves into Robyn’s old
apartment, acts as if she is just too smart and mature to be friends
with a kid like Polly. Then Polly gets stuck with Erin as a partner in a
science project. And Polly’s other best friend, Kyle, seems to get
along fine with Erin the fact that makes Polly feel like an outsider on
her own street. Now the three of them have to figure out who is
polluting a small lake near Kyle’s new summer cottage. As Erin and
Kyle use their superior scientific skills to close in on the polluters,
Polly feels dumber and dumber when she is relegated to merely drawing
pictures. Polly retreats to her treehouse, but even her old hideout
doesn’t feel like home any longer. Everything seems to be changing for
the worse, and Polly realizes she can’t do anything about it.

The environment is front and centre in this latest instalment in the
mystery series, but Woodbury also grapples with the themes of change and
growing up. As usual, the author’s prose draws the reader effortlessly
through each chapter. The story’s weakest point is the conclusion: the
bad guys turn out to be the most obvious and disagreeable characters in
the book. Recommended.