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The Wig in the Window

by Kristen Kittscher (Goodreads Author)

4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 · rating details · 64 ratings · 26 reviews

Best friends and seventh graders Sophie Young and Grace Yang have made a game out of spying on their neighbors. On one of their midnight stakeouts, they witness a terrifying, bloody scene at the home of their bizarre middle-school counselor, Dr. Charlotte Agford (aka Dr. Awkward).

At least, they think they do. The truth is that Dr. Agford was only making her famous pickled...more

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published June 18th 2013 by HarperCollins Children's Books

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The Wig in the Window
by Kristen Kittscher (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Jun 18, 2013

Be the first to enter for a chance to win a hardcover of debut author Kristen Kittscher’s smart, funny mystery for kids, THE WIG IN THE WINDOW!

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Giveaway dates: Jun 18 - Jun 30, 2013

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Countries available: US

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Middle Grade Novels of 2013

4th out of 161 books — 233 voters

2013 Debut Authors of Young Adult & Middle Grade

38th out of 155 books — 430 voters

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Community Reviews

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Mar 16, 2013 Rachele Alpine marked it as to-read

Oh goodness....I loved this book! The girls' dialogue had me cracking up the entire time I was reading it and the situations they got themselves into as they tried to solve the mystery were fun and creative. It reminded myself of all the trouble and mischief I got into when I was in grade school! I can see this getting passed around and around the hands of mystery lovers!

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 27, 2013 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-kat-readers, mg-fiction

There's so much to love in this book! Fabulous twelve-year-old girls squaring up to danger and solving mysteries! A heroine whose fantasy is to be a professor of Asian studies at Oxford! Her best friend, who plans to join the FBI! A wonderfully smart, ruthless and snarky new friend, met by the heroine when she becomes a social outcast! And it's all really funny, too.

I think if I were more of a mystery fan myself, I would have given this book 5 stars and loved every bit of it. Because I'm not re...more

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Dec 20, 2012 McCormick Templeman rated it 5 of 5 stars

A fantastic book with beautiful writing and incredibly fun plotting – the kind of book I love as an adult, but would have killed for as a kid. Sophie and Grace are the very spirit of adventure. They are fun and brave, and smart, though not without some very human foibles. Trista is a revelation. Just a fantastic character. The book is incredibly fun, but it’s not fluff. There are some really interesting things going on at a deeper level in this book. Kittscher really taps into what it is to be a...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Mark Baker added it

Shelves: 2013

This first in a new Middle Grade mystery series introduces us to two seventh graders who have decided they want to work for the FBI. They are practicing by spying on their neighbors, but the game turns serious when they see a neighbor committing a crime. Things may not be what they seem. Or they might be in some serious danger.

The book pulled me in with great main characters and a plot that gets very suspenseful as the book progresses. The target audience will definitely love it, and any adult w...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Jennifer Jensen (Literally Jen) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: from-author

Around 4th and 5th grade, I was very into mysteries–especially The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon. In the 8th grade, I moved on to the adult mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark. I adore a good mystery; I’ll even take out my sleuthing hat and see if I’m clever enough to solve the mystery before the hero or heroine of the story.

With Kristen Kittscher’s debut novel, The Wig in the Window, I returned to my reading roots with this funny and clever middle grade first-in-series about two tween sleuths who...more Around 4th and 5th grade, I was very into mysteries–especially The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon. In the 8th grade, I moved on to the adult mysteries by Mary Higgins Clark. I adore a good mystery; I’ll even take out my sleuthing hat and see if I’m clever enough to solve the mystery before the hero or heroine of the story.

With Kristen Kittscher’s debut novel, The Wig in the Window, I returned to my reading roots with this funny and clever middle grade first-in-series about two tween sleuths who suspect their school counselor is a fugitive. Sophie Young and Grace Yang are best friends, even though they are opposite in appearance and culture. Sophie is fair-skinned and Grace is Chinese-American, but it’s Sophie who seems to identify more with Grace’s culture. Grace is more interested in fashion and style, while Sophie is more quiet and pondering and often quotes Sun Tzu.

The tween duo spend their time making up farfetched criminal alter egos for their neighbors…until one midnight spy session seems to reveal a true offender. Sophie knows there is something “off” about her school’s counselor, Dr. Charlotte Agford. She has only been working at Sophie’s school for two years, and Sophie can’t find any other information about her when she enters her name into the Google search engine. Their suspicions of Dr. Agford are validated when an FBI agent approaches them and asks them for help in capturing her.

Mystery plot line aside, The Wig in the Window features a cast of likable and unforgettable characters. Sophie’s new friend, Trista Bottoms, made a strong impression on me. Like Sophie and several other characters in the novel, Trista gets made fun of. Trista knows she is heavier than the rest of her classmates, but she doesn’t get down on herself about it. She has a sense of humor about who she is, and works hard to stay healthy. She’s not the stereotypical overweight character; in fact, Trista’s the one who lightly lectures Sophie for eating junk food while Trista is eating grilled chicken and brown rice. Bullying is very much a part of growing up, and Kittschler touches upon it in a positive (yet realistic) manner.

Kristen Kittschler had me entirely stumped with the mystery Sophie and Grace were attempting to solve in The Wig in the Window. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I began doubting myself; evidence was compelling and certain characters had believable (or unbelievable) stories. Although the intended audience is ages 8-12, the writing is complex and will have strong appeal for older readers who enjoy reading books for any age level.
(less)

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Jun 13, 2013 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: alamw13, middle-grade, 2013-debuts, arc, contemporary, friendship, mystery, spies, reviewed

Best friends and 7th graders Sophie Young and Grace Yang have made a game out of spying on their neighbors. On one of their midnight stakeouts, they witness a terrifying, bloody scene at the home of their bizarre middle-school counselor, Dr. Charlotte Agford (aka Dr. Awkward). At least, they think they do. The truth is that Dr. Agford was only making her famous pickled beets. But when Dr. Agford begins acting even weirder than usual, Sophie and Grace become convinced that she’s hiding something,...more Best friends and 7th graders Sophie Young and Grace Yang have made a game out of spying on their neighbors. On one of their midnight stakeouts, they witness a terrifying, bloody scene at the home of their bizarre middle-school counselor, Dr. Charlotte Agford (aka Dr. Awkward). At least, they think they do. The truth is that Dr. Agford was only making her famous pickled beets. But when Dr. Agford begins acting even weirder than usual, Sophie and Grace become convinced that she’s hiding something, and they’re determined to find out what it is. Soon the girls are breaking secret codes, being followed by a strange blue car, and tailing strangers with unibrows and Texas accents. But as their investigation heats up, Sophie and Grace start to crack under the pressure. They might solve their case, but will their friendship survive?

The Wig in the Window is an entertaining and exciting mystery, complete with two inquisitive girls and some curious secrets newly discovered in their quiet neighbourhood. Both girls are ready to put their spy skills to the test and uncover the truth, but they uncover something far more complicated than they expected and they'll have to work quickly in order to bust everything out into the open.

Sophie and Grace are smart girls, curious girls, girls who speculate and hope to discover the hidden truths behind their neighbours' strange actions. Of course, sometimes it's just their imaginations getting the best of them, but this time it isn't. This time it's something big, something with secret codes and a car that wanders around constantly. This time they've hit it big and it's time to get to work. But spying and uncovering mysteries isn't always fun and games, sometimes real life gets in the way.

Because of the first person point of view, the reader gets more of Sophie than of Grace. At times, Sophie appears to have more reservations than Grace, she wants to be more cautious, she wants to do things a bit differently than Grace. Grace seems to be Sophie's only friend. Sophie's varied interests, including those in tai chi and fung shui, make me wonder if Sophie is trying to be someone else, if she's trying to appear interesting. It's like she doesn't think she's interesting enough on her own.

Friendship is a big part of this book. Sophie and Grace have to stick together, have to work together, or else the big secret they're hoping to expose about Dr. Agford is going to fade away in the night. But they both have their own personalities, their own lives away from each other, their own way of going about life. They're bound to clash and argue, but can they get past it? Will their friendship survive?

This book plays on the dream that almost every kid has had, and that's the dream of exposing the weird secrets of his or her neighbours. Behind closed doors, behind drawn curtains, kids just know there's something going on next door or down the street. And then they can investigate to their heart's content. But what if they end up in over their heads? What are they going to do next?

This is a mystery filled with twists and turns and a danger that begs to be revealed. I can only hope for more.(less)

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Jun 17, 2013 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

Kristen Kittscher's debut caught my eye with that brilliantly adorable cover, one which perfectly captures the book itself, which makes it even better. Though mysteries aren't my genre of choice, I couldn't resist checking this one out, because of the Rear Window connection. Pop culture references are for the win always. The Wig in the Window is above all a story of friendship and courage, with plenty of humor and adventure to keep readers of all ages entertained.

The first thing I need to give K...more Kristen Kittscher's debut caught my eye with that brilliantly adorable cover, one which perfectly captures the book itself, which makes it even better. Though mysteries aren't my genre of choice, I couldn't resist checking this one out, because of the Rear Window connection. Pop culture references are for the win always. The Wig in the Window is above all a story of friendship and courage, with plenty of humor and adventure to keep readers of all ages entertained.

The first thing I need to give Kittscher props for is how the mystery plays out. Reading mysteries intended for younger readers can be imminently frustrating for an adult, because the children often fail to note the most obvious of clues and the guilty party is clear from the first pages. This was not the case in The Wig in the Window. Kittscher adds evidence steadily, and keeps pulling the rug out from under Sophie's feet. Sophie does have a bit of a tendency to jump to conclusions, but she's never blindly oblivious to the facts in front of her.

In fact, Sophie and her friends don't do a lot of the inadvisable things kids in novels often do. When they think they've witnessed a murder by their next door neighbor, they contact the authorities. They try to rely on and trust adults with information, but receive contradictory information and end up having to do the best they can alone. In addition to snooping around, since they like to pretend they're in the FBI, they also do Google searches. Sophie and Grace approach the situation as logically as they can.

For me, the most meaningful aspect of The Wig in the Window is the friendship between amateur investigators Grace and Sophie. They've been friends since Sophie's family moved to the neighborhood, and go by Young (Sophie) and Yang (Grace). However, all is not perfect in their friendship, and the real mystery to solve brings all their issues to the surface. Sophie has always felt like the sidekick, following Grace's lead, which was fine until Sophie got in trouble for falsely reporting a murder and Grace didn't. Now Sophie feels abandoned, and has a chance to really come into her own, however painful that may be. They really have to learn to appreciate one another and not take their friendship for granted, which can happen in long term relationships of any sort.

At school, Sophie's other friends ditch her in the wake of the reporting-the-school-counselor-for-murder scandal. In this awkward time, she's befriended by Trista, overweight and picked on (called Boom-Boom-Bottoms by the school's resident bully, who calls Sophie Ay-nus, a play off her French class name Agnes). Trista's totally my favorite character. She's sassy, can out-insult the bullies, loves herself for who she is, and has her friends' backs. Plus, she's a really healthy eater, so Kittscher's conveying that it's not necessarily lifestyle alone that leads to weight gain.

The one thing that left me really uncomfortable was the portrayal of Charlotte Agford, the school counselor that Grace and Sophie think they see commit murder. Whether or not she's the villain, some of the descriptions for her made me really uncomfortable. She has this giant hair, which turns out to be a wig, and huge fake breasts, both of which are repeatedly used as evidence essentially that she's evil, and I'm just not really cool with that. There were a couple of other characters described in unsettling ways, but Agford is the best example. Whether someone's a good or bad person shouldn't be bound up in their appearance.

The Wig in the Window is a fun mystery, sure to delight middle grade readers. There's humor, action, friendship, and even a little bit of romance. I'm glad to have read it, but am left a bit unsure about the overall message.(less)

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Nov 26, 2012 Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

This books is fantastic. I was expecting something light-hearted and funny, a whimsical adventure about two young female sleuths who get in over their heads... what I got was all of that, plus so much more.

There is *depth* to this book. Not hit-you-on-the-head-with-Big-Issues kind of depth (although I like those books, too), but subtle depth in every character and situation. Stereotypes are routinely addressed and smashed, and readers will be introduced to the idea of cultural appropriation, pe...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Elizabeth Ross rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

THE WIG IN THE WINDOW is not only a hilarious mystery, but an endearing story of friendship.

Sophie Young and Grace Yang are best friends and middle-grade sleuths. But their snooping gets out of hand once they start spying on their suspicious school councilor, Dr Agford (an excellent villain in the tradition of a Roald Dahl baddie.) Dr Agford shows us just how much power adults can wield when you're only in middle school.

The book is a perfect combination of rollicking humor, daring adventure and...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Kellee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, mystery, realistic-fiction, multicultural, horror-thriller-suspense

4.5 stars

In the tradition of Nancy Drew, and, in this case, Sun Tzu, Young and Yang are on the case! This book immediately draws you in and the action never stops. You are predicting and trying to solve the mystery right alongside Sophie and Grace throughout the whole book! Twist and turns keep you guessing and the ending is quite an adventure!

One of the things I liked the most about this book were the characters. There are 3 main girl characters (Trista is a friend of Sophie's from school) and...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Claire Caterer marked it as to-read

Shelves: books-of-2012, middle-grade-gems

Any middle-grader who enjoys a good mystery will love Kristen Kittscher’s fast-paced yarn about two young sleuths who suspect their neighbor is hiding something sinister. The story is told from the viewpoint of Sophie Young, a seventh grader with an obsession for Chinese culture. Her best friend, Grace Yang, couldn’t care less about feng shui, but she knows FBI procedure backward and forward, and she propels Sophie to push the investigation of their neighbor into a deep and tangled story of viol...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Cecil rated it 5 of 5 stars

full disclosure. Kristen is my friend. But that can't stop me from singing this books praises. It's a mystery that is full of heart and truth and friendship. It's a mini hitchcock for tweens. It's thrilling with twists galore. I think that best friends are going to love this book. I know I want to be friends with Young and Yang, and I know that you will, too. Bring on more of their adventures!

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Feb 01, 2013 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-young

I love Young and Yang -- the ups and downs of their friendship and the way that their sharp young minds work feels so real! And they're funny, and boy, do they get into it up to their necks! I thought this was great, and I would have loved to discover it as a young person. Kudos to (admittedly my friend) Kristen Kittscher on her first book!

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Feb 05, 2013 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

In THE WIG IN THE WINDOW, best friends and spy partners Sophie Young and
Grace Yang face all the struggles of middle school's changing friendships
AND the dangers of a real life-or-death mystery. This book is funny,
realistic, and suspenseful -- a pitch-perfect mystery for the tween set.

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Jun 16, 2013 Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, 2013-challenge-shelf, friendship, mg, mystery

http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com/2013/06/t... - Jackie's thoughts on this book

My thoughts to follow...

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Mar 12, 2013 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, it was a wonderful combination of spellbinding mystery, fantasy becoming reality, wit and pure fun.

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Apr 12, 2013 Sonia Gensler added it

Clever, hilarious, twisty, suspenseful, and endearing mystery. Highly recommended!

1 like · like · see review

Nov 12, 2012 Pauncejones rated it 5 of 5 stars

(Full disclosure: I know the author and read an early version of the book.)

This is a great middle-grade read, very funny! I liked this better than many of the other books in this age-range that I've read because it uses humor that doesn't seem either over-the-top or falls flat, two things I found while reading some of the other books in the same grade range. I also enjoyed the strong female leads - a nice surprise to see smart, strong girls that are making choices for themselves.

In any case, I t...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Clare Cannon marked it as not-sure

KP offered to review for www.GoodReadingGuide.com

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Dec 27, 2012 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-books

(ARC copy I won in raffle)

Fast paced story about two friends who suspect that their school counselor is not who or what she seems. Sophie and Grace want to be spies and work for the FBI. They have walkie- talkies, dark clothing, and escape plans. They quickly learn that not all plans work out.

Characters are realistic and funny. They are smart and brave but have faults. Mystery moves quickly and includes a bit of a twist at the end.

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Jun 14, 2013 Jana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-2013, books-for-girls, middle-grade

Lots of action in the second half! Fun mystery & fun characters. Full review to come!

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Jun 26, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

Yes, I'm a friend of the author's. I've read an earlier draft of this book and I cannot WAIT until it's available to the public!

Hysterically funny, clever, and packed with action and mystery, let's just say the Wig in the Window feels like the start of a beautiful friendship :)

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Nov 26, 2012 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't normally enjoy middle grade books, but this debut novel bowled me over! Think Harriet the Spy meets "Rear Window" with spunky characters that are completely unique - I enjoyed every page and I know kids will too!

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Dec 22, 2012 Peggy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was so much fun! A great mystery with characters that were so enjoyable.

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Jun 10, 2013 Kimberly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 52-books-in-52-weeks-2013

Review to come

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Jun 18, 2013 Erin Hahn marked it as to-read

Jun 18, 2013 Malissa marked it as to-read

Jun 18, 2013 Isabel Ibero marked it as to-read

Jun 18, 2013 Kelly marked it as to-read

Shelves: leah

Jun 18, 2013 Leslie marked it as to-read

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About Kristen Kittscher

Kristen Kittscher grew up in over 13 cities, including San Francisco, Dallas, and London but she feels most at home in Southern California, where she lives with her husband, Kai, and their hopelessly spoiled cat and dog. A graduate of Brown University and former English teacher, she now writes funny mysteries for the precocious middle-schoolers she once enjoyed teaching so much. Her debut novel, T...more

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