Two School Stories, Sophia McDougall’s Mars Evacuees and Robin Stevens’ Murder is Bad Manners

Two new British imports, Sophia McDougall’s Mars EvacueesandRobin Stevens’ Murder is Bad Manners, offer middle grade readersclever young women, wry and witty authorial voices, hapeless teachers,excellent sidekicks, well-developed settings, and page-turningplots. Both are also just a lot of fun.

Mars Evacuees opens at the Muckling Abbott School for Girls where twelve year-old Alice Darelearns thatshe is one of a handful of kids being evacuated to Mars. This is most likely because of her mother...