Secret Society of the Left Hand

Cinnamon Lake Mysteries #1

by Dandi Daley Mackall

When Molly and her friends form the Secret Society of the Left Hand, each member agrees to do a secret act of kindness, but when someone threatens to reveal the secrets, Molly must find the traitor before suspicion tears the group apart.

80 pages, Library Binding

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

A professional writer for over 20 years, Dandi Daley Mackall has written dozens of articles for popular magazines and published around 500 books for children and adults alike, with sales of over 4 million.

A frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, she lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, horses, dogs, & cats. Awards include the Edgar Award for Best YA Mystery, the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children's Literature; Distinguished Alumni Award from Mizzou; ALA Best Book; Christian Children's Book of the Year, Amelia Bloom, Mom's Choice Awards. Her YA novel, My Boyfriends' Dogs, is now a Hallmark movie.

Reviews

[Kristen Kurre]

The Secret Society of the Left Hand is a great beginning chapter book for young readers. With a mix of pictures and text throughout each chapter, beginning readers can begin to enjoy longer text. This is a mystery book that is part of the Cinnamon Lake Mystery Series. It is about a girl named Molly and her friends who all belong to the Secret Society of the Left Hand. Each member decides to do a secret act of kindness. However, someone threatens to reveal all of the secrets. Therefore, Molly spends most of the most trying to figure out who is trying to reveal the secrets. She needs to do this before all the increasing suspicion threatens to divide the group.

This is a great book for students who like mysteries. It would be a great way for students to learn how to solve a problem in the early years of school. Before the students read how Molly is able to solve the mystery, I would ask the class what they would do in a similar situation. I would also ask them to predict what is going to happen and ask them what clues they have used to make their prediction. This book is also great for teaching students about doing good deeds merely for the purpose of helping others just as the group does in the book. I would explain to the students that doing good deeds without accolades or recognition, but merely to help someone is a powerful demonstration of kindness towards others.

The overall message of this mystery chapter book is positive. It teaches students that doing good deeds to help people even when no one is watching is truly the ultimate form of kindness towards others. Also, I believe that mysteries are a great way for students to identify problem and solution text structure which this book allows students to do at a basic level. Students always enjoy figuring out a mystery with the suspense that comes along with identifying clues and ultimately solving the mystery.

[LeAnne]

Nice christian entertainment. Not too preachy.

[Elaine Hebert]

They did secret good kind deeds for people.