Three Times Lucky is getting great response from readers and reviewers!

Three Times Lucky – The Reviews Are In!

Kirkus Reviews

Pairing the heartbreaking sadness of children who don’t get their fair share from parents with the hilarity of small-town life, Turnage achieves a wickedly awesome tale of an 11-year-old girl with more spirit and gumption than folks twice her age. Mo LoBeau is destined to become a standout character in children’s fiction.

Here is a writer who has never met a metaphor or simile she couldn’t put to good use. Miss Lana’s voice is “the color of sunlight in maple syrup,” while “[r]umors swirl around the Colonel like ink around an octopus.” But it’s Mo’s wry humor that makes this first novel completely memorable.

Publishers

Weekly

Turnage’s lively novel features a distinctive voice and a community of idiosyncratic characters whose interlocking stories are gradually revealed.

Booklist

Turnage takes her time with the plot, dropping hints, such as a death and a strange inheritance, that indicate something big is about to happen. The end result is a dandy mystery that reaches back into the Colonel and Miss Lana’s past and involves the entire community, including Mo’s best friend, Dale; his dreamy brother, Lavender; and the Azalea Women (a.k.a. the Uptown Garden Club). Humor sweetens the mix, making Tupelo Landing a pleasant place to stay for a spell.

Horn Book

Quick-thinking and precocious Mo LoBeau is hilarious in this modern-day mystery set in a small North Carolina town. …The twists and turns in the plot will keep readers on their toes, and the humorous interactions between Mo and her quirky neighbors will keep them coming back for more.

School Library Journal

Richie’s

Picks

“...Author Sheila Turnage populates Tupelo Landing with all sorts of quirky saints and sinners. ... I particularly adore the character of Dale and the dynamics between him and Mo. Dale is a small-statured kid with great intuition and a really big heart, the perfect foil for our main character, the young girl who is coming to understand the real meaning of home.”

“…[T]he one thing I can say with certainty about Three Times Lucky is that you will never, but ever, mistake it for another book. We’ve got murder. We’ve got careening racecars. We’ve got drunken louts and amnesia and wigs and karate and all sorts of good stuff rolled up in one neat little package. I’ve read a lot of mysteries for kids this year and truth be told? This one’s my favorite, hands down.”

“A novel that hits on all cylinders. Grab it, read it, enjoy it, and find a kid to thrust it upon.”

Betsy Bird, Children’s Librarian at the NYPL and publisher of the wildly popular SLJ Blog A Fuse #8 Production

Shelf

Awareness

This page–turning debut involves a three-pronged mystery as steeped in Southern culture as a pitcher of sweet tea – and just as refreshing. ...Sheila Turnage is a writer to watch.