What Happened to Rachel Riley?
(Juvenile Book)

Anna Hunt may be new to East Middle School, but she can already tell there's something weird going on in her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social pariah. No one will talk to her. No one will talk about her. And no one will tell Anna how it all started. Including Rachel herself. As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there's always more to a story than meets the eye. People lie. Stories change. And the journey to the truth is never a straight line. So when Anna's Social Issues class is assigned a project on a topic of their choosing, Anna decides to put her truth-seeking skills to the test and center her project around the question that won't stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley? With what feels like an entire middle school working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Anonymous notes. A barn fire. A set of keys. A hall pass. With each clue, the mystery widens, painting an even bigger picture of what everyone seems to know and won't talk about. But there's one thing that Anna has learned the truth about: if you're going to ask a complicated question, you'd better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer.

Ages 8-12.