Holy Horoscope! Clara Voyant by Rachel Delaney

When Clara's no-nonsense grandmother Elaine retires from her job as statistician and leaves for Florida, Clara, an equally no-nonsense girl whose idea of fine literature runs to investigative reporting, finds herself suddenly transported to a different world. With her hippie-dippy mother Gaby ensconced in a tiny apartment over the herb shop where she now works, Clara, far from her grandmother's sleek, well-kept condo, is like a fish out of water in the quaint, definitely "multicultural" area of Toronto's Kensington Market, where her mom fits in, but she, Clara, does not.

The music for "Twilight Zone" seems to have become the theme song of her new life. When her mother invites Terence and Lily, two "interesting" new friends over, Clara steels herself for an evening of what she calls pure "woo-woo." In that she is not disappointed.

"Do you know how to read the charts?" asked Terence.

"Clara swallowed. "The what?"

"Astrology," he said. "That's the study of planetary movements and alignment. What's your sign, Gaby?" he asked Clara's mother.

"I'm a Gemini. With a rising moon in Taurus."

Lily gasped dramatically. "Oh! That explains SO much!"

Terrence nodded. "On Friday nights, I have a seance at the Black Cat Cafe. Some people would like to contact friends or family in the afterworld."

"Terence has a real entrepreneurial spirit," Lily gushed. Clara didn't even have the heart to point out the pun.

Clara clings to her hope that the school newspaper will offer her a chance to shine at just-the-facts-ma'am reporting, but the ambitious senior editor Wesley, ever-clad in no-nonsense blazers, gives her the worst possible assignment--writing the regular horoscope column for the Gazette. With the help of Lily's astrology tome, Clara dutifully makes up prognostications for the signs of the Zodiac, and to her dismay, her column instantly becomes the most popular feature in the newspaper. To escape, she secretly resolves to freelance an investigative report on the middle-school's mysteriously purloined mascot, Buzzter the giant papier mache' bee.

With the help of Maeve, her new friend whose passion for drama has her auditioning for the part of a famous sleuth in the school play, the two decide to combine talents to find Buzzter and give Clara the chance to break a big story and shake her psychic charisma.

Going undercover as investigative reporter, Clara finds herself digging deep for Buzzter into the school's mulch bins, even as she fends off her following of fans who seem to believe that she has physic powers to foresee their future. Editor Wesley is thrilled with her star writer's popularity and gives her the nom de plume of "Clara Voyant."

And Clara herself can't believe that her predictions unpredictably keep coming true, despite her cynicism about all things woo-woo-ish, in Rachel Delaney's delightful novel, Clara Voyant (Penguin/Random House, 2018). Can Clara make peace with her inner psychic in her new setting? Author Delaney keeps the adolescent angst light, clever, and witty in a middle-school story that takes her heroine on a little walk on the woo-woo side. Adds School Library Journal, "Clara is an utterly likable character and readers will root for her, especially where readers enjoy a touch of the supernatural in their mysteries."