Product Description

When Lily's famous action-movie-star aunt comes to town to work on the New Year's Parade, all of San Francisco is in for a big surprise! Auntie Tiger Lil's float is sure to be a big hit in Chinatown - especially since it will feature the priceless Goblin Pearls. But when the pearls are stolen, Auntie Tiger Lil' refuses to let the thieves ruin her plans - if the cops can't get the pearls back, then she and Lily will! But the fearless detectives soon find themselves in a plot worthy of one of Auntie's movies. Will their first mystery be their last?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #881335 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Yep (The Khan's Daughter, reviewed above) is off to a roaring start with this launch to a mystery series set in San Francisco's Chinatown. As it begins, 12-year-old Lily's glamorous great-aunt ("Tiger Lil") comes to visit from Hollywood. A whirlwind of energy, the 60-something former film star ropes Lily and her family and friends into helping with a float she's been hired to organize for the Chinese New Year parade. In the process, Lily learns a great deal about her personal and cultural heritage, and she and her "auntie" help unravel an insurance scam involving a stolen pearl necklace, as well as uncover a sweatshop operation at which the mother of one of Lily's school friends is haplessly employed. Snappy dialogue, realistic characterizations and a plot with lots of action keep the pages turning, and the layers of social relevance (the sweatshop story line; Lily's growing realization of the complexities of her Chinese heritage) add substance. Readers will look forward to more installments featuring this spunky heroine-not to mention her wisecracking auntie. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8. Lily's Auntie Tiger Lil comes to stay with the girl's family while organizing a float for the Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco. A street gang called the Powell Street Boys threatens to disrupt the parade and steal the "Goblin Pearls" worn by Miss Lion Salve, and so sets the scene for the suspense. Although too many characters are introduced and not fully developed, this first title in a new series has real possibilities. The two heroines, Tiger Lil, a fading Hollywood star, and her niece and namesake, Lily, carry the story. The mystery involves the pearls, Chinatown, and a local sweatshop called "Happy Fortune." The bad guys aren't obvious right off the bat, but clue follows clue as events unfold and even though Lily doesn't intend to get involved, she is the one who pieces the truth together. There is a lot of culturally specific material nicely introduced as Lily discovers her heritage and makes connections at the same time that readers do. Some of the unfairness of the sweatshop seems overly dramatized, especially when the workers are so kind as to share their nearly nonexistent wages with a stranger. But there are some nice touches, such as tidbits left hanging in the air for youngsters to puzzle over before being explained. With enough fun and intrigue to keep the pages turning, this is a worthwhile series title.?Carol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 5^-7. Part comic detective story, part docunovel about San Francisco's Chinese American community, this story is told in the voice of 12-year-old Lily Lew. When her lively Auntie Tiger Lil comes to stay, Lily learns about her aunt's historic Hollywood career and is drawn into taking part in the New Year parade in Chinatown, where a set of priceless pearls is stolen. As Lily and her aunt trace the thieves, the trail leads to an insurance scam and a sweatshop of exploited immigrant women. The mystery is solved through clumsy contrivance, and the various parts of the story don't always fit well together: chatty jokes during a sweatshop riot and fire? More interesting is Lily's discovery of her Chinese American roots in all their diversity, her growing awareness of how she has tried to reject the JOJ (Just Off the Jet) types. It is didactic, but the message is leavened with humor and dramatized in Lily's close relationship with her irrepressible aunt. Many readers will recognize their own mixture of shame and pride in family and culture. Hazel Rochman