Secrets In The Land Of Cheese

Now the year was 1988. These letters were 30 years old! Whatever happened to Arne and Cecelia? I wondered if they got married and lived in this house.

Book: Secrets in the Land of Cheese by Katiera Pfeister, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Target Audience: Girls 10-13

Subjects: Truth, Friendship, Romance, Cold War

Summary: A stack of letters, hidden under a board, in an old house… the house a murderer used to live in! So much excitement for eleven year old Maggie! When her family moves to the new town, she quickly begins making friends and learning about the history of her home. Some say the town is boring and nothing ever happens, but solving a thirty year old mystery sure sounds exciting to Maggie! So in the midst of battles with her mom over the clothes she wears, making up lies to get her friends to accept her more, and crushing on a boy at school, Maggie does a bunch of research, following clue after clue to figure out what really happened the day of the murder.

Notes: Secrets In The Land of Cheese is the author’s first book! Her intent is to “write stories that present a picture of middle schoolers who are seeking after Jesus in imperfect but sincere ways”. That’s exactly what this book shows. Maggie is a very ordinary girl, living a pretty ordinary life in an ordinary small town that just so happens to have cheese as a big product of their community and therefore, culture. She is fascinated with the story of the murder and convinced from the letters that the accused could not have been the murderer. In the midst of this, she attends church and learns that God cares about her, even when she has silly fears. She learns to start praying to Him and trying to trust Him. At the end of the story she even leads a friend to Christ.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi                 

Proverbs 23:23 – Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.