EJ12 Girl Hero - Christmas Crackdown by Susannah McFarlanne

Scholastic/Lemon Fizz Media, 2011. ISBN 978 1 92168 425 8.
EJ12 Girl Hero - Christmas Crackdown is a story involving girl power. A great short novel for girls aged 9+ who are independent readers. The story also has great role models as the main characters are 12 year old girls who are spies for the agency SHINE. SHINE constantly comes up against the evil agency SHADOW and this instalment is no different. There is no need to read others in the series to understand the plot or characters and while it is a predictable plot, there are twists along the way to keep the readers guessing.
EJ12 is the code name for our main character, Emily Jacks. She is an agent in SHINE and it is Christmas. As she and her family are preparing for Christmas, EJ is sent on a mission to solve the whereabouts of missing diamonds. Along the way she solves codes and riddles (which even had me thinking), helps her friends and uses amazing technology to spy and escape - imagine a charm bracelet that gives you rope, cameras and disguises!
Will EJ and the other agents of SHINE outwit the evil Ms. Glass and the SHADOW agency or will the diamonds be lost to them forever? More importantly, will she get home for Christmas Eve dinner with her family?
Kylie Kempster