Alice-Miranda Shines Bright by Jacqueline Harvey

Random House, 2013.
ISBN 9781742752907. Highly recommended for ages 8 and up. Themes: Mysteries, School Life, Friendship, Village Life. Alice-Miranda is a lovable, friendly, caring character, who attends a wonderful boarding school Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Girls. She is back shining bright in her eighth adventure. School life is fun with auditions for the Summer Spectacular, friends to help and ponies to ride. The sixth form girls are preparing for high school and one sixth-former Jacinta is acting out, causing problems for the other students.
Meanwhile in Downsfordvale, Mayor Silas Wiley is involved in a mysterious scheme, while his secretary Ursula has her own secrets and Mr. Reginald Parker has woken from a three year coma and disappeared with his nurse. Alice-Miranda and Millie want to help so they take their ponies Chops and Bonaparte to search the nearby woodlands. They make a wonderful discovery in a hidden cave but vow to keep it a secret. There are different mysteries woven through this story that need Alice-Miranda's help to solve.
Harvey has created a wonderful world for Alice-Miranda, her boarding school life is one to envy with fun, lack of restrictions, supportive staff and lots of food! The girls have a lot of freedom to explore and interact with the townsfolk and help them.
Alice-Miranda is a well-loved series with fans in many countries. This is another highly recommended book for readers from eight years of age. There is a blog for the series.
Rhyllis Bignell