“According to Gramps, life is a journey, and what we are now is not necessarily what we will be.”

The impact that growth and positive change can have in a person’s life, regardless of age, is a powerful theme in Coop Knows the Scoop. To protect his family, the main character, Coop, must solve the mysterious discovery of a skeleton and the murder investigation that follows. While on the case, he is faced with life-changing lessons and unexpected friendships. Coop Knows the Scoop doesn’t preach morality, but rather shows readers real situations any middle-grade kid can relate to and the natural outcomes of decisions made. Author Taryn Souders presents her audience with a smart, fast-paced murder mystery containing all the twists and turns of a favorite rollercoaster. Filled with moments of chaos, humor, and heart, this book is pure delight.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc. 5 stars!! I absolutely adored this book! It has everything I love in a book mystery, lost love, murder, tight friendship group, conflict, and its Middle Grade! Coop is such a relatable character as are his friends Justice and Liberty. It was such a fun adventure with them!

Windy Bottom, Georgia is usually a peaceful place. Coop helps his mom at her café and bookstore, hangs out with his grandpa, and bikes around with his friends Justice and Liberty. The town is full of all kinds of interesting people, but no one has ever caused a problem. Until now.

Coop lives with his mother and grandfather in Windy Bottom, GA where life is small-town tame until the day a body is unearthed in the old playground. As the investigation unravels, the body is found to be Coop's missing grandmother. The investigation turns into a whodunit mystery and as Coop and his friends Justice and Liberty begin to follow up on clues and ask questions, many secrets held by adults in the town come to light.

I loved this book! The characters were interesting, and the small town scene and way of life are described perfectly. As the imperfections and past mistakes from the adults he admires and trusts come to light, Coop's reaction is realistic. It's rare for me to find a book that keeps me guessing to the end regarding the murderer, but this one did.

I hope to see this book on state reading award lists. Great recommendation for readers who like KD McCrite's April Grace books or Sheila Turnage's Mo & Dale mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ebook copy of this book. This is a good elementary “who done it” mystery. Coop has a nice personality and is dealing with the death of his military father. He has a supportive mother and grandfather. He has good friends and is forced to manage a relationship with the school bully. From an adult perspective it felt a little frenetic and predictable. But I think younger readers, who like mysteries, will enjoy this book.

*Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This was such a good read! The characters were likable and relatable, and the plot was well developed. Coop, Justice, and Liberty find themselves trying to crack a case when bones are discovered buried. Especially because Coops' Gramps is the prime suspect! This mystery kept me guessing most of the time and I loved the twists at the end.

This is a great read for kids who want a mystery that is a little "more grown up". One of my favorite 2020 books!

Coop Knows the Scoop is such a fun middle grade murder mystery!

Coop lives in small-town Windy Bottom, Georgia. He lives with his mom and Gramps and helps out at his mom’s bookstore/cafe with his best friends, Liberty and Justice.

When bones are discovered buried under the slide at the playground, Coop, Justice, and Liberty are on the case, especially because Gramps is the prime suspect. With the help of the town bully, Beau, Coop and the gang use their sleuthing skills to try to clear Gramps’ name.

I really enjoyed this book! It was just the right amount of heavy and serious while still being fun. It really focused and friendship and that people are not always what they seem, both good and bad. This book ended up being a lot more intense than I expected and it kept me guessing up until the end.

Coop Knows The Scoop was published in July of this year, and I would say is for the advanced middle-grade mystery reader. Not necessarily because it is difficult to read (it isn't!) but because it does deal with some relatively heavy themes (death, betrayal) that I think might go over the head of a younger reader. Nonetheless, it is one that I absolutely recommend having a look at!

Coop and his friends, Justice and Liberty (I admit I giggled), find themselves in the middle of a mystery when a skeleton is unearthed under the playground of their town. The cast of characters is well developed, and I never felt like the description was forced or overly long the way it can be in some books for younger readers.

I really liked the writing style in this book. The characters interacted well, the personal histories were well-developed, and the writing of the mystery itself flowed really well. Also....look, I really enjoy the correct usage of "you have another think coming." That pleases me.

Coop himself is a really neat character as well. Something I particularly like is that he does stumble, he does make mistakes, he does misjudge. He experiences the normal range of emotions of a kid his age and you can see his process for working through problems, which is actually a really valuable writing device. In addition, this kid listens to Beethoven to help him think, and honestly: same. I can't get anything done without a soundtrack, up to and including this review.

The southernisms in this book are as hilarious and cliched as they are confusing, in the best sort of way (because I love words, honestly). What the hell does "to hang catawampus" mean? I'm guessing it's something like hanging crooked? But I am honestly not sure and google wasn't a huge help this time around.

Anyway! Coop Knows The Scoop was released at the beginning of July, so is already available for you (and the kids, if you feel like sharing) to get your mitts on!

Well worth a read, people.

This mystery is so intriguing and I think it was really well written. It was an amazing read and I enjoyed the idea behind it. The mystery was so surprising when it was solved and I know that I could never have figured it out. This has been one of my favorite books this year. The backstory of characters (and the characters themselves) had been figured out and it wasn't just empty in that zone. This book is great for readers 10-13.

This is an excellent mystery and not as dark as it may seem. Well done southern setting with a southern voice and an interesting cast of characters. This is a well done mystery with a few twists to keep readers guessing.

This is the perfect mystery book to recommend to kids who want something more than a missing stuffed animal. Taryn Souders has a way with developing characters that are relatable and easy to connect with. I am also amazed with her craft of setting and plot. You can imagine this gossip town, no doubt, especially with the busy body characters that love a good story and murder mystery.

The story line flows so easily and there was never a time where I wish it were to slow down or speed up. It's one of those books that you cannot put down because you need to keep reading the next page, then eventually the next chapter, but really you have to finish it in one sitting.

Another enjoyable aspect of this middle grade mystery is that it's not one of those books where often an adult reader can pinpoint the who, what, where, when, and why early in the story. I seriously did not catch on until the main character did towards the end of the book. Now that is good writing!

This book will be perfect for upper elementary and middle grade readers. It has quite a bit of humor that makes you laugh real good, so I think kids who are reluctant readers and those who even want more of an "edgier" book will dig into this one easily. This is one of those books where you feel like you need to read it again, so you can pinpoint any clues that connected to the main suspect at the end of the book. One of my favorite 2020 books!

Basic plot: When the local playground gets a make-over, the workers dig up a skeleton. Pretty exciting stuff for the sleepy town of Windy Bottom, Georgia. Coop and his friends are particularly interested in using their detective brains to discover what actually happened. Of course, it's not easy when your nemesis⁠—i.e. the class bully⁠—is on your case. But then Coop discovers that the murder victim just might be somebody closer to him than he realized.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) Coop's mom owns a bookstore in their small town. Can I just say how much I love this? (Actually, who doesn't love a good book store setting!)

2) This book starts off with immediate action and interest with the digging up of the skeleton. And then the details roll in⁠—like the fact that the skeleton is wearing a dress⁠—that keeps us wanting to read more.

3) I love Coop's Gramps. "Gramps had a third rule: You can’t leave a bad situation without finding two good things about it. Two things to be thankful for." He isn't perfect (you'll find that out in the book), but he has so much wisdom. I love it when grandfathers like Gramps are in books!

4) I enjoyed Coop's friends, the twins named Liberty and Justice. The three kids make a good team. And they get into plenty of mischief.

5) There are some nice upping-the-ante moments. Especially with regards to Coop's nemesis, Beau (the bully). There's a moment in the story when the boys discuss their mutual agreement to not get along. I love Coop's interior monologue at this point: "That was the first thing we’d ever agreed on in our lives."

6) I did like the character, Tick, who is a father-figure for Coop. He's also a police officer, so things get a little awkward when Coop starts breaking a few laws.

7) This book is a whodunit. There is a nice little reference to the Hardy Boys (although, personally, I think that could have been a stronger thread in the book). Coop and his friends are trying to find a murderer. So, yeah, one of the characters in the story IS indeed a murderer. I will say that I was kept guessing... which is good for a murder-mystery. (I did figure it out just slightly before the kids do in the book.)

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) The one thing that bothered me—and I have seen this in a lot of books lately—is the fact that there are a lot of unique names in the book. Coop is fine (his full name is Cooper) since he's the protagonist. And Beau's fine, since that's a real name. But then there were Liberty and Justice, the twins. I couldn't remember who was the girl and who was the boy. This is not particularly helpful to the reader, especially when it takes you out of the book.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 4 Stars (out of 5) – I can't think of many middle-grade books that deal with murder (like a real murder). This book actually does, which makes it a little on the edgy side of MG. I would recommend it for older kids who like mysteries... and are ready for something beyond your Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew variety. These are the kids who will one day devour the likes of books by Agatha Christie, et al.

**Note: I received a free copy of this title from the people at NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I read this book in the course of just one evening! Once I discovered what the mystery was, I had to keep reading to find out just what happened, who was responsible and what the motive revealed about the whole situation. I enjoyed the locations/settings, the characters and their familial relationships, the friendships, and the suspense created as you waited to discover the truth. This story is an intriguing murder mystery that kids will love and will be thrilled to be reading all about.

Once I started reading Coop Knows the Scoop, I could not put it down and the author had me guessing up until the very end about who the guilty person turned out to be! The characters were likable and relatable, and the plot was well developed. I loved reading about each new clue and the problem-solving that the characters had to do that led them to eventually figuring out what happend to Coop's grandmother all those years ago.

I wish there was more diversity in this story. The two children that might not be white (based off their names) are described as smelly and don't speak grammatically correct. I also didn't care for the repetition of only girls wear dresses in the beginning of the story. These might be small details to children but to me they speak volumes.

This is a fun mystery, very much like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, and I enjoyed reading it. And while this was a middle grade book, I didn't guess the killer until close to the end.

The amount of figurative language used really threw me off though. Almost every page had a sentence or more, and multiple times I had to stop and think what the author was trying to say. I think the figurative language will throw off young readers.

I would recommend this to most middle school students.

Can you really go wrong with a story taking place in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business? Thirteen-year-old Coop must solve the mystery before his Grandfather goes to jail. Filled with intrigue, humor, kids making poor decisions, and more, this book is sure to win over quite a few readers.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

This was such a fun quick read! I loved the characters, especially Coop. Any 13 year old who is already coffee addicted is my kind of 13 year old! The mystery kept me guessing most of the time and I loved the way it ended, especially Coop’s relationship with his grandfather.

Perfect for fans of Chris Grabenstein's mysteries and James Patterson's humor, COOP KNOWS THE SCOOP by Taryn Souders is a delightful, heartfelt, page-turning mystery. Windy Bottom, Georgia has a rich and vibrant culture full of history, humor, and secrets, the latter for which comes to light when a skeleton is found buried beneath a slide in the town playground. What small town doesn't love good gossip? Windy Bottom sure does, but this unfortunately puts Coop and his family under the microscope since Coop's grandfather is considered a prime suspect. Coop and his two long-time best buds along with another unexpected helper must find the real answers before Gramps' is taken to court and before another crime could rock their once-peaceful town.

This story made me laugh, cry, and gasp more than once. The mystery unfolded beautifully. The story's genuine and honest approach to grief, friendship, family, and even bullying makes it not only a well-rounded book but an exceptionally teachable one as well--one that I believe all elementary and middle school libraries need to have on their shelves. Thank you, NetGalley for the arc, and thank you, Ms. Souders for writing a book I know children and my students will enjoy.

What a fun mystery! COOP KNOWS THE SCOOP is a brilliantly plotted MG set in the small southern town of Windy Bottom, Georgia (insert giggles here) where everyone knows everyone ... and a body has just been unearthed beneath the playground.

A body that belongs to Coop's grandma, who supposedly left town decades ago.

It's a chilling, exciting premise, and I loved how Taryn Souders managed to plant suspicion across the most unlikely of suspects. The twist is perfect, and Coop & his friends were a perfect balance of MG'ers and detectives ... it was totally believable how they jumped from one point to another, and Coop's voice was spot-on. The friendship dynamics were great, overall---I especially enjoyed the complicated relationship of Coop and his arch-enemy Beau---though I WAS disappointed in the I'm-not-like-other-girls rhetoric that surrounded one of Coop's only female friends, Liberty. She was fierce & badass, yes, but hating dresses isn't a personality trait. I'm waiting for books to realize that girls can be baseball stars AND rock dresses, and even if traditionally 'girly' stuff isn't your thing, you don't have to act superior about it.

But anyway.

Loved the writing, loved the pace, loved the mystery. I can see this one being popular with all sorts of readers, and I highly recommend it as an addition to school libraries! 4/5.