{My true rating for this book is 3.5 stars.}

Moonleapers follows 12-year-old Maisie, who travels to Maryland with her mother and two younger siblings, Rufus and Dora, to be with their Great-Aunt Hazel, who is sick. However, the night before they are to leave, her mother presents Maisie with her Great Aunt Hazel's phone, something Maisie has been wanting for so long, and a mysterious blank book. When she starts receiving strange, riddle-like text messages from an unknown number, Maisie finds herself trying to figure out the meaning behind the texts, what exactly moonleapers are, and what it all has to do with her and her Great-Aunt Hazel.

One of the things that I enjoyed the most about reading Moonleapers is the exploration of what it means to grow up. Having to navigate new responsibilities, both with the introduction of the mysterious text messages and having to watch over her younger siblings, it's a strange balance that Maisie must learn to grapple with, and one that is further explored with the question of Great-Aunt Hazel's health, and how that impacts not only her, but her mother as well.

While the narration was full of personality and amusing for the most part, I ultimately felt that there were moments where it felt repetitive, and when Maisie's inner voice and dialogue came off sounding a bit younger than what I would expect from a twelve-year-old. However, I loved Dora and Rufus' dialogue (which I found both amusing and realistic for their 8-year-old characters). 

I also found that the beginning of the story, and in turn the establishment of the characters and their relationships with each other and the world around them, felt rushed. I found myself struggling to care about the characters until Dora and Rufus' introduction. However, I found that once Maisie was dragged into the world of mysterious text messages, my interest grew. I was excited to join her as she learned more about the riddle-like texts she was receiving and what they meant.

Furthermore, while I won't go deep into the details to avoid spoiling potential readers, I think that the ending of the book, and in turn the reveal, came rather suddenly. There weren't any clues or details that connected to Maisie's discovery, and in turn there wasn't the payoff of seeing all the pieces fall into place for the reader. In addition, the pacing that was first established with the introduction of the text messages slowed down closer to the end, before suddenly speeding up, leaving me confused at the sudden change and the way things wrapped up.

Ultimately, while Moonleapers is recommended for fans of City Spies and The Mysterious Benedict Society, I found that the story reminded me more of the Magic Treehouse Series. And I do believe that if you are a fan of those books that Moonleapers could appeal to you as well!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and submit my review.

Twelve year old Maisie is not excited about spending the summer in Maryland with her family to help manage her younger siblings while her mother supports her ailing and very old Great Aunt Hazel. The only good thing about the ordeal is that Great Aunt Hazel has gifted Maisie a phone—something Maisie has wanted for as long as she can remember. But when mysterious messages begin appearing on the phone and equally strange things start to happen in Maisie’s midst, Maisie is left searching for answers that seem just out of reach. But with each new revelation, Maisie gets closer to discovering her own identity and embracing the future that is waiting for her. This clever and twisty middle grade novel utilizes several techniques to bring Maisie’s story to life. Not only is the familial connection between Great Aunt Hazel and Maisie somewhat nebulous, everything surrounding Great Aunt Hazel is too uniform to be normal. While Maisie’s family appears to notice nothing out of the ordinary, Maisie is constantly struck by the oddities in her vicinity, which is made even more complicated by the fact that everyone seems to be hiding something from Maisie. Brief chapters and intriguing clues keep young readers engaged in the story, and though the plot is complex, it is presented in a way that is approachable for a wide range of ages. Blending history, science fiction, nursery rhymes, and time travel, this book is a unique and fast-paced summer adventure. It is a positive addition to library collections for upper middle grade readers.

I’ve been devouring adult books all summer, so I took a break for Camp NetGalley with this upcoming middle grade release!

Maisie begrudgingly goes on a road trip with her family to see her mysterious great aunt as her health is declining. Before they leave, Great-Aunt Hazel mails her a cell phone. Strange. She soon starts getting puzzling texts from an unknown number in the form of nursery rhyme riddles. Even stranger. It seems she’s involved in some sort of covert mission, but the texter makes her work to solve all the clues.

Before long she’s sneaking out to the nursing home at midnight, using books to help 1940s Hazel break codes, talking to a girl from the future, and taking cues from a cat and dog who seem to know more than your average pet.

Moonleapers blends historical events with time travel-esque connections to present alternative timeline possibilities. It’s an engaging read that I’m sure will keep kids entertained from beginning to end!

Thanks @netgalley for the ARC! I can’t wait to share it with my students this

A new duology by Margaret Peterson Haddix just in time for the start of school. I predict this one will be a sure fire hit for readers of all genres. The students at my elementary school just love her books and this one was such a fun, entertaining read! I can't wait for book 2, hopefully we don't have to wait too long for it too long!

When Maisie’s family spends the summer taking care of her great-aunt, she stumbles into a top-secret mission involving strange texts, a mysterious book, and a group known as the moonleapers. History, mystery, and time travel collide in this fun, fast-paced middle grade series opener from Margaret Peterson Haddix.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Moonleapers starts as a classic summer family story and quickly transforms into a clever, time-traveling mystery packed with adventure and real-world historical facts. With secret code, hidden missions, and a relatable heroine, this one’s a smart and suspenseful page-turner perfect for curious upper elementary and middle grade readers!

🕵️‍♀️ Secret Missions
⏳ Time Travel
🧠 Puzzle Solving & Codes
👧 Strong Female Protagonist
🧭 Hidden Clues
🏠 Summer Family Trip
📱 Mysterious Text Messages
📚 Mysterious Book
💡 History & STEM Facts
🌍 Real-World Connections

This book is fun, med. paced, emotional, mysterious, historical and character driven.
We follow Maisie as she discovers she is a moonleaper through a mysterious text on her new phone. I found it easy to get attached to Maisie with her perceived flaws and the juxtaposition of her and her mother at the beginning. I love how her character develops into a more confident and capable girl.
The heavy part of the book is Maisie, a pre-teen, dealing with the emotional connections to family members, especially her Great Aunt Hazel.
This book champions empathy, family, human to human connection and hope.

I think this would be a good fit for kids who are considered 'weirdos' and don't fit in well as a confidence builder.

Moonleapers by Margaret Peterson Haddix

What is a Moonleaper, and who keeps sending Maisie riddles on her new cell phone?

When Maisie gets a gift from her mysterious Great Aunt Hazel, her whole summer is turned upside down. She may be ecstatic to be gifted a cell phone of her own, but now her whole family is moving to Maryland for the summer to take care of Aunt Hazel. When a mysterious number starts texting Maisie riddles and songs, Maisie can't help but go all in on trying to figure out what's going on. It can't be one of her friends, she doesn't really have any...

With a good helping of familial relationship challenges, fun animal companions, and the nostalgic drama of being twelve, this book delivers a fun mystery and a tenacious main character to figure it out. The characters are likable without being perfect and multidimensional to the point of an enigma.

So much of this book is about connection and relationships between people and how crucial they are for us all. Being twelve is hard, and the connections between us make all the difference. I really enjoyed this story and would have eaten it up as a young girl. I will absolutely be recommending it to my nieces and my son when he's older. They will really enjoy the relatable main character, the sassy animals, the difficult but confusingly supportive family members, and the mysterious network of Moonleapers.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. This review is my own thoughts and opinions.

**I was provided an electronic ARC via the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Margaret Peterson Haddix returns with the first book in a middle grade duology, Moonleapers. Readers follow 12-year-old Maisie as she receives a cell phone and a blank book from her dying Great Aunt Hazel. It isn't long before Maisie is receiving riddles in texts from an unknown number along with information about something called moonleaping. When Maisie makes a call and 12-year-old Hazel answers, Maisie realizes that moonleaping may just be through time.

When I was in elementary/middle school, I remember a period of time where I was hyperfocused on Haddix's Shadow Children series. This is the first book I have read from her as an adult, and I can still see the things I enjoyed. Haddix has a very accessible writing style which is appropriate for her target age demographic. She also keeps a driving pace forward in the plot without getting too horribly bogged down in details. That is not to say that the story is underdeveloped; I have no doubt that Haddix has very much done behind-the-scenes magic to make everything cohesive. This is evident in the included author's note. As a child, I remember being swept up in the action of the stories. As an adult, I wish more information was on page, but recognize that Haddix likely knows best on this front.

This was a really fun idea for a story with an even more interesting background for how the story came to be. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone within the target age demographic, or to younger readers with accelerated reading skills.

A tween girl finds herself moving to another state to be near her ailing great-great-aunt...but she's getting strange messages on her phone that used to belong to said great-great-aunt. And what does "Hey Diddle Diddle" have to do with all this?

⭐ WHAT I LIKED:

👉🏼 I loved the depiction of an imperfect family in this book--it felt genuine, and it was fun to read the antics of the MC's younger siblings. The MC, Masie, does get irritated with and disobey her parents, and her parents are imperfect, but there are also moments of reconciliation.

👉🏼 This book features a Disney-esque cat and dog that are chock-full of personality without ever uttering a single word. Cat the Great is probably the best character in this book (and I'm sure she'd agree).

👉🏼 There were some beautiful sci-fi elements in the second half of this book involving interpersonal relationships and time, sprinkling a little of Madeline L'Engle into these pages.

👉🏼 The theme of this book is powerful: one small action of goodness can change the world.

⭐ WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

👉🏼 The reader never gets an explanation for the strange place Masie's aunt lives, but as this is a series, I assume that they will come in future books.

👉🏼 I also felt that Masie seemed a bit younger than twelve at the beginning of the novel (but it could just be me).

👉🏼 The first half of the novel is a little slow compared to the second half, but it starts picking up right at the 50% mark.

👉🏼 The author also has a tendency to "tell" and not "show" when it comes to certain aspects of the book, particularly with Masie's rather absent father.

⭐ CONTENT CONCERNS FOR CHRISTIANS:

👉🏼 As mentioned above, Masie isn't always obedient. She sneaks out against her parents' wishes. She also answers strange texts on her phone. She also sneaks past guards in a nursing home. That being said, there are moments of reconciliation, and usually her sneakery has to do with the mysterious messages on her phone (which we find out later are quite important).

👉🏼 [SPOILER ALERT]: We see a character die peacefully on-page, which might upset more sensitive or younger readers.

Moonleapers is such a fun middle grade read! It starts off feeling like a classic summer family trip, but then Maisie starts getting weird texts and finds a mysterious book and suddenly she’s wrapped up in this secret mission.

It’s got just enough mystery and magic to keep things interesting, but still feels grounded with sibling chaos and middle school struggles. Definitely a cute pick for younger readers or anyone wanting a short, quick, and slightly mysterious adventure.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this ARC

Margaret Peterson Haddix has a true gift of writing stories that are set in our world but have a completely believable element of science fiction to them. In Moonleapers, Maisie feels like she doesn't fit in with the sixth graders at middle school and longs for a phone of her. Her mother passes along her Great Aunt Hazel's phone, along with the news that she must watch her younger brother and sister while they head down to Great Aunt Hazel's for the summer. But when she gets there, nothing is like Maisie expects. The phone becomes a portal to both the past and the future. Maisie's first adventure as a Moonleaper sets us up for at least one more book in the series. Highly recommended for grades 4 & up.

Thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins Children's Books | Quill Tree Books for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I DNF'ed at 40% of the way through.

I couldn't stand the main character. Her and her whole family were so irritating, and the mystery wasn't captivating me enough to want to keep reading. It's a shame because I like Haddix's other books.

🌅 I’m a sucker for a good, well-written book regardless of the target age range. Bonus points if there is a magical sci-fi bend to it. So, thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Margaret Peterson Haddix’s latest middle grade sci-fi adventure blends time travel, cryptic riddles, and secret societies with the relatable awkwardness of being twelve and just trying to figure out your place in the world. Intelligent, mysterious, and surprisingly grounded for a book with time-jumping, magic phones, and hidden missions, Moonleapers is the kind of story that balances big ideas with real heart.

The plot follows Maisie McGraw, a quiet sixth grader from Ohio who’s used to flying under the radar. She’s the last kid in her grade to get a phone, and when she finally does, it’s a castoff from her great-aunt Hazel—a woman Maisie doesn’t know, but who’s suddenly become the center of her summer plans. Instead of spending her break decompressing at home, Maisie finds herself in Maryland, watching her younger siblings while her mother helps care for Hazel, who’s now unresponsive in a nearby senior facility. That’s when the strange texts start rolling in—riddles from an unknown sender, warnings from the past, and clues from the future that all seem to point back to Hazel…and to Maisie herself.

Soon, Maisie uncovers a connection to something much bigger: a secret network of time-travelers known as Moonleapers, whose job is to subtly—and sometimes dramatically—adjust the course of history. With the help of Hazel (as a 12-year-old during WWII), a mysterious girl from the future named Ainsley, and two oddly perceptive pets, Maisie begins her training as a Moonleaper-in-the-making, discovering that her strange extracurriculars—code-breaking, Latin, ancient tech—weren’t so random after all. As timelines shift and riddles deepen, Maisie must decide what kind of impact she wants to make on the world…and what she’s willing to risk protecting it.

Haddix has a gift for writing speculative fiction that feels entirely possible. Maisie is refreshingly real—bright, a bit skeptical, often overwhelmed, but always trying. Her relationships with her siblings and parents are layered and believable, and her evolving dynamic with Hazel is handled with tenderness and subtlety.

The pacing is solid throughout, though the gradual reveal of what a Moonleaper actually is may test the patience of some readers who want answers fast. I did wish for a bit more detail around Hazel’s eerie neighborhood and its strange, conformity-laced aesthetic; it felt like a piece of world-building that could have added an extra layer of tension if explored more fully.

Content-wise, this book is very clean—no profanity, sexual content, or graphic violence—but it does deal with topics like aging, the loss of autonomy, and death (though all handled gently for the target audience). It’s a great fit for readers ages 10–13, especially those who enjoy puzzles, historical fiction, or speculative stories that ask “what if?”

Moonleapers is a fantastic start to what promises to be an exciting series. With its clever blend of science, history, and heart, this book reminded me why I fell in love with middle grade fiction in the first place. (Coming from the tech field, it’s not often that I learn something new in a middle school book, but this one was able to do just that, so kudos to Ms. Peterson Haddix.) It's not just a story about changing the past—it's about stepping into your power, even when you're not sure you're ready. I think middle-grade readers will enjoy it.

What a lovely time-wimey book for younger readers (and older ones too!) I'm so glad to see it's going to be a series, as I'd love to see what Maisie gets up to next. The historical pieces are light enough not to scare off younger readers, while still introducing them to some sad and real parts of history. I particularly liked how hopeful it was, and pulling in the elements of a kid's first cell phone. And who will Ainsley turn out to be?

Moonleapers by Margaret Peterson Haddix grabbed me on page one and didn't release me. I appreciated most how the book weaves together relationships. Each relationship was intentional, full of significance, and made the puzzle all the more beguiling.

Haddix has the ability to boil large concepts down into a fast read, and in Moonleapers, the idea of "everything is connected" is made real. It's a powerful message that is tuned to a fine point along the way of the book, and by the time I'd finished, I was thinking about how our own activity vibrationally resonates, and often enough not in a fashion we even become consciously aware of at first.

If you’re looking for a story that combines suspense, heart, and a meaningful core, Moonleapers is well worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Collins Publishers for the opportunity to read this advance reader copy.

While I am not the target audience for this book, I thoroughly enjoyed Moonleapers Book 1 by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

I really enjoyed the main character, Maisie, and joining her while she uncovered the meaning behind a string of mysterious text messages she received after being allowed her very first cell phone. Supporting characters Hazel, Little Dog and Cat the Great are unforgettable as well. Ainsley, another minor character has me hoping we will see more of her in future books.

I also found the book to be thought provoking allowing for conversations with young readers and their parents or teachers to take place. The themes I found to stand out most are: grief, war, the relationships between youth and ageing individuals, how seemingly small, personal decisions we make can have a big impact on many people and how the past impacts our present and our future.

There are also a couple of fascinating historical tidbits (including WWII information in the author's note at the end) I would have never known about had I not read this book.

This is a book I would not hesitate to offer to my middle-grade nieces and nephews to read.

This is such a clever book. I really enjoyed how the pacing had a slower build that worked well with helping establish how the time travel worked and what a moonleaper even is without too much information overload while also highlighting our main character's frustration with wanting to learn everything now while also keeping a good pace for the reader. I also loved how at the end of the book it is explained how the original history in the story could have come to pass making the involvement of two twelve year old girls across time not seem too farfetched. The world building is rich and the characters have a lot of heart. The ending is beautifully done and really captures some complex emotions in such a way that honors them, I teared up a little reading it is all i say to avoid spoilers. All around a wonderful book and I can't wait for book 2.

Very cute middle grade read by one of the all time middle grade greats!

I probably wouldn’t have picked this up except for NetGalley summer camp!

A captivating little book with Spy Kids vibes and a healthy dose of mystery. Family values are a crucial part of the plot and I love the characters. Masie is precious.

In this middle-grade fantasy that's a bit like Theodosia Throckmorton meets Gallagher Girls, twelve-year-old Maisie is given her great-great-aunt's cell phone because her family is moving to be closer to her and she needs it in order to babysit her little siblings. She's surprised when she starts getting mysterious texts from someone who is supposed to be her aunt's friend but is apparently part of a secret society of time-traveling spies that Maisie is being initiated into.

I love Margaret Peterson Haddix's books, and I was so excited to get the opportunity to read this one. It lived up to the hype! Maisie finds herself entangled in fixing a World War II conspiracy, and the relationships between the Moonleaper who she's succeeding, Hazel, and the one who will succeed her, Ainsley, are written really interestingly. It's clear that the author did research about the World War II time period that make the setting more vivid, and Maisie is realistically written. She genuinely seems twelve (albeit an intelligent twelve), not far too young or far too old like some middle grade protagonists seem. There are also some important bits about generally not texting random people, which is probably good given the audience of the book, but it doesn't feel heavy-handed. Maisie's little siblings were cute but annoying in a realistic sibling way. The whole book feels very grounded in the preteen experience and in how the world works despite being speculative fiction, and it's well done. I would've loved this book when I was the target audience, and I think middle-grade readers of sci-fi will enjoy it.