The Mystery of the Missing Persons Historical Fiction Literature 1960s era with child author piece

Copy may have been updated to correct errors since printing. May contain minor typographical errors which will not inhibit the story at all. Selling out of print copies at low prices allows for a bargain copy at free shipping. Book will be like new and will have no marks, writing, or other damage. Signed by author ON REQUEST BEFORE SHIPPING. Selling out of print date copies with minor errors enables readers to purchase like new books at very low prices. Limited supply.

Somewhere in an American suburbia in 1963 girls are mysteriously vanishing and it is up to amateur teenage detective Barbara Kay Scott to find and rescue them. Although surrounded by family, friends and police, only Barbara seems to be able to make sense of the chaos of the situation and deal with the bad guys behind it.
Trying to figure out how Barbara can do this all by herself is Barbara’s creator, aspiring author Victoria, age 6.
Victoria is determined to make Barbara a credit to the teenage detective fiction genre even though she has not yet learned to write cursive or allowed to have a pen. But she can print and she has pencil and paper along with perseverance. She fights skepticism, indifference and illogical demands as she attempts to create consistent characters and an understandable plot for her book while also trying to make sense of the chaotic real world around her.
Victoria is the unexpected child of a long married couple, Vic and June, who are simultaneously proud and traumatized by suddenly finding themselves parents of a gifted first grader as they begin middle age. Truly in a mixed marriage for the times, Vic and June have weathered many storms together including ethnic and religious differences, family turmoil, the Great Depression, World War II and the loss of an infant.
With their desire of parenthood finally fulfilled and having built their dream home, they believe they have finally settled into a secure and stable life adjacent to suburbia. Next door is the helping hands of Victoria‘s grandmotherly Aunt Worthrose, whose prim, old world respectability belies her past. Although technically their two houses are on the wrong side of the main thoroughfare, they are so close the socially dividing boulevard runs right behind their backyards.
In the fall of 1963, Victoria starts first grade across the divide in a pristine new school, Fairvine Elementary. Nearby the new Fairland Addition is populated by ambitious people seeking to ultimately mirror the success of the popular young American President and his family, with the immediate goal of mimicking the higher socioeconomic level of their neighbors in the slightly more prestigious adjacent community of Water Oaks.
Meanwhile, ostensibly promoting justice and peace, institutions have begun quietly rejecting the foundation of faith upon which this world was built. Suddenly that process emerges from the shadows, emboldened by explosive violence. Murder, scandal, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, adultery and abuse are but a few of the evils that disrupt and finally shatter this sparkling world.
In a few short years morals change and vanish, behavior is redefined. Past inequities are swept away only to be replaced by emerging intolerances disguised as progress. As a result new goals and values replace many held sacred for hundreds of years.
Victoria and her family struggle to cope with radical change. While adults have past experiences they could draw on to help deal with social upheaval, Victoria only has her common sense, a few sharp memories and hope gleaned from the few adults not overwhelmed. Victoria can only watch as just a small percentage of people find solid ground on which to weather the storm. Most are swept into the tide and suffer the consequences.
Victoria strives to control the plot and characters in her book as she can never hope to shape events in real life. She knows in the distant future she must somehow emerge in this new world order, able to cope, even thrive within it, while remaining true to herself. Cultural change creates new crossroads and, for Victoria, finding her path proves to be as elusive as finding an ending for her book. At first Victoria cannot glimpse the right direction in which to proceed. Ultimately she realizes chances her nation will ever again embrace the cornerstone on which it was built may seem bleak, but in seeking enduring truths combined with blessings yet to come, is found the hope for the future.

More than 350 pages which contain a complete mystery within, this is a work of fiction about a family that includes a gifted grade schooler who writes fiction. It covers the years 1963 -1967 and chronicles the tremendous changes in American society in that short time.
The book focuses on how the social institutions of that era, the churches, schools and families, handled the Civil Rights movement and the changes it brought. Told from a unique point of view, this book is about the American middle class, changed forever by its reactions to the social revolutions above and below its stature. The rise of divorce, decline of the extended family, empowerment of women and minorities and many other changes that directly bear on our times are coped with by adult characters, both prepared and unprepared, accepting and unaccepting while children are left much to their own devices to make sense of the turbulent world.
While not the focus of the book, the new fashion DOLL Barbie is an important and positive influence on the life of the main character and others as well.
The story is told through the eyes of the main character, Victoria, as she struggles to write a book herself. The book contains a complete mystery actually written in the 1960s by a 10 year old. Enjoyable in itself, it strikes a humorous contrast to the tense times and gives unique insight into the inner workings of minds of children.

Review
The book was a very insightful look into the mind of a child during the times of JFK and integration. From what I have read over the years, you only ever read the point of view of the adults, never the children. I enjoyed it a lot and it was very well written.
This is a book for readers interested in historical fiction set in the 1960s. It would also interest students of sociology and the Civil Rights era. From the point of view of a grade school child, it also contains a complete mystery written by a child in the 60s. It is complex and engrossing also dealing with assimilation of Italian Americans in the middle of the Civil Rights struggle. I would recommend it to readers interested in any of those subjects and in history in general.
A museum set piece with a mystical, mysterious twist. Set in the 1960's this is a must read for those who love history. Complete with Kennedy's assassination, and it's effect on the main characters in the story. The main character writes a complete mystery throughout as an interesting escapism from a child's point of view. The author does a good job of painting a realistic portrait of the social landscape from the period along with intriguing characters.