Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
ND #9 Sign of the Twisted Candles-Promo
Carolyn Keene · 2003
74/100
👍 Worth It
A classic Nancy Drew mystery that holds up well for the middle-grade crowd — good plotting, rising stakes, and a heroine worth rooting for. The formulaic structure and thin supporting characters are the price of admission for a 1930s series book, but the mystery itself is genuinely satisfying. A reliable pick for young readers discovering detective fiction.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety88
substance68
craft66
originality55
accuracy80
hype72
age-fit85
human-eye70
Penny’s verdict74
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