November 2023 Middle Grade Book Selection | First Editions Club

New York, NY: Holiday House | Penguin Random House (October 31, 2023)

First Edition. Signed on bookplate by Janet Sumner Johnson.

As new in dust jacket.

In this twisty middle grade mystery for fans of Knives Out, The Inheritance Game, and The Westing Game, thirteen-year-old twins Hope and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy relations they’ve never known.

Hope Smith can’t stand rich people—the dictionary magnate family the Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon, learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into the Winterton’s charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it. But with their mom losing her job and the family facing eviction from the motel where they live, they desperately need the money, and it looks like Hope doesn’t have much of a choice.

After winning the preliminary round, the Smiths are whisked to Winterton Chalet to compete in the official Winterton Bee against their long-lost relatives. Hope wants to get in and out, beat the snobbish family at their own game, and never see them again. But deceased matriarch Jane Winterton had other plans for this final family showdown. Before her death, she set up a clue hunt throughout the manor—an alternate way for Hope and Gordon to get the money that could change their lives.

Still, others are on the trail, too. With tensions at an all-time high, a fortune at stake, and long-simmering family secrets about to boil to the surface, anything could happen.

A tense, clever clue hunt unafraid to tackle the challenges and secrets often kept behind closed doors, Final Word is a gripping series starter sure to satisfy even the most voracious armchair detectives.

Janet Sumner Johnson is the author of both middle grade novels and picture books, including The Last Great Adventure of the PB&J Society and The Recess Genius series. Her debut picture book, Help Wanted: Must Love Books, was the winner of the 2021 CLEL Bell Picture Book Award and was nominated for the Colorado and Washington Children’s Choice Book Awards. She lives in northern Utah with her husband, three kids, and a dog. When she isn’t writing, she loves eating cookies, playing the piano, and singing along with the radio at the top of her lungs. As a kid, Janet dreamed of winning her school spelling bee. Alas, those dreams were dashed when she added a third c to the word accident. You can learn more about her and her books at janetsumnerjohnson.com.