Trial By Journal

Lily Watson, a normal sixth-grader, becomes the first juvenile juror in Missouri. She is assigned to a case that involves a murder of one of her classmates, Perry Keet, and the suspected murderer, Bob White. Lily's teacher requests her to record her time as a juror in a journal, which she does.

The book is in the style of a Scrapbook Story, where Lily encounters characters like Rhett Tyle, a tycoon who owns the zoo where the murder took place (and the rest of the town); Fawn Papillon, an aging movie star; Anna Conda, a fashion designer, and Bernie "Buzz" Ard, a gossip columnist. The tale is recorded in a combination of journal entries, news clippings, drafts of Fawn's memior, letters, maps and more.

Trial by Journal by Kate Klise is an entertaining young adult's book that uses animal motifs and a suspenseful plot, with some lightheartedness in a Scrapbook Story that is largely underestimated.


 * Courtroom Antic
 * Jury Duty
 * Punny Names: Several characters have them. The rest just have Meaningful names(Watson and Holmes are Lily and her teacher's last names)
 * Rule of Funny
 * Rogue Juror: When Lily finds out that.
 * Scrapbook Story
 * Shown Their Work: The jurors are strictly not allowed to get any outside information concerning the case.