Kipton and Gruff

This is the opening story in a series of YA books about the character named Kipton, a 14 year old girl living in an earth colony on the planet Mars. Throughout the series she has adventures that involve a number of science fiction themes and mysteries that she solves. Kipton, with the aid of her stuffed teddy bear named Gruff who thinks and talks, investigates the murder of her Uncle Charlie who was the research director for the science center Marsaire. The pair follow the trail that leads them to many interesting twists and turns until they solve the case.

but I want to anyway. This is the begining of a series in a neglected area of writing... Science Fiction for young girls. When I was growing up, if you were female and liked science fiction, you read the boy's books because all of the younger girl's books were fantasy. This award winning series was begun for Fontenay's granddaughter, so that she would have something to read with a strong young female character that was science fiction. It's a complete break from either his esoteric writings or his adult science fiction. The stories are enjoyable and realistic with well drawn characters and thought provoking plots. In this first of the series, Uncle Charlie is killed and Kipton is the only one who can find out how... and more importantly why... while going through her own struggles of being somewhere between a child and adult. It's a really good mystery, set on Mars, with great, loveable characters. My house is now populated with Gruffs....