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Mo and the Crow: The Mystery of the Lost Locket
January 27, 2026 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Rising 8th grader Morissa Tan is not happy that her mother is moving her from Santa Clara, California to Chinatown in New York City, even though it is because her mother got a tenure track job in the Asian/Pacific American studies department at NYU. Morissa, who used to go by Rissa, but now wants to be called Mo to better express her anger, is angry about leaving her father and her older sister Clarice back home, and doesn't like the crowded, noisy city or the fact that she is separated from her two best friends, Milan and Malachi. Her mother is very busy at work, so leaves Mo alone in the apartment everyday, checking in with neighbor Mrs. Peng if she ventures out. Her mother would like her to explore their neighborhood, but Mo is a bit reluctant, although she manages to get out to buy some sponge cake at a local bakery, and finds a cool bookstore. To ease her loneliness (and to avoid unpacking), Mo starts to feed a crow who appears outside her window, and eventually the crow (whom she names Jo) brings her a gold locket. On an outing to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her mother, Mo meets another kid her age, Sujes (they/them), who is visiting the museum with neighbor Amos Richardson, who is taking care of them while parents are in Puerto Rico. The two get along, and Amos and Mo's mother exchange phone numbers, which is good, since Marin and Malachi haven't always been answering Mo's texts. Mo's mother would like her to participate in some volunteer activities, but Mo is still angry that she isn't able to work at an animal shelter back in Santa Clara, although attending an intergenerational dinner called Heart of Dinner appeals to her, since she misses her own grandparents. When she gets together with Sujes, the two look into the mystery of the locket. Narrowing it down to a piece from about 1950, with a picture of a soldier in it, the two reach out to Amos, who has an older friend who is a veteran from the Korean war. The locket's owner is found, and Mo and her mother enjoy visiting Mrs. Tom and hearing her story, and Mo starts to think that living in New York City might not be completely terrible.
Strengths: Young readers will empathize with Mo as her plans for the summer and the upcoming school year are completely derailed. Despite this, New York offers a lot of interesting venues and experiences, as well as plenty of yummy food vendors! Mo's reaction to moving is realistic, and the fact that she can still text friends back in Santa Clara is both comforting and irritating in turn. She does eventually get out in the community, and there is a lot of history delivered within the lost locket story. The cast reflects modern times; Sujes is nonbinary and Nuyorican, and an aunt has a husband who has transitioned to female. Mo's mother's family came from China to build the railways in the 1800s, and her father is Chine-Filipino. It is good to see some intergenerational friendships as well.
Weaknesses: A tenure track job at a university is a very good reason to move. My friends in academia would move just about anywhere in the world for that opportunity. Mo's parents have been divorced since she was a toddler, but get along well. It seemed odd that she wouldn't live with her father. I would have enjoyed this more if Mo had been positive about the move, but modern tweens are not as keen to embrace adventures and will look more kindly at her complaining. The illustrations add some appeal.
What I really think: Books about moving to a new location is a perennial middle grade topic, with both realistic AND fantasy versions (moving into a haunted house), and this is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Hickey and Murphy's Ginny Off the Map, Galligan's Fresh Start, Benway's The Girls of Skylark Lane, or Stecher's A Field Guide to Broken Promises.
Rising 8th grader Morissa Tan is not happy that her mother is moving her from Santa Clara, California to Chinatown in New York City, even though it is because her mother got a tenure track job in the Asian/Pacific American studies department at NYU. Morissa, who used to go by Rissa, but now wants to be called Mo to better express her anger, is angry about leaving her father and her older sister Clarice back home, and doesn't like the crowded, noisy city or the fact that she is separated from her two best friends, Milan and Malachi. Her mother is very busy at work, so leaves Mo alone in the apartment everyday, checking in with neighbor Mrs. Peng if she ventures out. Her mother would like her to explore their neighborhood, but Mo is a bit reluctant, although she manages to get out to buy some sponge cake at a local bakery, and finds a cool bookstore. To ease her loneliness (and to avoid unpacking), Mo starts to feed a crow who appears outside her window, and eventually the crow (whom she names Jo) brings her a gold locket. On an outing to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her mother, Mo meets another kid her age, Sujes (they/them), who is visiting the museum with neighbor Amos Richardson, who is taking care of them while parents are in Puerto Rico. The two get along, and Amos and Mo's mother exchange phone numbers, which is good, since Marin and Malachi haven't always been answering Mo's texts. Mo's mother would like her to participate in some volunteer activities, but Mo is still angry that she isn't able to work at an animal shelter back in Santa Clara, although attending an intergenerational dinner called Heart of Dinner appeals to her, since she misses her own grandparents. When she gets together with Sujes, the two look into the mystery of the locket. Narrowing it down to a piece from about 1950, with a picture of a soldier in it, the two reach out to Amos, who has an older friend who is a veteran from the Korean war. The locket's owner is found, and Mo and her mother enjoy visiting Mrs. Tom and hearing her story, and Mo starts to think that living in New York City might not be completely terrible.
Strengths: Young readers will empathize with Mo as her plans for the summer and the upcoming school year are completely derailed. Despite this, New York offers a lot of interesting venues and experiences, as well as plenty of yummy food vendors! Mo's reaction to moving is realistic, and the fact that she can still text friends back in Santa Clara is both comforting and irritating in turn. She does eventually get out in the community, and there is a lot of history delivered within the lost locket story. The cast reflects modern times; Sujes is nonbinary and Nuyorican, and an aunt has a husband who has transitioned to female. Mo's mother's family came from China to build the railways in the 1800s, and her father is Chine-Filipino. It is good to see some intergenerational friendships as well.
Weaknesses: A tenure track job at a university is a very good reason to move. My friends in academia would move just about anywhere in the world for that opportunity. Mo's parents have been divorced since she was a toddler, but get along well. It seemed odd that she wouldn't live with her father. I would have enjoyed this more if Mo had been positive about the move, but modern tweens are not as keen to embrace adventures and will look more kindly at her complaining. The illustrations add some appeal.
What I really think: Books about moving to a new location is a perennial middle grade topic, with both realistic AND fantasy versions (moving into a haunted house), and this is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Hickey and Murphy's Ginny Off the Map, Galligan's Fresh Start, Benway's The Girls of Skylark Lane, or Stecher's A Field Guide to Broken Promises.
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