Why we’re excited
Thirteen-year-old Jazz is annoyed that the grandmother she barely knows is moving into her room. Then Grandma Mae starts slipping out after dark and turning up at school as a substitute PE teacher, and Jazz decides to prove that the old woman is an undercover agent.
Viola Davis, the Oscar-winning actor and author of the memoir Finding Me, co-writes this with Lavaille Lavette, and it launches a middle-grade series. Good for readers around nine to twelve who like car chases and a grandparent with far more going on than anyone guessed.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about Girl, I Think My Grandma’s a Spy
There are no reviews of Viola Davis’s books on The Bookish Elf yet.
From the publisher
From Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony winner Viola Davis and New York Times-bestselling publisher, editor, and author Lavaille Lavette comes an action-packed series filled with humor, heart, and undercover hijinks!
Discovering your grandma is a spy is easy. The hard part is proving it…and staying alive in the process.
When Jazzlyn discovers that her estranged grandmother is moving in, she's beyond frustrated. Being 13-years old is hard enough with an annoying brother and an overbearing mother — and now she must deal with a grandma who is taking over her bedroom?!
Jazz has better things to do like hanging out with her best friend, getting stellar grades, and of course, finding the perfect dress – and the perfect date – for the Sadie Hawkins dance. She has big goals and doesn’t need grandma cramping her style.
Before long, Jazz starts to notice peculiar things Grandma does like sneaking out at night and popping up as a substitute phys ed teacher at school. Her instincts tell her that Grandma Mae is up to something, and she decides to prove it. One night, Jazz follows her grandmother into the city and the adventure begins. Caught up in a world of high speed car chases, a ninja fight in an alley, a kidnapping at the school dance, and mysterious money transfers, can Jazz prove her grandma is a spy?
As for Mae, laying low isn’t exactly her strong suit, and, she discovers, neither is playing a grandma. Keeping her nosy granddaughter in the dark is child’s play. But an old nemesis has returned and is on the hunt for Mae’s whereabouts. Can she keep her family safe and separate from her secret life… before it’s too late?
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read Girl, I Think My Grandma’s a Spy yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
