Oct 11, 2022
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries follow the adventures of the 10-year-old daughter of a congressman, investigating mysterious animals in the U.S. Capitol.
It’s a new school year for Fina Mendoza, another year of distance learning. Her teacher assigns a Genius Project, letting students pick the topic they’d like to research and present to the class. Since it's an election year and Fina’s congressman father is back in California campaigning for re-election, Fina decides to research voting. Specifically, letting kids younger than 18 cast a ballot.
Real-life Congressman Mark Takano of Riverside, California zooms with the class to answer questions about youth voting.
There is also a mystery to be solved: who broke into their classroom, ransacking the backpacks and rifling the teacher’s desk. Fina consults with her detecting partner, a giant orange dog named Senator Something, and talks her sister into accompanying her on a field trip to see if her hunch about the culprit is correct.
There is FREE curriculum for this episode. And if you want to know the history of lowering the voting age, check out our Facts Behind the Fiction blog.
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries are written and produced by Kitty Felde
Our cast includes:
Amy Solano as Fina Mendoza
Monica Vigil as Gabby
Susan Valot appears as Ms. Greenwood
India Scalione plays Becka
Eddie Pike plays Michael and
Myka Scalione plays Margaret
Laura Stegman appears as Congresswoman Mitchell
And Steve DeVorkin is Senator Something
Hannah Matzecki is our associate producer. Our music is by composer and musician Andrew Barkan. Our logo designer is Imelda Hinojosa.
The Fina Mendoza Mysteries are based on the books State of the Union and Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza by Kitty Felde.