Language: 2

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  The Phantom of the Opera

Author:  Gaston Leroux

Ratings Explanation:

Language:  A couple of common swear words.

Violence:  Eric has violent tendencies from living a life rejected by human kind.  He feels little compassion for other and does not hesitate to kill them if they stand in his way.  In his past, Eric learned methods of torture and killing which he uses on others in Paris.  He poisons some of the help who have witnessed him.  He constructs a torture chamber which gives the illusion of being trapped in a desert without water.  The only way out is a rope and and iron tree on which to hang oneself.  Guns are also used as protection against the Phantom.

Adult Themes:  Christine’s father dies when she is still young.  She misses him terribly.  The Phantom, Eric, was mistreated even by his own parents.  His mother made a mask for him to wear because she could not stand to look at him.  He spent most of his young life traveling to fairs to be on display.  He was eventually sold to royalty and allowed to fulfill every mad whim for amusement.  He was also used as an assassin.  Because of his incredible talent for building, Eric was also used to  build palaces with secret entrances and passages.  This also put his life in jeopardy because the owner did not want anyone to know of the building’s secrets or of the builders talents.  He was ordered to be killed but saved by a Persian.  In the end he escaped to Paris.  Unfortunately, he had already developed a strong hatred toward the human race for their inhumane treatment of him throughout the years.

Synopsis

The Paris Opera House is rumored to be haunted by a ghostly phantom with the head of a dead man.  The new managers are determined to dispel this rumor and get on with business as usual.  Unfortunately, the Phantom has other plans.  He has fallen in love with the young Christine Daee, the daughter of a great violinist and an up and coming singer in the Opera’s chorus.   Before he died, Christine’s father promised to send her the Angel of Music, who would teach her the great secrets of music.  When she hears the Phantom’s voice in her dressing room one night, Christine believes the Phantom to be the Angel of Music that her father has sent.  The Phantom promises to teach her.  Christine listens to his guidance and greatly improves her voice.  One night the Phantom provides an opportunity for Christine to sing a solo.   She brings the house down with her spectacular performance.  Ironically an old childhood friend, Raoul, is also at that performance.  When he sees Christine, he is charmed by her beauty and flooded with happy images from the past.  Raoul is determined to make her acquaintance again.  The Phantom is very protective of Christine and discourages her from seeing Raoul.  Raoul however is not so easily deterred.  He continues his attempts to be with Christine.  One night he hears a strange voice in her dressing room, after which she quickly leaves and walks past Raoul standing in the doorway.  Raoul enters the dressing room and finds no one.  He is intrigued by this stranger that is turning Christine into only a shell of what she once was.   Raoul finally triumphs.  Christine allows him to see her but,  only at the Opera House.  They run up to the tallest tower and there she tells him of the Phantom named Eric.  Raoul is very concerned for her safety and begs her to escape with him.  Christine tells Raoul she wishes for nothing more but must wait until after one last performance.  She explains that the Phantom has taken her to his lair under the Opera House.  In curiosity she removed his mask.  In anger, the Phantom made Christine promise to marry him.   He has allowed her this one last outing and performance before he takes her underground with him forever.  Raoul is surprised to find some compassion in Christine towards this madman and demands that she leave with him instantly.   Christine refuses saying she must complete this last performance first.  Raoul reluctantly allows her to do so.  During the entire performance, he closely watches his love and waits for their planned escape.  The Phantom has heard of the young lovers plan and takes Christine during the performance.  Mad with worry, Raoul runs to the managers looking for help.  There he finds a Persian who claims he can help him find his lost love.  The Persian knew the Phantom, Eric, before he came to live at the Opera House.  Raoul accepts his offer and follows him through the dangerous depths of the Opera House.    After many encounters with the Phantom’s ingenious traps, the young lovers are  brought together again.  In the end,  the Persian is left to tell the sad ending of the Phantom’s life.  The musical genius, who was despised by all of humanity for his deformed face, was finally shown love and acceptance by a young girl and then allows her to leave.  Eric feels some relief from his life’s curse and dies alone.

I have loved the music and have seen the movie but never read the book.  Although the story line was familiar, I had no idea that the author, well known for his mysteries, wrote this as a real life mystery.  Apparently the falling chandelier really did happen, injuring several spectators and killing one.  This intrigued Leroux who obtained plans for the Opera House which revealed secret chambers and even an underground lake.  The story was not a big hit in Leroux’s day.  Wouldn’t he be surprised to see what has become of his story today!  I really enjoyed his point of view as an inspector looking at the case from the different angles of the characters as he collected interviews and testimony on the Phantom.  A definite classic.

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean

Author: Richard Logan and Tere Duperrault Fassbender

Ratings Explanation

Language: A couple of swear words and profanities.

Violence: A matter-of-fact description of a suicide in which a man makes deep cuts all over his body, bleeding to death. Terry Jo sees her mother and brother dead in a pool of blood. Harvey strikes Terry Jo. Two women die in a car crash. Speculation as to what happened the night of the ship wreck, including the alleged murders of Terry Jo’s family and Harvey’s wife.

Adult Themes: Tragic events leave 11-year-old Terry Jo an orphan. She sees her mother and brother dead and survives alone on the ocean. It was well known that Julian Harvey had many affairs. Harvey is possibly involved in smuggling guns to Cuba. Fraudulent insurance claims. Terry Jo’s experience is compared to being raped – losing her innocence. When she is older Terry moves in with a man, gets pregnant and then they marry. Terry and husband #4 fall in love while he is still married.

Synopsis

This is the real life tragedy of the Duperralut family and the mystery that still surrounds the survival of one of their daughters. In 1961 the Duperraults set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Chartering the Bluebelle, a 60-foot yacht out of Florida, they planned to spend several weeks, and possibly an entire year, sailing the tropics under the skilled hand of Julian Harvey, a decorated war veteran. But early in their sailing vacation, tragedy struck.

According to Harvey’s testimony at a Coast Guard hearing, a violent storm crippled the Bluebelle and she went down.  When Harvey was rescued, he had the dead body of 7-year-old Rene Duperrault with him, which he claimed he found floating in the water shortly after abandoning ship. Everyone else aboard was presumed lost at sea. But four days after the tragedy, 11-year-old Terry Jo was found floating on a cork raft, miraculously still alive. After hearing the news of Terry Jo’s survival, Harvey committed suicide, calling his entire testimony into question since Terry Jo was the only person alive who could corroborate or refute his account of the events of that fateful night.

From her hospital bed, Terry Jo gave her account of the events that led to the ship sinking and the death of her entire family. Her testimony was in direct contrast to that of Harvey. Not everyone believed the young girl, but based on her recollection of events and the murky details that emerged concerning Harvey’s sordid past, a plausible theory of murder and fraud emerged.

This is quite a gripping real-life mystery. Unfortunately for those who like all the ends tied up neatly, we will never know exactly what happened to the Bluebelle, Terry Jo’s family and Harvey’s wife. An amazing story of survival, I was glad to see Terry find peace after tragedy. The author seems a bit redundant at times, repeating on several occasions the same information, but for the most part it kept my attention. Although not written specifically for young adults, I think this true story would interest a young person.

Language:  0

Violence:  1

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title: The Westing Game

Author: Ellen Raskin

1979 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  One character, a teenage girl named Turtle, runs around kicking people in the shins.  Three small bombs explode (in a restaurant, in an elevator, and at a bridal shower) causing minimal damage and injury.  Discussion of how Mr. Westing may have been murdered (the premise is a murder mystery, after all.)

Adult Themes:  Samuel Westing, multi-millionaire businessman, has supposedly been murdered and multiple suspects are partnered together to solve the crime.  Mr. Westing’s daughter died years ago; some speculate drowning, some think suicide.  One character is disabled and in a wheelchair; light discussion of racism.

Synopsis

“I Samuel W. Westing declare this to be my last will and testament and do hereby swear that I did not die of natural causes.  My life was taken from me–by one of you!”

An odd assortment of people have been personally offered the opportunity to move into a new, swanky condominium development.  Once they’ve moved in, the residents of Sunset Towers discover that they have two things in common:  they are all potential heirs to multi-millionaire Samuel Westing’s paper products fortune, and they are also all suspects in his murder.  Now they have been brought together to have his cryptic will read to them and a puzzling set of clues dispersed to mis-matched partnerships.  Thus, the Westing Game begins.  The players include mothers, fathers, teenagers, a secretary, an inventor, a Chinese chef,  a doorman, a doctor, a judge, and a dressmaker (not to mention a bookie, a bomber, and a burglar).  They must work in pairs to solve the mystery, and the first pair to solve it wins the enormous fortune.  But since none of them appear to be related,  how are they all tied to Mr. Westing?  And why do all the clues, when put together, become the lyrics to “America the Beautiful”?

I dusted off this Newbery-winner from my childhood to read aloud to my youngest and discovered that, even as an adult, it requires serious attention to details to follow this clever mystery.  Young readers might want to take notes if they intend to solve the crime before the surprise ending.  The book tends to shift perspectives frequently during the narrative, which makes it somewhat confusing if you are reading it aloud (unless you are good at acting out several different voices, including Chinese and Scottish accents), but it is a very worthwhile and entertaining read.  A good introduction to the mystery genre for young readers.

Title: The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sister’s Grimm, Book 1)

Author: Michael Buckley

Ratings Explanation

Language: There are many derogatory phrases and insults in this book.  For example:   loser, dirty little hooligan, incompetent boob, snot, goon, scum, mental patient, and you lumpy bag of foolishness.

Violence: Sabrina and Daphne are pinched by their case worker.  The girls are bitten by pixies and they bleed.  Three thugs block Grandma and the girls and threaten them with a metal pipe.  Grandma hits one thug with her purse while one of the girls kick him.  Mr. Canis holds two thugs up by the necks and then throws them to the ground.  A giant kidnaps Grandma and Mr. Canis.  Jack fires arrows at the Giant and Charming.  Jack cuts the dog and leaves him bleeding.   Mirror is beat up and bruised.  Mr. Canis fights with Jack and bites him.

Synopsis

Sabrina and Daphne Grimm find themselves in and out of foster care homes after their parents disappear, but then they are sent to live with someone who claims to be their grandmother.  The girls have always believed their grandmother to be dead, so they are quite shocked to find her not only alive, but full of information about a family history they never knew about.  Sabrina and Daphne are descendants of the famous Brothers Grimm, and they learn that the fairy-tales they wrote about are actually history.  The girls now find themselves in the middle of a fairy-tale mystery with a giant trying to destroy their home and new found family.   When grandma is taken by the giant, Sabrina and Daphne become the detectives, because that’s what Grimms are made for.

I loved the pictures throughout this book as well as the silhouettes at the beginning of each chapter.  That is one of the pleasures of reading childrens books.  I also really liked how the author uses the younger sister as a reason to explain and define larger words in the book that younger readers might not understand.  It’s like having a vocabulary lesson without even knowing it!  I could have done without the name calling in the book and the frequent insults.  There always seemed to be someone sticking out their tongue.  Overall though, a fun read.  I’m thinking this would be a fun series to read aloud with my 8 year old this summer.   I found this book to be pretty on par with the recommended age group.  My quote from this book is, “Fear can make people do terrible things.”

Language:0

Violence:1

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick

2008 Caldecott Medal Award Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Hugo is treated roughly after robbing a store.  Hugo is seriously hurt from his hand being slammed in a door.  Isabelle breaks her leg falling off of a chair. Hugo is almost run over by a train while trying to run away from his pursuers.

Adult Themes:  Hugo and Isabelle sneak into the movies without paying.  Isabelle’s  parents died when she was a baby.  Hugo’s father is burned to death after being accidentally locked in a museum that caught on fire.  Hugo is orphaned after the accident and is sent to live with his alcoholic uncle.  His uncle disappears and Hugo must learn to survive on his own.  He steals his food from local stores.  The toy shop owner’s health is affected by his past.  He has a breakdown.  Hugo is put in jail for a short time.  His uncle’s body is found at the bottom of a river.

Summary
After Hugo’s father dies in an accidental fire, Hugo is given to his alcoholic uncle who lives in the local train station and maintains their clocks.  One day his uncle leaves and never comes back.  Hugo doesn’t want anyone to know he is alone and decides to keep up appearances by maintaining the clocks himself.   His hope for living lies in trying to repair an automaton his father found in the museum where he worked.  Hugo is convinced the robotic man holds some secret answer to a happier future.  Hugo relies on stealing food and parts from local stores.  One day he is caught by the toy store owner.  A young girl, living with the owner, befriends Hugo and tries to help him discover the mystery of the automaton.  They discover the toy store owner is the famous Georges Melies, a magician and maker of early films.  Hugo and Georges find their lives mysteriously intertwined and end up becoming the answer of hope that the other had been searching for.

This book amazed me.  Selznick uniquely combines 525 pages of  illustrations and text with a movie like feel to tell this amazing story.  The message was tender, the story suspenseful, and the artwork beautiful.  My favorite quote from the book is when Hugo is looking down from the clock tower with Isabella and says, “I like to imagine that the world is one big machine.  You know, machines never have any extra parts.  They have the exact number and type of parts they need.  So I figure if the entire world is a big machine,  I have to be here for some reason.  And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Author: Alan Bradley

Winner of The Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award

Ratings Explanation

Language: Several (about 15) swear words.

Violence: Flavia discovers a dead body in her cucumber patch. A man grabs a girl from behind and puts his hand over her mouth. A character is kidnapped, bound hand and foot, and gagged. As the mystery is solved there is a short description of how it occurred. Another murder long ago is discovered and it is also briefly described.

Adult Themes: Flavia lies frequently. There is family strife between her and her sisters. Flavia’s mother died when she was an infant. She has no memories of her mother and sometimes suffers because she feels little love in her family.

Synopsis

Upon finding a murdered stranger in her cucumber patch, Flavia de Luce commets, “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This  was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

So begins the mystery that 11-year old Flavia is determined to solve. A budding scientist and an expert on poisons, Flavia is unafraid and adept at ferreting out clues and suspects in this murder mystery full of twists and turns. Young and old alike will adore and respect spunky Flavia who is clever beyond her years.

I do love a good mystery and I thoroughly enjoyed The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Although not classified as “youth” literature, 11-year-old Flavia will appeal to young readers. This is the first in new series and I am already looking forward to the next book.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow

Author: Riford McKenzie

Ratings Explanation

Language: 1 instance of profanity

Violence: a girl attacks a boy, hits and kicks him and puts him in a strangle hold. Two witches try to kill their mother with magic spells.

Adult Themes: I don’t necessarily think that magic is an adult theme, but I will mention a couple of things here. In their spells and incantations, the witches use skulls, bones, toads, spiders and snakes. They turn people into stone, turn a man into a turtle and a dog into a snake. A few ghosts appear.

Synopsis

Set in 1927, Elijah and his parents live in Dredmoore Hollow on an old farm that has been in his Mama’s family “practically since the pilgrims.”  As far as Elijah knows, his Mama doesn’t have any family except Grandma Ester, who travels by hot air balloon, so when two strange women show up announcing themselves as his aunts, he is skeptical. Elijah is easily spooked and, by his own admission, lily-livered, but all of the strange occurrences that coincide with the arrival of Aunt Serena and Aunt Agnes cannot be blamed on Elijah’s overactive imagination.

When Elijah’s parents unexpectedly leave town, he has no choice but to go the Moaning Marsh with his aunts and stay at their home until his parents come for him.  Elijah learns that his mother has been keeping a dark family secret from him, but he can’t quite figure out what it is. His aunts talk about the “family gift” and they are exceptionally interested in his chin. What could possibly be going on? It is up to Elijah to find out and rescue his missing parents.

A very entertaining read, The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow kept me anxiously turning pages. The story is chilling enough to keep kids on edge, but it won’t scare the daylights out of them. The creepiness and humor will strike a perfect balance for most young readers.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 4

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Author: David Wroblewski

Ratings Explanation

Language: 4 F-words, abundant profanity and swearing.

Violence: Fist fight between two grown men (brothers). Dogs are intentionally poisoned. Two characters killed by lethal injection. A deer is shot with a rifle. Character falls down the stairs and dies.

Sexual Content: An unmarried couple lives together and references are made about them sleeping together. 

Adult Themes: A tense relationship between two brothers. A boy witnesses his father’s death.  He must come to terms with losing his father and with his mother’s relationship with another man. Grown men drink and smoke. Murder.

Synopsis

Edgar Sawtelle and his parents live on an idyllic farm in Wisconsin where they breed and train Sawtelle dogs, an evolving breed that is exceptionally companionable, well behaved and intuitive. Edgar was born without the ability to speak, but he learns to sign and develops his own unique language. Edgar’s dog Almondine is his constant companion and epitomizes the traits they try to perpetuate in all of the Sawtelle dogs.

When Edgar’s father dies suddenly, he and his mother are left to run the farm. The work is far too much for the two of them to handle alone, but the reappearance of Edgar’s uncle Claude is not entirely welcome.  Although he lightens the work load, what does he want exactly? Is he trying to take over the farm he grew up on? As Edgar observes Claude, he is convinced that Claude had a role in his father’s death, but he has no real evidence. When an elaborate plan to expose Claude backfires, Edgar must leave the farm. Edgar and three dogs survive in the wilderness until he is compelled to face his father’s murderer.

Although an interesting book, I did not love this first novel by Wroblewski. At the beginning of the book I felt the language was a bit contrived, like he was trying too hard to be a good writer, but as the book progressed his writing seemed to improve (or I just got used to it). His writing is very slow paced, which isn’t a bad thing, but it felt drawn out in places. Billed by some as a modern-day Hamlet, I wasn’t incredibly surprised by the ending, but, although prepared, I was disappointed. In my opinion, the author took the easy way out and escaped the difficult task of resolving all of the problems and tying up the loose ends.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen

Ratings Explanation

Language: 3 uses of the names of Deity

Violence: A man dies of a heart attack. 2 older men attack Sammy. She rips off a prosthetic leg and pops out a glass eyeball.

Sexual Content: A boy and girl go into the girl’s bedroom and kiss. When her mother comes home he dives out the window.

Adult Themes: Sammy comes across a large amount of money. If she spends it, is that stealing? Marissa’s parents have marital and money problems. They fight and the father leaves for Las Vegas. He has a gambling problem. Sammy’s mother is not really a part of her life and only shows up occasionally. She is dating Casey’s father, which is uncomfortable for Sammy and Casey (Sammy’s love interest). A description of a large woman’s bare backside.

Synopsis

Sneaking into her grandmother’s seniors-only apartment building via the fire escape has never seemed dangerous, until one night when Sammy Keyes scares a man to death, literally. With his dying breath, he directs her to throw 3 bundles of cold hard cash into the bushes below. Later that night, Sammy sneaks back to the bushes to retrieve the money. Why would he want her to toss the cash? And why shouldn’t she spend it? She didn’t steal it, after all. But Sammy is not one to let a mysterious occurance go uninvestigated. What follows is a mystery full of intrigue and disguise.

This is the first Sammy Keyes book I have read and I seemed to be missing a little information regarding some of the characters and their relationship to Sammy. This isn’t a big deal though and did not interrupt the flow of the story. A fun and quick read with a good mystery and a little romance thrown in for good measure. Sammy is a likable character with plenty of spunk. Although a fairly light book, there are actually some good points to be discussed with young readers. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:4

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Persian Pickle Club

Author: Sandra Dallas

Rating Explanation

Language: A moderate amount of swearing and profanity as well as 5 racial slurs and one F-word.

Violence: A man knocks Rita to the ground, hits Queenie twice and tries to force her to go with him. He grabs her breast, rips her dress and touches her body.  A neighbor comes along, hits the man in the face and breaks his nose. He kicks him in the groin and in the back. (This scene and the F-word occur on pages 127-135, in case you would like to skip them)

Adult Themes: A difficult marital situation, overbearing husband

Synopsis

The Persian Pickle Club weaves together the lives, stories, and secrets of 12 women in a quilting circle in Depression-era Kansas. Rita, the newest Pickle member, wants to become a reporter and is determined to get her big break by solving the murder of a member’s husband. Her sleuthing unearths both secrets and loyalty.

I truly enjoyed this story of friendship and loyalty between women. We all have some sort of support system that keeps us going when difficulties arise. When a friend needed help the Pickles brought food, built cook fires, and fed the chickens; today we might go to lunch, drive a friend’s carpool or pick up her groceries. No matter the time period, women help each other and the gift is the same.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes:1

Title: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Two men try to kidnap the main characters in the book, but Milligan, a quasi-body guard, shoots the men with tranquilizer darts. Several children engage in a fight, including kicking, hitting, and shoving. Once again Milligan shoots some of the children with tranquilizer darts.

Adult Themes: All of the children in the book are alone, some are orphaned and some have been abandoned. The antagonist in the story uses these children in his diabolical plot to take over the world. One of the children in the story lies and falsely accuses another child of making him cheat in school.

Synopsis

Reynie Muldoon, an 11-year old orphan, responds to an unusual ad in the newspaper addressed to  “gifted children looking for special opportunities.” He and 3 other children complete and pass a series of non-traditional tests that qualify them for a secret and dangerous mission. Together the 4 bright and resourceful children constitute the Mysterious Benedict Society and are tasked with bringing down the evil Mr. Curtain and thwarting his plan to take over the world. Each member of the society has unique  talents that are essential to the success of their plan, but learning to rely on each other and working together to accomplish their assignment is not as easy as it seems.

After an enthusiastic recommendation from my 12-year old daughter, I tackled this nearly 500 page book. Overall I quite liked it, although the length may discourage some young readers. A fun story of kids outsmarting the evil adult, it reminded me of Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett. The book also brings up some meaty discussion points like messages in the media, abandonment, loneliness, and putting yourself at risk for the benefit of others.

Language: 1 

 Violence:1 

Sexual Content: 0 

Adult Themes: 1 

Title: The Maze of Bones

Series: The 39 Clues (Book 1)

Author: Rick Riordan

Rating Explanation

Language: 1 instance of profanity

Violence: The main characters are caught in a fire started by an arsonist. Three people are assumed dead after an explosion, characters are in peril, there is some fighting.

Adult Themes: The main characters are orphans and then their grandmother dies. They feel abandoned and alone.

Synopsis

Amy and Dan Cahill are members of an extremely large and powerful family. At their grandmother’s funeral they and their cousins are presented with a choice to either take one million dollars right now and walk away, or begin a treasure hunt for 39 clues around the world that could lead to the world’s greatest treasure of wealth and power.

The Maze of Bones is the first in a ten book series that will follow Amy and Dan and their greedy cousins around the world searching for the clues to the treasure. Readers can also collect game cards and participate in the treasure hunt online at www.the39clues.com. Book number 2, One False Note, will be available December 2, 2008.

The Maze of Bones is a fun, clean adventure for kids. The violence is minimal and non-graphic and the story clips along. For any kids who have been to Paris, it will be fun to read about familiar landmarks there. Ben Franklin enthusiasts will also enjoy learning some lesser known facts about him.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence:0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes:0

Title: Chasing Vermeer

Author: Blue Balliett

Ratings Explanation

Language: 2 instances of profanity

Synopsis

When a famous Vermeer painting is stolen, two precocious sixth graders are on the thief’s trail. Petra and Calder are new at being friends but soon discover all the things they have in common. They both love art, adore their 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Hussey, and favor blue M&Ms. Following clues and identifying uncanny coincidences brings them closer and closer to solving the crime and solidifies their friendship.

What a fun mystery! I was drawn into the story immediately. This is a great read for kids who like a good mystery with basically no objectionable material.

©2009 The Literate Mother