Just like gelato: dense, tasty fun that you can eat with a spoon.
Moving to Rome unexpectedly would be hard for any 13-year-old, but via a series of mysterious synchronicities, Beatrice Archer soon finds herself embroiled in international art intrigue as well.
One night Beatrice witnesses a (bronze) turtle theft from her bedroom window overlooking the Fontana di Tartarughe (Turtle Fountain) in the Piazza Mattei. While her father, who heads the history department at the American Academy of Rome, is skeptical of what she saw, soon redheaded, white Beatrice is drawn into the legend behind the sculpture and the history of the Mattei family who commissioned it, including the fate of the long-suffering 16th-century duchess Caterina. Forced to marry a harsh man that she didn’t love, the duchess found solace in her diary (excerpted in the book) and a secret room below her palazzo, which Beatrice and her new friend Marco, a white Italian boy who’s fluent in English, seek to find. Eventually Beatrice deepens her understanding of the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood. Although a few plot details strain credulity, debut author Parks keeps the story moving at a jaunty pace, with rich context, footnoted Italian phrases, and art history pitched at just the right level and tone for middle graders. Readers can find online photos of the sculpture and the Palazzo Mattei di Giove to follow along, and an author’s note provides further context.
Just like gelato: dense, tasty fun that you can eat with a spoon. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-264452-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark.
An animal ghost seeks closure after enduring aquatic atrocities.
In this sequel to The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (2020), sixth grader Rex is determined to once again use his ability to communicate with dead animals for the greater good. A ghost narwhal’s visit gives Rex his next opportunity in the form of the clue “bad water.” Rex enlists Darvish—his Pakistani American human best friend—and Drumstick—his “faithful (dead) chicken”—to help crack the case. But the mystery is only one of Rex’s many roadblocks. For starters, Sami Mulpepper hugged him at a dance, and now she’s his “accidental girlfriend.” Even worse, Darvish develops one of what Rex calls “Game Preoccupation Disorders” over role-playing game Monsters & Mayhem that may well threaten the pair’s friendship. Will Rex become “a Sherlock without a Watson,” or can the two make amends in time to solve the mystery? This second outing effectively carries the “ghost-mist” torch from its predecessor without feeling too much like a formulaic carbon copy. Spouting terms like plausible deniability and in flagrante delicto, Rex makes for a hilariously bombastic (if unlikable) first-person narrator. The over-the-top style is contagious, and black-and-white illustrations throughout add cartoony punchlines to various scenes. Unfortunately, scenes in which humor comes at the expense of those with less status are downright cringeworthy, as when Rex, who reads as White, riffs on the impossibility of his ever pronouncing Darvish’s surname or he plays dumb by staring into space and drooling.
Funny delivery, but some jokes really miss the mark. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5523-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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