A fun little detective story with some simple life lessons.
This series opener for middle-grade mystery fans introduces sixth-grade amateur detective Andi Boggs and her sidekick, next-door-neighbor Colin.
Andi, short for Andora, and her older sister, Bethany, recently lost their scientist parents in a plane crash and have moved in with their aunt Amelie, who lives in the longtime family home in the remote little Ohio college town of Killdeer. There, Andi discovers a mysterious chest labeled “Andora” in the attic. No one, however, appears to know anything about this other Andora, who the kids discover was born in 1929. Curious about her namesake, Andi decides to investigate with her new partner, Colin. Enter the villain of the book, the egotistical local historian Dr. Girard, who’ll do nearly anything to get interesting material for his new book about children of the Great Depression. Flower weaves in some history and also shines a light on the emotional difficulties the two recently orphaned girls experience, especially Bethany, who lashes out at those around her. Characterizations, while never complex, stand out as nicely individualistic. The mystery itself is intriguing enough, especially as the children uncover a few more clues about the mysterious Andora. Some life-threatening suspense highlights the book’s climax, and a small smattering of religion keeps the story appropriate for a Christian audience.
A fun little detective story with some simple life lessons. (Mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-310-73701-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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