A fine debut for a new series and a welcome addition to the young-detective genre.
Allen’s debut children’s mystery, the first installment of a planned series, introduces a likable kid detective as she takes a case involving unwanted jack-o’-lanterns.
As the story begins, the narrator, 10-year-old detective Samantha Green, mentions a series of previous neighborhood cases that she and her yellow Labrador retriever, Murphy, have solved, including one involving a missing bike and another a lost cat. These successes earn her a new case: Samantha’s spooky neighbor, Mrs. Finkel, has been receiving threateningly carved pumpkins on her front porch, sometimes with even more alarming notes attached. At the same time, Mrs. Finkel finds that broken items in her house are being mysteriously repaired; the home’s familiar creaks and cracks have somehow disappeared. She attempts to enlist Samantha’s help in solving the mystery, but the unkempt woman’s reputation as a witch—suggested by her shapeless black clothing and bloodshot eyes—makes the young detective hesitant to take on the investigation. The Halloween-themed narrative brings to life the novel’s detailed setting and richly developed characters, including Samantha’s goofy little sister. Samantha’s teenage babysitter encourages her to never to judge people by their appearances. After the detective accepts this sage advice, she begins to unravel Mrs. Finkel’s mysteries—including the true story behind her witch-like appearance. Samantha eventually solves the case, but the resolution has no major twists or shocking revelations and may not surprise serious young readers. However, the novel’s emotional depth, engaging prose style, appealing characters and witty protagonist overcome the story’s predictability.
A fine debut for a new series and a welcome addition to the young-detective genre.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478160236
Page Count: 180
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
An environmental mystery featuring lots of clever detecting, a bit of danger, and real felonies to investigate.
Toxic waste dumped in the Everglades gives a quartet of middle school sleuths their first case.
Leading Carl Hiaasen fans over familiar ground, Ponti pitches 12-year-old Alex Sherlock and his 13-year-old sister, Zoe, with school friends Lina and Yadi as sidekicks, into a summer caper. It all begins with the hunt for a supposed fortune buried decades ago by Al Capone, culminates in a narrow escape from an exploding yacht, and ultimately exposes a smooth-talking bad actor shady enough to bring in even federal authorities. As the kids’ live-in Grandpa, a retired investigative reporter, delivers pointers on how to conduct interviews and sift evidence while grandly driving them around South Florida in his classic Cadillac, Roberta, the budding detectives display sharp wits, eyes, and negotiating skills. The last come in particularly useful when they’re dealing with their lawyer…who’s also their mom. Both the plot and the chain of evidence take logical courses, and since Dad is a marine biologist and Lina’s a recent transplant from Wyoming, Ponti is able to use their dialogue to highlight the local culture and larger ecological issues. Main characters present white, apart from tech wiz Yadi, who is cued Latine.
An environmental mystery featuring lots of clever detecting, a bit of danger, and real felonies to investigate. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781665932530
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
