In the 22nd McGurk mystery, the kids are on the trail when a reclusive crime writer disappears after putting them in his latest book. There are enough clues, secret codes, false leads, and complications to keep McGurk and his officers hopping, plus appearances by a reformed adversary, Lady Thumb (from The Case of the Four Flying Fingers, 1981), and a shady villain with eyes like the ``tips of a couple of tungsten drills.'' Hildick makes entertaining use of Edgar Allan Poe tales in unraveling this methodically plotted puzzler; suspense and motivation are minimal. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-02-743821-X
Page Count: 151
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the flimsy plot and marginal character development, Agatha’s silly antics and enthusiastic delivery should engage...
When the Odd Street School’s clock-tower bell rings off-schedule one night, Agatha Jane Parrot and her chums suspect a mischievous ghost may be the cause.
Agatha, a “very charming and lovely girl with crazy hair and awesome freckles,” lives at 5 Odd St., surrounded by her neighboring best friends, Ivy, Bianca, Ellie, and Martha. In Hargis’ comic black-and-white illustrations, Ivy and Bianca appear somewhat dark-skinned; the other girls, including Agatha, look to be white. One “dark and stormy night,” the school clock-tower bell rings 27 times, disturbing Agatha and her friends. After days of the bell tolling “TOO MANY DONGs,” Ellie suggests there might be a ghost in the tower, triggering the spread of ghost fever throughout the school. The subsequent inexplicable closing of a classroom window and appearance of a glowing face in the clock tower prompt the principal to organize a “GHOST WATCH!” in the school auditorium, where Agatha and her pals tell ghost stories and hilariously resolve the ghost mystery. Addressing readers with chatty directness, punctuated with many exclamations and exclamation points that substitute for nuance, Agatha proves an unflappable heroine.
Despite the flimsy plot and marginal character development, Agatha’s silly antics and enthusiastic delivery should engage readers transitioning to chapter books. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-50672-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
Readers will be hoping for an equally savvy Book 3
Third-grade sleuths Smashie McPerter and Dontel Marquise are back.
Having found classroom pet Patches in Smashie McPerter and the Mystery of Room 11 (2015), the best friends step up again when a classmate’s delicious-smelling “lengthening and molding” hair goop goes missing, threatening the success of the Third-Grade Hair Extravaganza and Musicale. Who could be taking the few precious jars of Herr Goop? Smashie, a white girl who tends to get carried away, and Dontel, a black boy who tends not to, consider motive and opportunity and work to solve the mystery even as the third-graders practice and they themselves choreograph go-go dances to be staged between each act. Griffin concocts a baroque plot involving a secret code credibly based on third-grade math and tells it with SAT–level vocabulary. She contextualizes that vocabulary carefully, sequencing sentences to prepare readers for it. Kids who understand how hard it is for Smashie and Dontel “to join a line of children who were all mad at them” will see how the “frostiness” might be “palpable.” Even if Smashie and her pals don’t talk like 8-year-olds, though, they behave like them, getting carried away with endearing earnestness. Griffin also subtly attacks stereotypes with her multiethnic group of hugely likable kids. Dontel’s dad is a dentist, and a Latina student’s mom is a patent attorney—a fact that also figures into the plot.
Readers will be hoping for an equally savvy Book 3 . (Mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8535-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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