Fans of the series will enjoy another outing.
Ahoy! It’s pirate treasure for a city sleuth.
New York City preteen sleuth Devlin Quick, white, and her African-American best friend, Booker Dibble, are spending part of their summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard at Booker’s grandmother’s home. They form a threesome with Booker’s 8-year-old cousin, Ezekiel. In previous titles Dev and Booker solved the mystery of a missing map at the New York Public Library (Into the Lion’s Den, 2016) and mayhem involving dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History (Digging for Trouble, 2017). This summer vacation is not all fun and games, though; Dev has a school assignment involving water samples and fish DNA. But then scientific exploration gives way to pirate adventure when Dev finds a gold doubloon. Dev, the daughter of New York’s police commissioner, knows how to handle the coin to best preserve any evidence of ownership, and that ownership could go back to a pirate “who buried all his treasure…on Martha’s Vineyard.” Fairstein’s narrative is peppered with factoids about the Wampanoags and the history of African-Americans on Martha’s Vineyard, book references, gender equality, good detective work, and bullying. Pirates, lost treasure, and pirate descendants round out the tale. Dev stays completely focused on determining proprietorship of the coin—a whodunit that, back home, takes her and Booker to a coin show at the Chelsea Piers in New York for a splashy finale.
Fans of the series will enjoy another outing. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-18649-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
More escapades are promised in this improbable but satisfying series starter
A smart kid foils big-time thieves in the nation’s capital—and joins the FBI.
Using a method he invented called the Theory of All Small Things, white seventh-grader Florian Bates solves mysteries by piecing together seemingly trivial clues in this engaging, humorous, but not always logical caper. When Florian easily helps the FBI recover three masterpieces stolen from the National Gallery of Art, the dazzled feds supply him with an alias and train him at Quantico. Collaborating with his African-American best friend, superbright, athletic Margaret, Florian finds that even with TOAST, sleuthing gets dangerous when the pair, working undercover, come up against a European crime syndicate—and another spectacular art heist in the form of a forgery substituted for an iconic Monet. Exciting adventures ensue, and clues accumulate until the culprit is revealed and the genuine painting located. Missteps intrude, though: a few lapses in logic may leave readers puzzled; some clues seem contrived; and a subplot involving Florian’s discovery of the startling identity of adopted Margaret’s biological father falls flat. The solution is also a letdown: the thief is a minor figure, and the means by which the painting was stolen and the forgery set in its place aren’t explained. The real draws here are the two resourceful leads’ solid, realistic friendship, bolstered by snappy dialogue, brisk pacing, and well-crafted ancillary characters—not to mention behind-the-scenes glimpses of the FBI.
More escapades are promised in this improbable but satisfying series starter . (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3630-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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