A gratifying, fashionable mystery set amid the iconic backdrop of New York.
While vacationing in New York, a brother and sister find themselves solving the mystery of a disappearing dress.
Andy and Mika Kudo from The Mystery of the Masked Medalist (2020) are back, and this time they’re going through transitions of their own. Sixth grader Mika struggles to find a theme for her latest photography club assignment while Andy, who is in seventh grade, worries that the two are slowly growing apart. When their parents’ work takes them to the Big Apple, the duo is eager for the weeklong vacation spent visiting their cousin Jenny. When their Aunt Kei, a fashion designer, gets overwhelmed with work, they volunteer to run a few errands in the city. However, everything snowballs into a full-blown catastrophe when her signature design disappears after going for repairs. Always hungry for a puzzle, the trio chase clues across New York landmarks to find the dress in time for their aunt’s presentation. As with the first title, text messages, lists, and lively, detailed cartoonlike illustrations make for welcome breaks in the narrative. Complications to the mystery are artfully revealed at an even pace, with the action really picking up toward the end. The result is a perfectly tied up and satisfactory ending. Andy and Mika, like the Olympic ice-dancing sibling author duo, are Japanese American.
A gratifying, fashionable mystery set amid the iconic backdrop of New York. (Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11376-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Total deadpan lunacy.
Can one nerdy teen keep a tuft of fake lip-hair from realizing its dream of world domination?
Seventh grader Lenny Flem Jr. leads a mild-mannered life hanging out with his best friend, Casper, and watching repeats of the now-cancelled Jodie O'Rodeo Showdeo with his parents and sisters (he will never admit that he likes it). Then Casper, whose hippie parents never buy anything unnecessary, gets a wad of cash from his grandmother, and he uses it to purchase a man-about-town suit and the very expensive Heidelberg Handlebar Number Seven (a real-hair fake mustache). Soon after, the robberies begin. Billions are stolen by, first, a gang of strolling accordion players and then a bunch of school librarians. Both groups are led by a mysterious, short suited man with a mustache. Then Fako Mustacho, businessman-about-town appears and holds the town of Hairsprinkle in his thrall. Only Lenny and the real Jodie O'Rodeo seem immune from his mesmeric spell, so it's up to them to stop Fako's grab for presidential power! Angleberger severs all ties with sanity in his latest farce for preteens with hilarious results. Narration is shared by Lenny, a nerdy everyman hero, and Jodie, a thinly disguised Hannah Montana. There's plenty of action and goofiness with very little room for explanations. Fans of Angleberger's previous efforts won't be disappointed.
Total deadpan lunacy. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0194-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
Ultimately focusing on what's right rather than the truth, the appealing story leaves one big mystery unsolved, promising a...
Summer is indeed a time for mystery and adventure.
Instead of spending the summer with their divorced father, 12-year-old Nicholas Mettleson and his younger, identical twin sisters leave New York City and head to rural Ohio to live along Forsaken Lake with their great-uncle Nick, an arm amputee who never misses a beat. It’s not long before Nicholas teams up with local star baseball player Charlotte “Charlie” Brennan, and the pair discovers numerous mysteries. These involve an unfinished Super 8 film entitled The Seaweed Strangler, a sailboat that eerily appears each morning at 2:53, a boat accident that caused Nicholas’ then–14-year-old dad never to return to Forsaken Lake and a letter that hints at a long, unrequited love between Nicholas’ dad and Charlie’s mom. Reminiscent of Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks (2005), the charming narration has a timeless quality as Nicholas and Charlie involve the small-town community in completing The Seaweed Strangler and investigating the now-infamous boat accident. Also drawing from Arthur Ransome’s 1937 children’s nautical adventure, We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, the novel features its own sailing hazards and thrills.
Ultimately focusing on what's right rather than the truth, the appealing story leaves one big mystery unsolved, promising a sequel and more summer magic. (glossary of sailing terms). (Mystery. 9-12) (Artwork not seen.) (glossary of sailing terms)(Mystery. 9-12)Pub Date: June 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-86742-2
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
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