Myriad mysteries and long-lost treasure await the Smithfork children when they move from Brooklyn into an eccentric, historic apartment on the Upper East Side of New York City. Lonely and uncomfortable at first in this new environment, they find adventure behind the apartment walls, in secret passageways and in the nooks and crannies of their building as they make one remarkable discovery after another and meet a cast of fascinating neighbors. CJ, Brid and Patrick explore Manhattan from Harlem to Central Park to Ellis Island and get trapped in an abandoned subway station on their way to solving the clues that will lead them to a fabulous treasure trove and a happy ending. These children and their family dynamics are natural and engaging. The plot is well paced and completely believable, as Sherry deftly weaves fact and fiction in an intricate series of poetry and puzzles that challenge both characters and readers to look at the world with fresh eyes, humor and imagination. A delicious multilayered romp. (Magical adventure. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-176700-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
It’s fine, but it doesn’t live up to its potential as a STEM-plus-caper adventure.
This thriller reads like Miss Congeniality meets Kingsman, starring Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Anishinaabe-kwe water protector Autumn Peltier…kind of.
Puerto Rican–born, Brooklyn-raised Sara isn’t expecting much from her court-appointed lawyer—she has no reason to put faith in the system that put her in jail after she hacked into the city’s computers to expose her foster parents as abusive frauds. But with juvie her only other prospect, Sara takes a leap and agrees to a wild proposition: She’ll join Britain’s MI6 as a kid operative. When she arrives at the covert facility in Scotland, she meets the other kids the MI6 agent, a white Englishman affectionately called Mother, has taken in—all of them, like Sara, have highly developed skills in logic, puzzles, sneakiness, and other useful spy tactics. Mother has a mission for them; he’s taking them to Paris to a competition for youth environmental innovation, where their job is to perform just well enough to make it into the top 10 so they can protect the eccentric billionaire sponsor of the contest from an imminent threat. It’s a fun romp with timely but superficial things to say about environmental activism, though the recruitment process and messy organization stretches the imagination even with a hardy suspension of disbelief. For a spy story, it’s surprisingly interior focused rather than action packed. The cast is technically diverse in ethnic background, but this has next to no influence on the characters.
It’s fine, but it doesn’t live up to its potential as a STEM-plus-caper adventure. (Thriller. 8-12)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1491-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
A page-turner with striking characters and a satisfying puzzle at its heart.
A boy who visits a little free library gets more than he bargained for when he becomes a sleuth caught up in the middle of his town’s most enduring mystery.
Ever since a tragic fire destroyed the Martinville Library, the town has been left without a place to borrow books. That is, until a little free library suddenly pops up, guarded by a fluffy orange cat named Mortimer. Fifth grader Evan McClelland selects two books from its shelves. Inside them he finds puzzling clues that lead him to chase down the real story behind the library fire. The book is told from multiple perspectives, including those of Evan, Mortimer, and ghost librarian Al, who perished in the blaze and is responsible for the upkeep of the little free library. Evan’s tenacious and curious character is relatable. His relationship with likable best friend Rafe, a brave, kind boy with overprotective parents, is easily one of the most endearing parts of the story. The puzzle over the library fire, a secret involving Evan’s family, a popular writer’s connection to Martinville, and the supernatural elements are presented in ways that are just right for middle-grade readers. The pacing is strong, and the twists and turns are satisfying even if perceptive readers may catch hints of the ultimate truth along the way. Physical descriptions of the human characters are largely absent.
A page-turner with striking characters and a satisfying puzzle at its heart. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9781250838810
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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