A mystery serving as a gateway into Puerto Rican culture, traditions, and panorama, narrated by a one-of-a-kind Latina...
Precocious self-styled Detective Flaca returns, now 11 years old, in a mystery set in Puerto Rico.
The second book in the Flaca Files takes Flaca and her family (including older sister “La Bruja”) to Puerto Rico for a week to celebrate Los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day. Flaca learns that she’ll have to miss time from school, neglect pending cases, survive living with no air conditioning, wear mosquito repellent at all times, and face her fear of flying. Before boarding their San Juan–bound flight, she starts a file on what she deems a suspicious holiday (she’s certain the wise men don’t really ride flying camels) and makes a point to get to the bottom of it once in Puerto Rico. Vicente knows the Puerto Rican landscape well, taking readers beyond its well-known beaches to its mountains. Through Flaca's trenchant narration, readers get a fair sense of the new terrain, from the applause once the plane lands safely to the family gatherings to the coquí—a local tree frog known for its evening song. She neatly summarizes the holiday party as “eat, dance, talk, repeat.” In 56 pages, Vicente tackles Flaca's identity and general family values, but she does not recap basic details from her protagonist’s first outing, The Missing Chancleta (2013). The original English version occupies the first half of the book, and Baeza Ventura’s Spanish translation, the second half.
A mystery serving as a gateway into Puerto Rican culture, traditions, and panorama, narrated by a one-of-a-kind Latina gumshoe. (Bilingual mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: May 31, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5588-5-822-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
A candid and powerful reckoning of history.
Summer is off to a terrible start for 12-year old African-American Candice Miller.
Six months after her parents’ divorce, Candice and her mother leave Atlanta to spend the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, at her grandmother’s old house. When her grandmother Abigail passed two years ago, in 2015, Candice and her mother struggled to move on. Now, without any friends, a computer, cellphone, or her grandmother, Candice suffers immense loneliness and boredom. When she starts rummaging through the attic and stumbles upon a box of her grandmother’s belongings, she discovers an old letter that details a mysterious fortune buried in Lambert and that asks Abigail to find the treasure. After Candice befriends the shy, bookish African-American kid next door, 11-year-old Brandon Jones, the pair set off investigating the clues. Each new revelation uncovers a long history of racism and tension in the small town and how one family threatened the black/white status quo. Johnson’s latest novel holds racism firmly in the light. Candice and Brandon discover the joys and terrors of the reality of being African-American in the 1950s. Without sugarcoating facts or dousing it in post-racial varnish, the narrative lets the children absorb and reflect on their shared history. The town of Lambert brims with intrigue, keeping readers entranced until the very last page.
A candid and powerful reckoning of history. (Historical mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-94617-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
PROFILES
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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