Another sequel is in the offing, and young mystery fans should be glad.
Wallace and Mason Investigations is on the case of the missing mascot.
Noir-obsessed Howard Wallace and down-to-earth Ivy Mason, middle school detectives, catch a new case. Junk-shop owner Marvin, to whom Howard owes many favors, wants his grandnephew Carl’s name cleared. It seems that Carl, who happens to be on Howard’s enemies list (for wedgies past), stands accused of kidnapping his own basketball team’s mascot, Spartacus the pug, and so he’s been suspended from the team. Howard and Ivy take the case, but due to past problems at school, they can’t detect during the week. That stricture is lifted when coach Mr. Williams hires them to find the pug before the big game. Twists turn and turn again, and the detective duo nearly breaks up as they work and surprise themselves by teaming with former enemies. Lyall’s sophomore effort lacks some of the zing of series opener Howard Wallace, P.I. (2016), but mystery fans should enjoy it anyway. It leaps from the tired trope of the stolen mascot to land in new territory, and the characters interact realistically and have real kid problems. It doesn’t have much to do with Shadow of a Doubt, from which it surely draws its name, but the target audience won’t notice. Ethnicity is denoted with naming conventions; the story hews to the white default.
Another sequel is in the offing, and young mystery fans should be glad. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1955-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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