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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Great MG mystery. Includes a hidden message and puzzle. Fun read.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Parts of it were more mysterious than others. Loved the art education aspects. My mystery-loving 9yo loved it and wants to learn secret codes now.
I suppose I had too high of expectations for this book. I thought it had a lot of potential as a story but it was quite a let down. I feel as if it was missing all the suspense and thrill of a true mystery story. I found it at times too vague and the ending was unsatisfying, sort of petering out instead of being grand the way I expected. However, I enjoyed the aspect of the hidden codes within the story and the illustrations, and Brett Helquist never fails to impress me with his visual work.
Maybe 3.5. Loved the beginning but got a little less excited about it all by the end.
My students are loving it, though. They are now into art (they had no idea Vermeer was a real person) and pentominoes.
My students are loving it, though. They are now into art (they had no idea Vermeer was a real person) and pentominoes.
Such a cute book! And it dealt with art history which is one of my favorite things! A great mystery for kids!
This book was recommended to me by my favorite 7th grader. The art history major in me cheered to find another cool YA book about art (I vaguely remember one by Konigsburg - From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - that I really liked as a kid).
I just re-read this book because we picked it for our March Family Book Club - I enjoyed it as much this time around as I did the first time!
I get that the point of the book is the possibility of coincidence being more than that, that perhaps there are things in life that we just can't explain (like art speaking to us in dreams), but I just couldn't buy into it. Usually I really enjoy kids lit, but this one I just couldn't do the whole suspension of disbelief thing on. It didn't work for me. We're discussing it in book club this week, so we shall see what the kids thought...
We read this aloud with our 8 year old and we all really enjoyed it. It is an art mystery (stolen painting) set in Hyde Park, Chicago, and the Univ of Chicago Lab School. Two kind of nerdy 6th graders like their quirky teacher and get to be friends and solve the mystery. The pictures are part of the mystery, too. The jacket describes it as a DaVinci Code for kids...I think that fits. Fun read. The kids are 6th graders, and I would recommend for a big reader as young as 2nd grade, up to a reluctant reader in 6th, in my unprofessional parent opinion. I think reluctant readers might like it because it is a mystery and not difficult reading, plus finding clues in the pictures is fun.
Forget astrological signs and Hogwarts houses— which pentomino are you?