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sarahanne8382's review
4.0
I'm now learning to share some of my coworkers' love for Graeme Base. This book is all about breaking secret codes and even includes a decoder in the book that was too complicated for the librarians (myself included) to figure out how to use, so absolutely perfect for kids enamored with writing secret notes in code that grownups can't break.
kristenremenar's review
5.0
I'm a big ol' geek for Graeme Base puzzle books. Loved Eleventh Hour, so I got all giggly when I saw this one. And, yes, I did pour over all the details and found myself way too excited when I "cracked the code" at the back of the book.
jamie_toomai's review
4.0
[author:Graeme Base] is amazing. I'm glad he has finally written another book along the lines of [book:The Eleventh Hour].
calistareads's review
4.0
Graeme presents a mystery. A young badger loves to see his famous retired grandpa do magic tricks. Until his magic items and his rabbit end up missing and all the other residents of the magic retirement home have their magic items missing as well. Bertie, the youngin’ promises he will find out who did it. He visits all the quirky residents to interview them and find what was missing. There’s: Bear of Wrath, Bill Bison - card shark, Mademoiselle Poodle of Mime, the Goddess of Caracas Miss Pollyanna Parropoup, and my favorite Hoo Min Floo Lord Pandamonium (excellent) and Mistress Hypnosis and last is the Mystic Maharaja.
The animals are stunningly beautiful and the rooms and set design are very detailed. Graeme is in top form with his artwork, his story and his mystery is not bad. The neat thing about the book is that at the end, he set up this enigma machine to decode a message the thief left where all the magic items are. There are dials you have to turn to unlock the code to decode the message. It’s actually pretty fun. The nephew spent about 20 minutes playing with this thing the next day.
Nephew had fun reading this. He loved all the costumes and names for these animals. He didn’t figure out who did it. He thought the monkeys were the culprit. This was a fun book for us. My favorite Graeme books are the ones he includes puzzles. The nephew gave this a disappearing 4 stars.
SPOILER:
The rabbit wanted to be the star of the show so he did it.
The animals are stunningly beautiful and the rooms and set design are very detailed. Graeme is in top form with his artwork, his story and his mystery is not bad. The neat thing about the book is that at the end, he set up this enigma machine to decode a message the thief left where all the magic items are. There are dials you have to turn to unlock the code to decode the message. It’s actually pretty fun. The nephew spent about 20 minutes playing with this thing the next day.
Nephew had fun reading this. He loved all the costumes and names for these animals. He didn’t figure out who did it. He thought the monkeys were the culprit. This was a fun book for us. My favorite Graeme books are the ones he includes puzzles. The nephew gave this a disappearing 4 stars.
SPOILER:
The rabbit wanted to be the star of the show so he did it.
emkoshka's review
3.0
Graeme Base doesn't write picture books; he writes picture puzzle poetry books. Worth bearing in mind if you want to keep a child entertained for a few hours cracking a cryptic code then hunting for images embedded in larger illustrations. A charming story about a retirement home for animal magicians and the quest to find their 'disappeared' magical items. Ends with the nice message that 'magic doesn't lie in wands or funny hats to wear/It only takes someone to dream, and someone else to share'.
katekat's review
4.0
All of Graeme Base's books are absolutely stunning from the story to the illustrations. The story is wonderful and only exceeded by the gorgeous illustrations. This book can be read cover to cover but then it is also fun to go back and solve on the hidden puzzles.
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