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A review by darienmc
The Body Under the Piano by Marthe Jocelyn
5.0
I just loved this little book. It was inspired by Agatha Christie and how the author envisioned Christie’s life as a child of 12. It included experiences she could have had back in the early 1900s (women roles, women’s dress, immigrants in England, etc) and included some events pulled from Christie’s life (fathers death, older sibling, strong grandma influence).
The main character, Aggie Morton, is a fun, intelligent and quirky child. The author makes her quirks a loveable part of her personality. She also demonstrates acceptance of those not like her and shows initiative, quick wit, strong leadership, creativity, etc. - all things that I love to see in a female character, especially one written for children.
I’d recommend this for the 10 + crowd due to the rich vocabulary and topic of murder. As a parent, you should also consider if your reader is ready for the comment of “We loved each other dearly. We became as close as people who are married, do you under-stand?” being used to kick off a discussion around a baby being conceived out of wedlock. The book also includes the loss of a parent, a murder (although not gruesome), unkind treatment of an immigrant child (her author’s note on this topic explains her approach here really well) and a closed adoption by one character as potential content considerations.
The writing is rich, with higher level vocabulary, some very witty and creative dialog and rich descriptions that make it easy to immerse yourself in the story. The crime that was commited was appropriate for the upper middle grade crowd with a few more gory descriptions peppered throughout that some might want to pre-read for more sensitive kids.
As an adult reader, I finished this quickly and looked forward to reading the book. Many times middle grade and young adult fiction can seem overly juvenile and cheesy so I don’t read the newer releases often unless I’m just pre-reading for my kids. That was not the case with this book at all and I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series.
The main character, Aggie Morton, is a fun, intelligent and quirky child. The author makes her quirks a loveable part of her personality. She also demonstrates acceptance of those not like her and shows initiative, quick wit, strong leadership, creativity, etc. - all things that I love to see in a female character, especially one written for children.
I’d recommend this for the 10 + crowd due to the rich vocabulary and topic of murder. As a parent, you should also consider if your reader is ready for the comment of “We loved each other dearly. We became as close as people who are married, do you under-stand?” being used to kick off a discussion around a baby being conceived out of wedlock. The book also includes the loss of a parent, a murder (although not gruesome), unkind treatment of an immigrant child (her author’s note on this topic explains her approach here really well) and a closed adoption by one character as potential content considerations.
The writing is rich, with higher level vocabulary, some very witty and creative dialog and rich descriptions that make it easy to immerse yourself in the story. The crime that was commited was appropriate for the upper middle grade crowd with a few more gory descriptions peppered throughout that some might want to pre-read for more sensitive kids.
As an adult reader, I finished this quickly and looked forward to reading the book. Many times middle grade and young adult fiction can seem overly juvenile and cheesy so I don’t read the newer releases often unless I’m just pre-reading for my kids. That was not the case with this book at all and I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series.