Book Review: THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE

Title: The Mystery of the Haunted House (Sycamore Street Mysteries #1)

Author: Willow Night

Illustrator: Elizabeth Leach

Publisher: Willow Night Press

Pages: 116

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐

 

Sixth-grader Noah and his fourth-grader brother Josh are excited about a supposedly haunted house in their neighbourhood and the single word, Beware, that has been painted high above on one wall.

While Josh is free to indulge his curiosity about the haunted house, Noah feels the weight of his age. Poor boy! As a sixth-grader, he has too much Math homework to do. Soon, they learn that they aren’t the only kids who are interested in the house. There is a girl called Olivia, a new girl in Noah’s class, who is just as keen to know more about it.

The kids decide to join hands in the investigation and it helps that Olivia knows a lot about cameras and electronic bugs and how to spy on the house. But when Josh disappears, Noah and Olivia are forced to act quickly to save Josh. There’s no doubt that he is trapped in the haunted house. How will they ever manage to get him out?

The story is written in the 3^rd person omniscient PoV.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

Olivia is very tech-savvy, and it is really good to see a girl in such a role. She knows a lot about computers and cameras, how to shoot, record and post the evidence to the authorities.

The illustrations by Elizabeth Leach were very nice.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T:

The book ended very abruptly. There should have been some hint that there would be another adventure in the future, or that they couldn’t wait to do some more investigations. Some kind of a cliffhanger to invite young readers to join the kids on their next adventure.

Instead, we are told that the doughnuts were very delicious. I thought it was the end of the chapter, but no, it was the end of the book.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME:

The flat ending.

Also, the mystery was quite insubstantial. The kids weren’t in any real danger. It is hard for readers to feel invested in characters who are not in danger.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The book might be of interest to young kids who are first-time readers. 

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: A MYSTERY AT LILI VILLA

Title: A Mystery at Lili Villa

Author: Arathi Menon

Publisher: Yali Books

Pages: 172

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Ten-year-old Tam from Bengaluru is spending her summer vacation with her cousins, 11-year-old Arj and 9-year-old Mira, in Elathoor, Kerala. Her aunt and uncle, Sheila Ammayi and Damodar Ammavan, are both doctors and away at their clinic throughout the day, giving the kids the opportunity to do their own thing.

One night, Tam sees mysterious footprints in the mud outside the window. The next morning, the family gets to know that Sheila’s Ammayi’s jewellery was stolen during the night. The police are called, and the size of the massive footprint measured. But the big clue is more hindrance than help. There are so many people with that shoe size. There’s the creepy driver Kodavis, the cook, Pitamma, Fan-fixer Faekku, Dumdum chechi, even Damodar Ammavan and sub-inspector, Thombu.

When it appears that the police investigation is going too slow, the kids decide to conduct their own investigation to find the culprit. They follow everyone on the suspect list to find out who might be the thief. As they get closer to the thief, they are faced with real danger, but they are unafraid. Will they successfully intercept the thief and recover the jewellery? Or will the thief get away?

 

As a child, I used to devour books by Enid Blyton. I loved the names and descriptions of the books, even though I couldn’t relate to any of them. There was no Internet then, no way to see what those interesting names meant. Here we have the family cook, Pitamma, treating the family, especially the kids, to the best of Kerala’s cuisine. It was nice to read a book where the food was familiar and comforting.

I liked the relationship between the cousins, the friendly banter and the raucous fun times they had. It reminded me of my own summer vacations.

The author has also thoughtfully provided an extensive glossary for the dishes mentioned in the book as also the Malayalam words and expressions strewn through.

The only error was that the kids fail to investigate one person, Veer Sagar. While Mira acknowledges the fact that they missed looking into that person’s alibi, it still feels like a mistake. Why not omit all references to that person, instead of saying, Oops, we forgot one suspect? Or else give him a sound alibi too.

 

The writing was sweet. Kids are sure to find it charming. 

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.) 

Book Review: THE MURDERER'S APE (Sally Jones #2)

 

Title: The Murderer's Ape

Author: Jakob Wegelius

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 605

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Henry Koskela, Chief to Sally Jones, the gorilla he rescued, is arrested for the murder of Aphonse Morro. He has motive. It was Morro that had sent him on a misadventure that caused him to lose his beloved boat, the Hudson Queen, and their hard-earned savings. But Koskela has no way to prove his innocence.

Only Sally Jones knows that her Chief has done nothing wrong. That he did not seek to kill Morro. That Morro fell by accident. But what can an ape do? Particularly when powerful people are determined to keep him imprisoned forever.

Now Sally Jones is on the run from the powerful men who want to bring anarchy to Portugal. Luckily, she meets Ana Molina, a young woman with an angelic voice who works in a shoe factory. Soon Ana’s friends become the friends of Sally Jones, but danger is never far away from Sally Jones.

 

The story is told in the first person past tense PoV of Sally Jones, not Sally. Always Sally Jones. It is, in fact, being typed out by her on a typewriter, long after the incidents described in the book are over.

This book started well. I didn’t realise who the narrator was until the last line on the first page when she said that her fur is itchy with coal dust. As a character, Sally Jones had great potential. She is literate, she can type, repair stuff, play chess and she serves as first engineer on a ship.

 

As a rule, I don’t read fantasy, but this one was targeted at children and promised to be warm and fuzzy. So I made an exception. The characters were all sweet, but not really unforgettable. Sally Jones herself didn’t live up to her potential. The adversaries weren’t really evil, in keeping with the target audience. This is children’s fiction after all.

The writing was sweet, especially the scenes where Sally Jones meets the Chief after their prolonged separation.

The writer does a good job with the time period. Set in the early 20^th century, there are accordions, motor boats, steamers, typewriters etc. Illustrations of these would have helped young readers to get an understanding of older technologies.

But there was tremendous room for improvement. For the greater part of the book, the Chief was in jail, serving a sentence of 25 years in prison. Considering that the Chief and Sally Jones were the main characters, they both should have a greater role to play in the book. As it is, the story picks up the thread of the plot only with about 100 pages to spare.

With the Chief stuck in jail, Sally Jones is sent off on a grand adventure, heading off to Egypt and spending a long spell in India, beating a king at chess and being his confidante, but not really advancing the plot of the story. Given that the title of the book is The Murderer’s Ape, I thought that Sally Jones should have been shown to be doing more to get the Chief released.

It’s a fantasy after all. If the author could make her literate, able to understand English, why not get her to grunt some words? If she is good at “fixing broken things”, why not make her use that skill to enable the Chief’s release rather than spending time fixing broken accordions with nothing to break the monotony for the Chief. The poor guy spends years in prison.

Also, at 605 pages, it is much too long and the pace far too slow. Young ones are bound to lose interest in such a heavy tome. I do think the author could have done more to bring out the themes of love and friendship, loyalty and innocence. As it is, with Sally Jones travelling around the world, those themes get diluted a fair bit.

The illustrations, the grainy pencil sketches were charming, quaint and inviting. 

(I read this book on Edelweiss. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Edelweiss.) 

Book Review: THE SNEEZING CHRISTMAS TREE

Title: The Sneezing Christmas Tree
Author: Aaron Kerr
Publisher: Self-published
Pages: 40
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Alice, her younger brother, Tommy, and their parents are out looking for their perfect Christmas tree. After a long search, they finally find a tree they all like, and Tommy decides to christen the tree, Emily. They bring Emily home, thinking that she’s a perfectly normal tree, and then the sneezing begins.

The book is written in the first person PoV of Alice. The pages are peppered with beautiful illustrations. I read this book two days before Christmas and got my kids to read it too. I knew just as soon as I began reading it that it had the potential to be a story that my kids would love.

There are lessons for little ones about not keeping secrets from our parents, as also about seeing trees as living beings who bring untold wealth to our world, the importance of creating happy memories for ourselves and of finding one’s purpose in life.

The best part about this book is that it puts Jesus Christ firmly at the heart of Christmas.

The entire story is tied up with humour, as in the camouflage pajamas, and warmth. The Sneezing Christmas Tree is a special treat for all ages.