Showing posts with label Edgar Allan Poe Award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edgar Allan Poe Award. Show all posts
By Wendelin Van Draanen, 1998
163 p.
Reading Level: 4+
Interest Level: 10-13 years old
Reviews: School Library Journal, Kirkus Review, Publisher's Weekly, Horn Book, Wilson’s
Sammy Keyes is a feisty 13-year old girl whose mom (“Lady Lana”) left her with her Gram who lives in a seniors-only apartment complex while Lady Lana pursues a career in Hollywood. Because she isn’t supposed to live there, Sammy spends a decent amount of time sneaking in and out or just plain hiding out. Curiosity and boredom lead her to peering at her neighborhood through binoculars from her grandmother’s bedroom window and while doing this she spots what appears to be a robber in the seedy hotel across the way. She later finds that money has been stolen from that very room.
From here on out we are led on an adventure involving psychics, pork bellies, and lots of twists and turns while Sammy tries to solve the mystery of the hotel thief. Sammy has a lot of spunk and a knack for finding mischief. She’s a believable and likable character and her ability to solve the crime when the police and other adults are not make her a great heroine. Readers will be clamoring for the next installment in this mystery series.
Chasing Vermeer
By Blue Balliett, 2004
Illustrated by Brett Helquist
254 p.
Reading Level: 5+
Interest Level: 10-13 years old
Awards:
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children’s Mystery, Agatha Award for
Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel, Chicago Tribune Prize for Young Adult
Fiction, Book Sense Book of the Year Award for Children’s Literature
Reviews: Booklist Starrred, Publisher's Weekly Starred, School Library Journal, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Starred, Kirkus Review Starred, Wilson’s
Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay are sixth graders attending U. School on the campus of The University of Chicago. Although they both have Ms. Hussey as a teacher and they only live 3 doors from each others they were not friends- each thinking the other odd- until a series of coincidences brought them together. They find that they have much more in common than they thought, with a strong love of books, art, making sense of seemingly unrelated things, and blue M&Ms.
When a Vermeer painting that was en route to Chicago from Washington is stolen, Petra and Calder realize that a strange phenomena is at hand and that they are somehow privy to clues which could help them recover the missing painting before it’s destroyed by the art thief as has been threatened.
This is a book of puzzles. Petra uses pentominoes not only to create designs, but as letters which provide clues to the things happening around him. Dreams, reproductions of paintings, an old book of curious events, and more are all interconnected like puzzle pieces which all lead Petra and Calder to the conclusion that they know where the painting is hidden But will they get to it in time?
Illustrations by Brett Helquist are found throughout the book and are a nice visual addition.
Title: Mystery of the Haunted Pool
Author: Phyllis A. Whitney
ISBN: 9780664322410
Awards: Edgar Allen Poe Award 1961
Captain Teague finally allows the family to move into his home and Susan discovers Miss Altoona spying on the house from the bushes. Upon their arrival in the home, Susan and her family begin to experience of bevy of strange happenings. The most notable, and the most disturbing is what appears to be a face looking up at Susan through the water. Many twists and turns follow as Susan attempts to unlock the mystery of the haunted pool.
Byars, B. (1993). Wanted… Mud Blossom. New York: Yearling.
Genre: Mystery, Comedy
Summary: This is the fifth and final book relating the antics of one hilarious and irresponsible family, the Blossoms. Junior has the honor of pet-sitting the class hamster Scooty for the weekend. When Scooty goes missing, Junior suspects that Mud, the family dog has eaten him, so poor Mud goes on trial for murder.
Meanwhile, Mad Mary, “The Vulture Lady,” who sleeps in a cave, has disappeared; Vern and Michael have a case of uncontrollable giggles; and Ralphie has a crush on his friend Maggie, but can’t do anything right when he tries to be more than friends. Can the Blossoms sort things out? Not without some comical chaos and entertaining twists.
Notes:
The fifth and final book in the Blossom Family Series.
Winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1992.
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