Okie dokie! While I've been managing to pop up reviews the last few days, I've been skipping these beginning rambles (did anyone even notice?). Sometimes, life just gets a bit busy. My eldest daughter had her research defense—it was so fun to watch her talk about her little HIV-infected baby cells. My youngest son had a bday celebration, and my husband made it back from Germany, tired but happy. So there was a lot of running back and forth from our small farm to the 'city'. I have another project, which is currently causing me a little stress, but I'll babble about that one as soon as I've completed it.
It's Happy Book Birthday time!!! Today's read hits the shelves today and looks like an adorable graphic novel-ish thing. After flipping through the pages, it looks like a chapter book balancing on the edge of graphic novelness. It's a mystery, and if I understood this right, has a heavier emphasis on decerning facts from opinions and theories. It's the third in a series, and of course, I haven't read the other two yet.
So, put on those sleuthing hats and grab that paper and pen because we're off to discover the truth!
THE CURIOUS COVE
Paige Proves It #3
by Amy Marie Stadelmann
Aladdin
Chapter Book Mystery /
Graphic Novel
112 pages
ages 7 to 10
Fact-loving Paige sets out to prove imaginative Penn wrong about mermaids in this third book in the mystery graphic novel chapter book series Paige Proves It!
Paige loves facts! She is constantly spouting information about everything and anything to anyone who will listen. Hot dogs were first sold at baseball games in the 1800s! Termites are insects with strong jaws made for eating and burrowing into wood. And the boy named Penn who lives next door to her is her friend. On a visit to their local seaside park, Penn is convinced there has been a mermaid sighting, and Paige is determined—once again—to prove him wrong, one fact at a time.
GOODREADS / AMAZON / PRESS READER / B&N
MY TIDBITS
When mystery hits, theories explode, but this sleuth sticks to the facts to get to the truth.
Paige and Penn are off to sail their toy boat at the annual Evergreen Park Regatta, but when they get there, they discover it's been called off! Something mysterious is floating out in the water, creating a possible danger. But no one knows what it is. When a teen park employee is sure it's a mermaid, Penn is won over by the guy's arguments (plus, he's a cool teen!). But Paige isn't as easy to convince and heads out to collect the facts. What she discovers surprises everyone.
Paige and Penn make a fun pair. While Paige stays planted in facts and isn't easily swayed, Penn's imagination and energy lets fantasy fly. Together, the two are ready for anything...and anything can happen. It fits perfectly to this mystery as it heads in the direction of mermaids. The clues are clever and teach a little biology along the way. The slide from fantastical explanations to the facts is entertaining, surprising, and well laid to create a grabbing read the entire way through. Plus, readers discover how to evaluate information themselves.
While this is marketed as a graphic novel, it shimmies up between a heavily illustrated chapter book and the comic form to create something in between. Readers, who have a pretty good grip on their words, will feel at home in these pages as the text sticks mostly to speech bubbles and remains easy-to-read. There are short paragraphs with explanations and facts in between, but these stick to the sparser side (and aren't information dumps but add fun tidbits). The illustrations carry most of the story, are bright and colorful, and make sure emotion comes across as well as humor and fun.
It's an enjoyable mystery with twists, which are very hard to see coming, and is sure to delight more than just mystery sleuths along the way.
And here she is...
Amy Marie Stadelmann is the author and illustrator of the Olive & Beatrix chapter book series. She has also worked on the television shows Wonder Pets! and Team Umizoomi. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at AmyMarieStad.com.
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