I love a good mystery, but I will be first to admit that I'm not the swiftest when trying to figure out "whodunnit". I take a story as it comes at me and rarely try to think ahead. Having said that, I do appreciate mystery novels that allow a reader to try to put the pieces together and figure out the ending along with the characters. What drives me crazy though is when critical pieces of information are withheld from the reader for no good reason just to maintain the "mystery". I find this to be a common problem in mystery novels for children and young adults.
That is why it was refreshing to pick up the new fiction novel for middle-grade readers "The Midnight Tunnel: A Suzanna Snow Mystery" by Angie Frazier (Scholastic 2011). Frazier has constructed a great mystery without ever cheating. The story isn't forced and unfolds naturally with the reader discovering the clues along with the main character.
"The Midnight Tunnel" follows our main character Suzanna "Zanna" Snow in 1904. While having to spend her summer working at the luxury hotel in New Brunswick that her family runs, she really dreams about becoming a detective like her famous uncle in Boston. When the young daughter of one of the wealthy families staying at the hotel goes missing and Zanna is the only possible witness, she is thrown into the middle of a real life mystery.
Whether it's the pompous rich guests, the quirky hotel employees, or our determined hero, all the characters in "The Midnight Tunnel" feel multi-dimensional. The plot and character development moves ahead at a steady pace and is never boring. There are plenty of suspects and lots of "red herrings" to keep the reader guessing, and the resolution to the mystery is satisfying. Suitable for ages 9 and up, the story is easy enough to follow for younger readers, but is also complex enough for older readers. So we recommend that you buy this book for your child to read... then read it yourself.
Tall Tales Books Giveaway!
Scholastic Canada is giving away "The Midnight Tunnel" to two lucky readers! All you have to do is share your favourite mystery novel or author in the comments below.
Yummy Rules and Regs: You must be a Yummy Mummy Club member to win. Click to sign up! It's free and filled with perks. One comment per member. Entries accepted until June 8th, 2011. Contest open to Canadian residents. Winners will be picked using www.random.org.
Now go read a book with your kids...
-Drew
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I recently read this article written by fellow YMC blogger Buzz Bishop which is about remembering to record as many moments with loved ones as you can so that those times forever remembered. So I am stepping out of the normal book-related focus of our blog to talk a bit about our little one and how much our videos have helped me appreciate the past few years. I am definitely the person who remembers to bring the camera but never remembers to use it. However, I have managed to take a few videos over the past three years which has proven to be a wonderful surprise as of late.
Because I work during the day, as most of us do, I don’t get to spend as much time chatting with our nearly three-year-old daughter Emma as I would like. She is turning into quite the conversationalist and most recently she has begun to ask about when she was a baby. Everything is “what did I do when I was a baby?” and when I relate a little quip or story, out comes the accompanied question “and then what did I do?” So time after time, I struggle to remember the haze that was her first year and trying to make "eat, sleep, sit, walk, eat, sleep" sound interesting. Emma was not a baby who felt the sleeping part of the equation was all that important. She spent her first year teaching me the amount of sleep I used to get was no longer needed and rather, quite overrated. Thank goodness we took some pictures and videos of all the cute things she did. I always heard there was a reason babies are cute! But I digress...
The other night during one of these conversations, I remembered that we had backed up our videos on disks and decided that I would bring them out instead of telling her all the little things from the past. We popped the disk into the player and began to watch our collection of ‘Emma from 9 months to 2 years.’ I was surprised at all the things I didn’t remember.
I had forgotten the cute babble she used to do. The way she said potato, “Tato”, still makes Drew and I giggle every time. And don’t get us started on her dancing - her love of the Black Eyed Peas is apparent in her cute little moves - it makes me smile and get that giddy feeling in my stomach/uterus. The video clip that struck me the most was the one of Emma playing with her blocks - with the hole in the centre and the stick stand - you know the one. It was so funny to watch her concentrated little face while attempting to stack them, choosing which one should be next, and getting frustrated when she couldn’t put two on at once. The best part was when she put the last one on, she looked up at us – pure joy - clapped her hands and smiled, so proud of what she had done.
We also had the amazing realization that she still has that face: that look when she figures something out, when she is able to do something new (she is a very good jumper!) or that smile she gives me when she wakes up. It makes the hardships in parenting, or life in general seem worthwhile if just to know we are making a difference. So I have jumped on the “make sure you record the little moments” bandwagon. It has made the happy memories come pouring out over the miracle that is our Emma. Now I should really get on that baby book too…
- Kate
image credit: Ikea.com
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