Teaser: An 11 year-old witnesses a man dying in her family's garden and she tries to solve the murder by herself.
Plot Summary:Flavia de Luce lives with her father and two sisters in their English mansion, named Buckshaw. Flavia is an 11 year-old aspiring chemist that loves poisons. In the summer of 1950, Flavia find a dead bird with a stamp stuck to its beak and then hours later she witnesses a man dying in the cucumber patch. Her father is eventually taken into custody and accused of murder. As a police investigation ensues, Flavia decides to try to solve this case herself and get her father out of jail. While speaking with her father, he tells her the story of his school days and how one of his professors loved to collect stamps. It eventually became a hobby of his father and the murder victim. A prized stamp was stolen and then the professor was found dead outside from an apparent suicide. This adds fuel to the fire and Flavia is more determined than ever to solve the crime. She visits the local library and does more sleuthing. As Flavia finds the clues, it is only a matter of time before the reader realizes who the killer is.
Critical Evaluation: Flavia is a brilliant heroine. She is only 11 years old, but she is so spunky and crafty. As she tries solves the mystery of the mysterious death, she notices little things that adults might miss. She often time goes unseen, so she can easily do things. Her deep love for her father is always present, because the prime reason she wants to solve the mystery is to save her father from impending jail time. I was also amused with how Flavia gets along with her sisters. I can relate to what she was going through as I also have two sisters like Flavia. I enjoyed reading this book with Flavia's 11 year old mind working through the clues.
Critical Evaluation: Flavia is a brilliant heroine. She is only 11 years old, but she is so spunky and crafty. As she tries solves the mystery of the mysterious death, she notices little things that adults might miss. She often time goes unseen, so she can easily do things. Her deep love for her father is always present, because the prime reason she wants to solve the mystery is to save her father from impending jail time. I was also amused with how Flavia gets along with her sisters. I can relate to what she was going through as I also have two sisters like Flavia. I enjoyed reading this book with Flavia's 11 year old mind working through the clues.
Author Information: According to http://www.flaviadeluce.com/view-authors-bio/ "Alan Bradley was born in Toronto and grew up in
Cobourg, Ontario. With an education in electronic engineering, Alan
worked at numerous radio and television stations in Ontario, and at
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto,
before becoming Director of Television Engineering in the media centre
at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, SK, where he remained
for 25 years before taking early retirement to write in 1994. His debut novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie won the Debut Dagger Award in 2007. He lives in Malta with his wife."
Genre: Mystery, Adult Crossover
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas:
Reading Level/Interest Age: 15+
Challenge Issues: N/A
Why included? I wanted to find teen book similar to Harriet the Spy and was told about this book and it is also a current Young Reader's Choice Nominee book at my library.
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