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October 3, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt

Mystery/Thriller

October 3, 2014 by Jonathan Hunt   8 comments

The mystery/thriller category is a popular one with children, and I keep waiting for that special book that will lead to a pop culture phenomenon like Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Nevertheless, we have a good crop of books this year.  We’ve already discussed THE GHOSTS OF TUPELO LANDING, but here are some more that you should be aware of.

ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS by Lemony Snicket . . . Snicket has been busy with not just two entries in this series this year–WHEN DID YOU SEE HER LAST? and SHOULDN’T YOU BE IN SCHOOL? but also a book of short stories, FILE UNDER: 13 SUSPICIOUS INCIDENTS.  This series really hasn’t taken off the way that we had all hoped it would–at least in my neck of the woods–and it hasn’t generated critical buzz either.  An unlikely Newbery contender.

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THE GREAT GREENE HEIST by Varian Johnson . . . A fun, clever romp set in middle school.  The author was inspired by movies like SNEAKERS and OCEAN’S ELEVEN and books like THE WESTING GAME.  You may remember this one from earlier in the year as it had the great good fortune of coming out during the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, and it features a great cover with its multicultural cast.  Two starred reviews.

GREENGLASS HOUSE by Kate Milford . . . This one padded its resume recently by adding the National Book Award long list to its two starred reviews.  When strange guest start arriving at the inn with strange stories, the son of the innkeeper and the daughter of the cook start an adventure.  I haven’t read it yet, but it looks very intriguing, and reviews in some quarters have dared to compare it to THE WESTING GAME.  Looking forward to this one.

HE LAUGHED WITH HIS OTHER MOUTHS by M.T. Anderson . . . This is the sixth and final Pals in Peril novel featuring Jasper Dash and friends.  This one finds Jasper looking for the father he’s never known–even if it takes him to outer space!  No more Brixton Brothers by Mac Barnett, no more Pals in Perils by M.T. Anderson.  What’s the reader of funny, intelligent parodies to do?

LANTERN SAM AND THE BLUE STREAK BANDITS by Michael Beil . . . Anyone remember the Red Blazer Girl mysteries?  Same author.  A talking cat narrates in a classic hard-boiled voice this historical mystery set in the 1930s.  Aboard the train, he helps 10-year-old Henry find his missing friend.  I think this would work for readers who like Bruce Hale’s Chet Gecko series of Doreen Cronin’s J.J. Tully mysteries.

LOOT by Jude Watson . . . Watson won the National Book Award several years ago for WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED writing under the name Judy Blundell.  She’s contributed to lots of multi-author middle grade series, but as far as I know this is a standalone debut, and a strong one at that.  Like GREAT GREENE, this is a heist novel.  This one features a pair of twins that must steal the cursed jewels that their dead father stole many years ago.  Great fun!

SAMMY KEYES AND THE KISS GOODBYE by Wendelin Van Draanen . . . The final Sammy Keyes novel–gasp!–is narrated in third person as Sammy lies in a coma.  The various players in the series come together to solve the final mystery: Who pushed Sammy Keyes out of the third story window?  I love this series, but stopped reading somewhere around six or seven–and this is number eighteen!  I’m sorely tempted to pick this one up and see how it reads without having followed the series faithfully.

SKINK by Carl Hiaasen . . . Like GREENGLASS HOUSE, this one has been long listed for the National Book Award.  While it’s older than his previous juvenile novels–indeed, it’s being billed as young adult–it still reads like a middle school book, and thus fair game for the Newbery committee.  This one features, Skink, one of Hiaasen’s more beloved characters helping Richard find his cousin who has gone off with somebody she met online.

Are you excited about any of these?  Are we missing any?  Do they hold up under closer Newbery scrutiny?

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About Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt is the Coordinator of Library Media Services at the San Diego County Office of Education. He served on the 2006 Newbery committee, and has also judged the Caldecott Medal, the Printz Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. You can reach him at hunt_yellow@yahoo.com

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Comments

  1. Eric Carpenter says

    October 3, 2014 at 9:40 am

    Can we have a moratorium on comparisons to The Westing Game? It seems like every year at least one middle grade mystery receives this comparison and there is no way any book can live up to the expectation said comparison sets.

  2. Leonard Kim says

    October 3, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    This comment has a spoiler.

    GREENGLASS HOUSE has already gotten a lot of positive comments on the “Fall Favorites?” post. It’s no WESTING GAME, but probably in my top 10 this year.

    One specific thing I want to say in its favor is (SPOILER COMING – YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!):

    SPOILER:
    I think one of the big reveals is handled in a much more palatable way than another book that was posted here on September 5, so I am more comfortable supporting this book than that other one. Some reasons for this include the author’s handling of setting and a much longer setup (which arguably overly telegraphs for the adult reader.)

    • Eric Carpenter says

      October 3, 2014 at 6:40 pm

      SPOILER
      “Much longer set up” is an understatement. I never see twists coming but I saw “twist” in GGH as soon as the character appeared. This made reading GGH almost unbearably slow. I did like the ending just thought it took way to long getting there.

      • Monica Edinger says

        October 4, 2014 at 6:27 am

        I too found the book very meandering at first, easy to put down for days at a time. At some point it picked up for me (probably when I figured the “twist”) and then I read it more steadily till I was done.

  3. Elaine says

    October 6, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    I’ve just started GREENGLASS HOUSE and am finding it a bit slow – but will not give up! This is my favorite genre, so I plan to check out as many of the titles Jonathan mentions as time allows. I really loved GHOSTS OF TUPELO LANDING and am a long-time fan of Sammy Keyes – looking forward to the new one!

  4. Holly says

    October 10, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    I just finished SKINK NO SURRENDER while reading for the Printz, and I was greatly disappointed. I’ve really enjoyed his MG books. I just didn’t buy the first person narration of this character when he started talking about environmental issues out of the blue in the middle of action sequences. And comments about how he’d looked it up after he’d been back home, just made it all worse. Also, it felt like he decided that since he was writing for teens, he had to drop “teen appeal” into the book… so there were strategic pop culture references all over the place. Meh.

    • Monica Edinger says

      October 10, 2014 at 1:55 pm

      I’m with you, Holly, on this one. I was particularly disappointed because I adore Skink in his adult books. I couldn’t buy the relationship with the girl –felt forced that he was falling for her. To me it suffered from the same problems I found in Hoot — he was trying too hard to nail a new audience. For that one it was middle grade so I recall some silly slapstick involving poop and with this one he’s trying to reach a bit older with a bit of romance that didn’t feel authentic at all. (I feel he really started to hit his stride with Flush — liked that one very much.)

  5. jenny Andrus says

    October 18, 2014 at 11:02 am

    CARTWHEELING IN THUNDERSTORMS by Katherine Rundell and “THE STORY OF OWEN: DRAGON SLAYER OF TRONDHEIM by E.K. Johnston have been recent favorites. Both had great stories, well-constructed plots, and memorable characters. I’m sure they each had some weaknesses, but in the moment of reading them I was too engrossed to notice!

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