Wendy Lamb Books, 2009
Overall Grade: A
Mudshark is cool. He’s athletic, he’s friendly, and he’s smart. Really, really smart. He can remember everything, and reigns supreme as item-finder and mystery-solver at his middle school…until a strange, “telepathic” parrot takes up residence in the library, just as things around his school are beginning to get very strange.
Mudshark (I mean the book this time) is clever and very, very funny. Because it is clearly early middle grade, the plot is small; I would argue that even as a middle grade book, it could have been slightly better developed… In particular, I would have been more satisfied if the reader had more insight/emotional involvement in the solving of the mystery, as the outcome seemed rather sudden. However, the characters were lovable and unique, the narrative voice was excellent, and the humor was superb. Highly recommended to readers ages 8-10 in particular.
Literary Quality: B
Plot: B
Voice: A+
Originality: A-
Descriptive Ability: A-
Humor: A+
Illustrations: n/a
Believability of Characters: A+ (although the development is minimal in such a short book, it is very accurate)
Believability of Situations: A-
Overall Reading Enjoyment: A
Possibly objectionable topics*: none
Overall Grade: A
Mudshark is cool. He’s athletic, he’s friendly, and he’s smart. Really, really smart. He can remember everything, and reigns supreme as item-finder and mystery-solver at his middle school…until a strange, “telepathic” parrot takes up residence in the library, just as things around his school are beginning to get very strange.
Mudshark (I mean the book this time) is clever and very, very funny. Because it is clearly early middle grade, the plot is small; I would argue that even as a middle grade book, it could have been slightly better developed… In particular, I would have been more satisfied if the reader had more insight/emotional involvement in the solving of the mystery, as the outcome seemed rather sudden. However, the characters were lovable and unique, the narrative voice was excellent, and the humor was superb. Highly recommended to readers ages 8-10 in particular.
Literary Quality: B
Plot: B
Voice: A+
Originality: A-
Descriptive Ability: A-
Humor: A+
Illustrations: n/a
Believability of Characters: A+ (although the development is minimal in such a short book, it is very accurate)
Believability of Situations: A-
Overall Reading Enjoyment: A
Possibly objectionable topics*: none
No comments:
Post a Comment