Title: Shirley Link and the Hot Comic
Author: Ben Zackheim
Publisher: self, 2013. 107 pages
Middle-grade detective fiction
Summary:
Shirley's back, and this time the principal has retained her as an extra precaution to safeguard the first edition of The Avengers comic #1 which has been loaned to the school library for display. Since it's worth a million dollars, he's understandably nervous about it. It takes Shirley no time at all to discover someone is determined to steal the comic, and even who it is. Foiling the plot is the harder part.
Review:
This was a quick, fun read, but I just wasn't taken with it the same way I was with the first of Shirley Link's cases (The Safe Case). Several things contributed to that. First, I was put off by the device that has Shirley narrating most of the story while dangling from a chain thirty feet above the street. That seemed a bit hard to swallow. It also created the difficulty that while most of the story is told in past tense, the last two chapters are present tense.
None of that really matters, especially not to a kid reading the fun and gently exciting story. More of a problem, I think, is that Shirley's friends, Marie and Wiley, get pretty short shrift in this one. I was hoping for more development of an interesting three-way friendship, but felt a little let down. Without more input from them, Shirley's ego can get a bit much. And she keeps a few too many surprises back, not sharing her plans or insights, so that the reader can't reach the same conclusions she does.
Lest it sound as though I didn't like this, I hasten to add that I had a good time reading it, and can definitely recommend the series. Any kid who likes the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Encyclopedia Brown (okay, or whatever the modern equivalents are, though kids are still reading those, too!) will enjoy Shirley Link, with her hot computer skills, extra-sharp observations, and at times self-deprecating sense of humor. Actually, thinking about the way she uses her ability to really see stuff, Shirley Link might be Cam Jansen's spiritual heir, and is just about right for kids moving up from those easy readers.
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Full Disclosure: I purchased Shirley Link and the Hot Comic myself, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in
exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and
those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the
Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use
of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
My kids liked Cam Jansen so I wished I had known about this transitional series! They didn't read mysteries for a long time between Cam Jansen and then again in 8th grade with Sherlock Holmes. Thanks so much for joining us at the Kid Lit Blog Hop!
ReplyDeleteHi Mia, thanks for dropping by! I'm afraid these books are too new to have helped with your kids, since they've just come out in the last year. My boys didn't read detective stuff, but for me the "in between" books were Nancy Drew and (especially) the Hardy Boys.
ReplyDeleteI try not to read your reviews on books near the top of my list, but I did anyway. I'll probably have forgotten it by the time I get around to reviewing it! I loved the first Shirley Link too.
ReplyDelete:) I'll be interested to see your take--to find out if reactions were similar or if I was just feeling too cranky that day! I try to watch for that, but sometimes it's hard to tease out the sources of vague discontent.
DeleteThis sounds like a fun mystery series!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your review with the Kid Lit Blog Hop!
Definitely a fun series--and I forgot to mention that Shirley's school has a library to die for! Really unfair!
ReplyDelete