The Red Blazer Girls: The Mistaken Masterpiece by Michael D. Beil

After 3 books, Sophie Jeanette St. Pierre still holds a place in my heart as one of my favorite 12-year-old narrators. Author Michael D. Beil's 3rd Red Blazer Girls novel brings back the New York girls for another adventure in after-school sleuthing. Previously they solved logic and math puzzles to find a missing ring and a twice-stolen violin.

Father Julian enlists the Red Blazer Girls Detective Agency (Sophie, Becca, Margaret & Leigh Ann) to help him determine the age of a painting. He asks the girls to sort through a box of old family photos to find images of the painting in hopes of being able to date it. See, if the picture is older than 1961 then it's an original Pommeroy. If it's later, it's a fake.

Add to this sub-plots about a couple of young movie stars and a dog with strange behavior, Sophie's rocky relationship with classmate Livvy, and Sophie's very own mystery of mysterious packages arriving at her house for her. A pot of dirt? Huh?

Beil returns with the clever chapter titles ("So, who wins in a fight between a crocodile and a unicorn?" and "In which I set loose an army of killer ants on Livvy. Okay, not really, but a girl can fantasize, can't she?"), vocabulary words, puns, and literature references. The girls are reading short stories about conflict and irony in their English class. One in particular is "The Interlopers" by Saki. How's that for light middle grade reading? And don't worry, he's also brought back the Charles Dickens references. Speaking of references, the movie filming is called "No Reflections" which is based on a best-selling teen paranormal romance. Ha! And the shady art dealers? The Svindahls. Double ha! Everything is a puzzle to figure out.

Sure there are many convenient plot developments and many times someone just happens to see someone or something, etc.  I also marvel at the girls schedules: homework, school, swim practice, band practice, solving mysteries. This book took a little bit more time to engross me, but once the mystery kicked into full gear it was another exciting ride to the finish. This time the reader is shown 4 photographs and the answer to the mystery is solved by figuring out the clues that link them together. I loved flipping back to those pictures each time an "Ah ha!" moment came up.

These are fun, fun books. I eagerly await the next one.

Red Blazer Girls on Facebook with links to articles about the author and series.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.

And so begins Thomas’ journey in a metal elevator, stripped of his
memories, delivered to a place where boys are fighting for their survival.

I picked this one up because it is on the 2010 Lone Star List. A very big deal in our lovely state of Texas. It’s also made some best of 2009 lists (Kirkus for one). I can see why this book was chosen – fast paced, non-stop action, a mystery that keeps building upon itself little by little, terrifying odds, and teen boys who are incredibly resourceful and smart despite their shortcomings.

I enjoyed several things about this novel. I loved the way the author got around swearing by inventing new terminology. “ Klunk” and “Shuck” were satisfying alternatives and sounded believable. In fact, they even sounded rude and fun to say– exactly what curse words should sound like (because we all know there is nothing like a good swear to get a point across). I especially respected how the emotional life of the boys was portrayed. They were fearful and emotional; they cried quite a bit, and not just the wimpy ones that got killed off, all the boys were emotional. I was so impressed – we rarely get such a depiction – usually it is all macho tough-guy bullsh*t. So bravo for that!

However, I wouldn’t be Patti unless I had major issues with a book everyone else just loved to death. The book is very suspenseful, but I think it could have benefitted from some judicious editing. It was a bit repetitive, it tried too hard to ratchet up the anxiety level and so it sometimes felt manipulative and forced, and it did a lot of telling rather than showing. It clocks in at 374 pages and it could have easily told the same story just as effectively at 250 and been a tighter more effective piece of writing.

It isn’t until page 351 that they finally escape the Maze and come face to face with the “Creators.” That leaves 23 pages to explain what is outside of the maze and why they were put in it in the first place. Yes, this is the first in a series. Yes, I understand that it is meant to be a cliff-hanger. But after so many pages dedicated to lost memories and maze running, I thought the ending lacked the oomph it needed…like a good reason they are in the GD maze to begin with. No, I did not find the so-called “rationale” satisfying at all and found myself frustrated by the rushed ending.

I think there is much to commend this book, certainly many others have loved it. I do feel as though it will be popular with boys and even reluctant readers despite its size. I just can’t say that I loved it for myself. Which is too bad because I was fascinated by its premise.

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Book Source: Publisher Review Copy