The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
wiseowl33's review against another edition
4.0
Wow! Great mystery, fun characters. My kids are going to LOVE this! Fast paced and very enjoyable.
kellerm's review against another edition
4.0
Uber good. I think all kids will like this book. Edmund/Eddie is funny and well developed. Jonah is a great character too. Addresses diversity as well.
yapha's review against another edition
4.0
When Edmund and his father happen upon a knife fight in the alley behind their favorite ice cream store, Edmund's photographic memory and his ability to draw faces well come to the attention of the police. Desperate to catch a gang of sophisticated art thieves, Edmund is sent undercover to museums to look for a sketch the suspects. But working for the cops isn't all it is cracked up to be, especially the grumpy detective who yells at him constantly. But Edmund's private school tuition for the next year is riding on his ability to solve it, so he needs to go above and beyond what the police want him to do. Recommended to mystery lovers grades 5-8.
the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my gosh, I rarely gush over the voice in a middle grade novel, but this was the BEST! We fell in love with Edmund's voice on the very first page and devoured this book. It's a bit older, published in 2015, but I'm gifting it to myself as a mentor text for my middle grade writing, it's that good.
Twelve-year-old Edmund just happens to be outside the ice cream shop, where his father broke the bad news that he's going to have to look for a new job and pull Edmund out of his beloved private school, Senate, when there's a call for help in a nearby alley.
His father responds, and Edmund hides under a bench, but he sees everything that happens next. Literally. He has an eidectic memory, or the ability to recall images with a high degree of accuracy after only a brief exposure to them. He can also draw them with stunning accuracy.
Which the New York Police Department, specifically Chief Williams, quickly discovers and recruits Edmund to the force. In return, he'll get paid enough to stay at his precious Senate school.
Edmund's paired with the gruff, skeptical Det. Bovano while staking out different places around town. He's asked to draw pictures of the people who pass by. But Bovano doesn't fill Edmund in on who he's looking for, so Edmund does a little snooping of his own, and discovers Bovano's in pursuit of an art heist gang, called the Picasso Gang.
He can't do it all on his own, and he makes a series of mistakes I won't detail becaue I don't want to spoi the mystery. But in the end, with help from his best friend, Jonah, the boys figure out where and when the next heist is to take place and thwart it.
This was a great mystery, and a series I look forward to reading more of in the new year! It will make a great gift, even if it has to be bought used (I'd love to see a new edition of this come out!). Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
Twelve-year-old Edmund just happens to be outside the ice cream shop, where his father broke the bad news that he's going to have to look for a new job and pull Edmund out of his beloved private school, Senate, when there's a call for help in a nearby alley.
His father responds, and Edmund hides under a bench, but he sees everything that happens next. Literally. He has an eidectic memory, or the ability to recall images with a high degree of accuracy after only a brief exposure to them. He can also draw them with stunning accuracy.
Which the New York Police Department, specifically Chief Williams, quickly discovers and recruits Edmund to the force. In return, he'll get paid enough to stay at his precious Senate school.
Edmund's paired with the gruff, skeptical Det. Bovano while staking out different places around town. He's asked to draw pictures of the people who pass by. But Bovano doesn't fill Edmund in on who he's looking for, so Edmund does a little snooping of his own, and discovers Bovano's in pursuit of an art heist gang, called the Picasso Gang.
He can't do it all on his own, and he makes a series of mistakes I won't detail becaue I don't want to spoi the mystery. But in the end, with help from his best friend, Jonah, the boys figure out where and when the next heist is to take place and thwart it.
This was a great mystery, and a series I look forward to reading more of in the new year! It will make a great gift, even if it has to be bought used (I'd love to see a new edition of this come out!). Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
mrowkoob's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
tcbueti's review against another edition
5.0
Fun series opener: black hero with photographic memory and sick drawing skills, tapped by NYPD to catch art thieves. Love the character and his troubles (needs $ to stay in private school, protective parents leery of risks (librarian dad)), his determination, and his sidekick, the hyperactive military expert Jonah (who briefly goes off his meds). Full page sketches of (mostly) suspects add appeal.
Clever and suspenseful, with relatively large print: this moves fast.
Edgar nominee
Clever and suspenseful, with relatively large print: this moves fast.
Edgar nominee
2kimi2furious's review against another edition
3.0
This was cute, but not really my thing. I really liked that the main character wasn't white (you really couldn't tell from the cover of the book because it's shadowy). However, cop stories aren't really my thing?
emdoux's review against another edition
3.0
Very much looking forward to discussing this with 3rd-5th graders in July for our book group.
It was delightful to have such a diverse main character whose family is so connected to their African ancestry (I'd love more on that - but it'll be a great discussion point, as many of the participants in our group have immigrant parents who may be very similar to Edmund's parents).
I enjoyed the photographic memory aspect as well - haven't read a mystery with a character of that ability since Cam Jansen (which, I hate to compare this book to, because it's so much stronger).
I was extremely mistaken about certain aspects of my previous review of this book, and was contacted by the author to set the record straight, something I appreciate more than I was probably able to communicate to her in my message back. I'd like to, here, thank Marcia Wells for so eloquently and politely correcting me, and apologize to those of you who may have read my previous review and been influenced by my false impression of two occurrences in the book. I feel like a very bad librarian for my comments, but am glad to be contacted by Marcia Wells.
It was delightful to have such a diverse main character whose family is so connected to their African ancestry (I'd love more on that - but it'll be a great discussion point, as many of the participants in our group have immigrant parents who may be very similar to Edmund's parents).
I enjoyed the photographic memory aspect as well - haven't read a mystery with a character of that ability since Cam Jansen (which, I hate to compare this book to, because it's so much stronger).
I was extremely mistaken about certain aspects of my previous review of this book, and was contacted by the author to set the record straight, something I appreciate more than I was probably able to communicate to her in my message back. I'd like to, here, thank Marcia Wells for so eloquently and politely correcting me, and apologize to those of you who may have read my previous review and been influenced by my false impression of two occurrences in the book. I feel like a very bad librarian for my comments, but am glad to be contacted by Marcia Wells.
tegan91kj's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
backonthealex's review against another edition
3.0
Sixth grader Edmund Xavier Lonnrot has an amazing ability. He has a photographic mind and the artistic ability to be able to draw people he has mentally photographed. Which is how Edmund ended up working undercover for the NYPD.
It all began the day his dad had to break the bad news to Edmund that he would not be returning to his private Upper East Side school Senate for 7th grade; they just couldn't afford it anymore. But just as this conversation was starting, Edmund and his dad heard a woman's shout for help coming out of an alley. Telling Edmund to call the police, his dad took off to help the lady. Luckily, Edmund saw the "perp" and was able draw a much better likeness of him than the police artist.
And so, Edmund Lonnrot became Eddie Red, working undercover for the gruff Detective Bovano, who clearly resents having this young kid doing police work. Nevertheless, Eddie works weekends at either the Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue and East 92nd Street or the Neue Galerie on Fifth Avenue and East 86th Street, NYC. His job is to pretend to be a student artist, all the while keeping an eye out for anyone that looks like the pictures Det. Dovano very quickly showed him of the perps.
At first, Eddie seems to just bungle everything. Working without any information, though, Eddie soon begins to figure out what he is looking for and why with the help of his best friend, the very OCD Jonah, whose latest obsession is all things military.
The case has become important to Eddie. If he can help solve it, the police department will make a donation allowing him to return to his private school in September. If he botches it, he is, as we used to say when I was a kid, "sorry outta luck." But when the case is given a deadline, Eddie is no closer to figuring it out than he was before.
Can he and Jonah accomplish what the police couldn't and do it under pressure of this deadline?
Even though Eddie Red Undercover requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader (as if the NYPD would ever hire a young kid), it is a fun, entertaining book. It is told in the first person by Edmund?Eddie, who has a pretty good sense of humor about things, one can even see the beginnings of a nice wry touch forming. He is a really likable, somewhat geeky (in the best sense of the word) young man, whip smart and from an intact family - mom and dad are still in the picture. He is also African American.
Eddie's friend Jonah is a big eater of peanut butter sandwiches and is also whip smart with a well developed ability to detect patterns in anything, I would have liked to learn a little more about Jonah, but maybe in future Eddie Red novels. Still, together Edmund and Jonah form quite the dynamic duo.
The novel is a nice lighthearted mystery that is sure to appeal to middle school readers. Edmund is an astute observer of people and has plenty to say about them that will tickle a young readers funny bone. But there is also plenty of excitement for them as well.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
This review was originally posted at Randomly Reading
It all began the day his dad had to break the bad news to Edmund that he would not be returning to his private Upper East Side school Senate for 7th grade; they just couldn't afford it anymore. But just as this conversation was starting, Edmund and his dad heard a woman's shout for help coming out of an alley. Telling Edmund to call the police, his dad took off to help the lady. Luckily, Edmund saw the "perp" and was able draw a much better likeness of him than the police artist.
And so, Edmund Lonnrot became Eddie Red, working undercover for the gruff Detective Bovano, who clearly resents having this young kid doing police work. Nevertheless, Eddie works weekends at either the Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue and East 92nd Street or the Neue Galerie on Fifth Avenue and East 86th Street, NYC. His job is to pretend to be a student artist, all the while keeping an eye out for anyone that looks like the pictures Det. Dovano very quickly showed him of the perps.
At first, Eddie seems to just bungle everything. Working without any information, though, Eddie soon begins to figure out what he is looking for and why with the help of his best friend, the very OCD Jonah, whose latest obsession is all things military.
The case has become important to Eddie. If he can help solve it, the police department will make a donation allowing him to return to his private school in September. If he botches it, he is, as we used to say when I was a kid, "sorry outta luck." But when the case is given a deadline, Eddie is no closer to figuring it out than he was before.
Can he and Jonah accomplish what the police couldn't and do it under pressure of this deadline?
Even though Eddie Red Undercover requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader (as if the NYPD would ever hire a young kid), it is a fun, entertaining book. It is told in the first person by Edmund?Eddie, who has a pretty good sense of humor about things, one can even see the beginnings of a nice wry touch forming. He is a really likable, somewhat geeky (in the best sense of the word) young man, whip smart and from an intact family - mom and dad are still in the picture. He is also African American.
Eddie's friend Jonah is a big eater of peanut butter sandwiches and is also whip smart with a well developed ability to detect patterns in anything, I would have liked to learn a little more about Jonah, but maybe in future Eddie Red novels. Still, together Edmund and Jonah form quite the dynamic duo.
The novel is a nice lighthearted mystery that is sure to appeal to middle school readers. Edmund is an astute observer of people and has plenty to say about them that will tickle a young readers funny bone. But there is also plenty of excitement for them as well.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
This review was originally posted at Randomly Reading