simobae's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
thechristined's review against another edition
4.0
I found this story to be much stronger and more enjoyable to its predecessor, The Shrunken Head. It had an easier time holding my attention, and when I put it down I wanted to return to it. The addition of new characters to the series, including Chubby and Lash, was incredibly well done as were scenes involving characters who had much smaller roles in the first book. The world is certainly growing as are Oliver's and Chester's strength and confidence as writers of this series. I look forward to reading the third book!
kba76's review against another edition
4.0
The second in the series has the children desperately trying to save their beloved museum, and also fearful that someone will discover their secret.
There’s a murder case that could be the answer to the museum’s poor sales, but it needs the help of their friend the renowned sculptor. Unfortunately, he ends up dead and we see that there is more to this situation than anyone has worked out.
The children try their best to investigate, while dealing with the fears that infamous criminal Rattigan is on the loose.
Everything ends up a little closer to home than they feared, but this is well-paced and hugely entertaining.
There’s a murder case that could be the answer to the museum’s poor sales, but it needs the help of their friend the renowned sculptor. Unfortunately, he ends up dead and we see that there is more to this situation than anyone has worked out.
The children try their best to investigate, while dealing with the fears that infamous criminal Rattigan is on the loose.
Everything ends up a little closer to home than they feared, but this is well-paced and hugely entertaining.
the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
5.0
We loved the start to this series, and I absolutely gushed over the first book, The Shrunken Head, in my review, Deliciously Macabre.
So when we saw the sequels at our library, we snatched them right up!
The Screaming Statue picks up a little while after the first, with the reader now knowing that Sam, Pippa, Thomas and Max were experimented on by the evil Nicholas Rattigan and given their remarkable powers: Sam, super-strength; Philippa, mind-reading; Thomas, super-bendiness; and Max, accuracy with her knife-throwing.
Likewise, Mr. Dumfrey’s Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders is still struggling to stay afloat.
Facing utter ruin unless he can bring in an audience, Mr. Dumfrey turns to the children's beloved grandfather-figure, Siegfried Eckleberger, who sculpts the wax dummies for the museum. He asks Siegfried to craft two heads (he'll cannibalize the bodies from other wax mannequins) for a crowd-pleasing and museum-saving exhibit depicting the salacious murder of Mrs. Richstone by her husband, Mr. Richstone!
Except, Mr. Eckleberger is murdered shortly after the heads are delivered, and one, uncharacteristically, is incorrect: Mrs. Richstone has a gap between two teeth. It's an odd mistake for the sculptor to make, as everyone's seen her picture in all the newspapers, and there's clearly no gap.
The police ask the kiddos to see if anything's missing from Mr. Eckleberger's apartment, and all Thomas notices is a photograph missing from a frame.
I won't spoil how the mystery unfolds!
These are great books, and I love the way they don't cut any punches with the macabre -- a display of murder in a museum?! And Rattigan is the ultimate nemesis, convinced of his godliness and how the children should worship him for giving them his powers.
It has a creepy, time-gone-by atmosphere that makes for a great read!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
So when we saw the sequels at our library, we snatched them right up!
The Screaming Statue picks up a little while after the first, with the reader now knowing that Sam, Pippa, Thomas and Max were experimented on by the evil Nicholas Rattigan and given their remarkable powers: Sam, super-strength; Philippa, mind-reading; Thomas, super-bendiness; and Max, accuracy with her knife-throwing.
Likewise, Mr. Dumfrey’s Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders is still struggling to stay afloat.
Facing utter ruin unless he can bring in an audience, Mr. Dumfrey turns to the children's beloved grandfather-figure, Siegfried Eckleberger, who sculpts the wax dummies for the museum. He asks Siegfried to craft two heads (he'll cannibalize the bodies from other wax mannequins) for a crowd-pleasing and museum-saving exhibit depicting the salacious murder of Mrs. Richstone by her husband, Mr. Richstone!
Except, Mr. Eckleberger is murdered shortly after the heads are delivered, and one, uncharacteristically, is incorrect: Mrs. Richstone has a gap between two teeth. It's an odd mistake for the sculptor to make, as everyone's seen her picture in all the newspapers, and there's clearly no gap.
The police ask the kiddos to see if anything's missing from Mr. Eckleberger's apartment, and all Thomas notices is a photograph missing from a frame.
I won't spoil how the mystery unfolds!
These are great books, and I love the way they don't cut any punches with the macabre -- a display of murder in a museum?! And Rattigan is the ultimate nemesis, convinced of his godliness and how the children should worship him for giving them his powers.
It has a creepy, time-gone-by atmosphere that makes for a great read!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
schadenfreudes's review against another edition
4.0
This series is a pretty good execution of a template middle-grade fiction. I like the characters and plotlines, every twist and turn has a connection to the main plot. It's a page-turner, and it didn't bore me.
pariswynn__'s review against another edition
4.0
This is the second book in the Curiosity House series. I would advise you read the first one before reading this review.
After falling in love with the first book, I was eager to read this one, and I was not disappointed.
This book follows, Max, Philippa, Thomas and Sam, 4 extraordinary children living and working for Mr Dumfrey's Dime museum of freaks, oddities and wonders. These four children have extraordinary gifts, such as super strength and being able to read minds, well pockets, which we learn in the first book, are due to the results of experiments carried out on them by the notorious evil criminal Rattigan.
This book follows the children as they try to work out who is responsible for the murder of one of their oldest friends: Freckles. With everything on the line, the children need to stick together to succeed, but with disaster around every corner, will they managed to find the killer in time, or will the museum be forced to shut before the case is resolved?
After falling in love with the first book, I was eager to read this one, and I was not disappointed.
This book follows, Max, Philippa, Thomas and Sam, 4 extraordinary children living and working for Mr Dumfrey's Dime museum of freaks, oddities and wonders. These four children have extraordinary gifts, such as super strength and being able to read minds, well pockets, which we learn in the first book, are due to the results of experiments carried out on them by the notorious evil criminal Rattigan.
This book follows the children as they try to work out who is responsible for the murder of one of their oldest friends: Freckles. With everything on the line, the children need to stick together to succeed, but with disaster around every corner, will they managed to find the killer in time, or will the museum be forced to shut before the case is resolved?
whimsicallymeghan's review against another edition
3.0
When a famous sculpture, Siegfried Eckleberger is murdered, Sam, Pippa, Max and Thomas are on the case. Eckleberger was like a grandfather to them and so they must avenge his death, but the more they investigate the more they realize it’s tied to a villain from their past, Nicholas Rattigan. The children must work double time to solve the case and save themselves. This was a fun adventure, mystery novel that had the reader engaged much more than the first novel. The same cast of characters are back and this time they have a new mystery to solve. The plot of this one felt extremely developed and well layered. The plot fed into the characters because the mystery was personal to them and that really made the stakes higher and the story more interesting. There was also a sub-plot that the characters also had a personal connection with that ended up feeding into the main plot and it was woven really well. The puzzles and riddles were clever, which the reader found captivating. This novel felt like there were less illustrations, but the ones we did get added to the story, giving the reader a good visual of all the characters. Speaking of, they felt more fleshed out in this novel, we finally got to see more from them and to understand them better. Their qualities stood out more and they felt more dimensional. It’s clear that there is growth and the reader is excited to read the third novel to see what they get into next. Overall, this was a thrilling and suspenseful story with a group of quirky characters.
blessedtobelucky's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second book for The Curiosity House series. New characters have been added and some old characters either got married or died in the first book. The museum is still up and running but turmoil and financial problems take a toll on all of the characters. Compared to the first book, this story had more drama. Some characters left the museum. The performed acts were sabotaged and the relationship between the four main characters were tested. For Rattigan, he was still being pursued by the police but of course he is a jack of all trades, so expect something crazy and spooky from him. His character adds a lot of mystery and weirdeness to the whole series which interests me.
I gave the story a four hearts rating because this book still did not satisfy my curiosity.Now, I had more questions than the first book. It was still a fun read and I was not disappointed by how sneaky and clever Rattigan can be. Also, it seems that he would not be the only antagonist in the story. The Fearsome Firebird (The Curiosity House #3) is the next book and its scheduled to come out this April 2017. I am really excited to read this and I hope some of my questions would be answered already.
I gave the story a four hearts rating because this book still did not satisfy my curiosity.Now, I had more questions than the first book. It was still a fun read and I was not disappointed by how sneaky and clever Rattigan can be. Also, it seems that he would not be the only antagonist in the story. The Fearsome Firebird (The Curiosity House #3) is the next book and its scheduled to come out this April 2017. I am really excited to read this and I hope some of my questions would be answered already.
addie_grace's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing just like the first book which is shrunken head. My favorite charecter is still max. This was such an amazing book. I forgot to write a review on it when I read it so I am writing it now. I definitely recommend this