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jeannemurray3gmailcom's review against another edition
4.0
Really good book! Easy to read, but still consider it best for an older juvenile so that the reader will be able to follow and solve the mystery along with the characters. Interesting because the main character is legally blind and has major OCD. I highly recommend this book.
pkadams's review against another edition
3.0
Over the past few years, Blue Balliett has entertained young, middle readers with mysteries that are suspenseful and full of puzzles while providing some sophisticated cultural references for children. In this story, Blue pushes her boundaries a bit while maintaining her signature style. Set in rural Michigan the reader meets Zoomy, a 12 year old living with his grandparents, who help him cope and accept his pathological myopia and slight autism. He keeps his world in order by maintaining lists. However his lists can't completely help when his good-for-nothing father, whom he has never met, shows back up under mysterious circumstances with a box. What is inside the "danger box" as Zoomy calls it, is a puzzle. He and his friend Lorrol try solving the origins of the danger box.
In what we've come to expect from Blue Balliett, she puts a historical figure in the center of the mystery, allowing young readers to learn a little bit about history, science, and how ideas change the world. Adults figure more in this story than the past, but as always there are kid-size puzzles and codes that engage young readers as they move through this suspenseful and fast-paced novel.
In what we've come to expect from Blue Balliett, she puts a historical figure in the center of the mystery, allowing young readers to learn a little bit about history, science, and how ideas change the world. Adults figure more in this story than the past, but as always there are kid-size puzzles and codes that engage young readers as they move through this suspenseful and fast-paced novel.
heyalisa's review against another edition
5.0
i learned so much from this book and feel it invites exploration in amazing ways.
tessanie's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury
smurphy5337's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bibli0rach's review against another edition
4.0
Zoomy is growing with his grandparents in a small town in Michigan. He has quite a few personality quirks which he calls "jittery splats", and he's legally blind. Zoomy spends the summer in this book researching a man called Gas, solving a mystery, and befriending a girl with her own quirks.
theartolater's review against another edition
3.0
I went into this assuming it was in the same series as the Calder/Vermeer/Wright books, and it wasn't - it was more like a kid-friendly Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime with a few odd parts interspersed in it. It wasn't awesome, but it wasn't bad, either - a bit of a historical mystery with some commentary scattered about. Very well written, overall, but still lacking in ways the other books were not.