Saturday, August 15, 2015

A Mystery Comes Knocking by Albin Sadar -- ADVISABLE

Sadar, Albin A Mystery Comes Knocking (Hamster Holmes), illustrated by Valerio Fabberetti. EARLY READER. Simon Spotlight (Simon & Schuster), 2015. $3.99. Content: G.

Hamster Holmes and his lightning bug sidekick, Dr. Watt, love to solve mysteries. When a friend reports that someone has been knocking on his door and then disappearing before he can answer, the detective buddies know they have their next case.

The mystery aspect keeps readers involved and guessing, whether or not they've heard of the original Sherlock Holmes, and many parents and teachers will appreciate the fact that Hamster Holmes sucks on a water bottle instead of a pipe. The fact that Dr. Watt communicates in Morse code -- complete with a key in the book -- adds a fun, optional code-breaking element to the story. A stronger resolution probably would have bumped this one up from 'advisable' to 'essential.'

EL (K-3) -- ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Caryn

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