Language: G (0 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (explosion at school, custodian killed, not graphic, kids in peril, murderer on the loose)
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SOME
12yo Manya wants to be a scientist. She loves everything about science. Her parents own a moderately successful prank shop, but when her dad tries to increase revenue by producing artisan pranks, specially made for big tricks and they start to go awry, Manya's parents find themselves in big trouble. They were preparing to show their pranks at a big assembly at the school and an explosion happened in the auditorium killing the custodian, and now they have been arrested and charged with murder. Manya knows it can't be them, but with all the evidence clearly pointing at her parents, Manya may have to solve this crime herself.
An interesting plot - are there still prank shops? Do people do that? How many chattering teeth and exploding cans of popcorn have we seen in the last decades? I was hoping for a laugh out loud mystery, but the situations and the jokes are not all that funny, and the fact that someone died makes the story not funny at all. Also, I read along with the audio book and didn't love the narrator's character voice choices. I found many way too silly. When I tried to just read the book, I was still hearing the voices. All in all, the mystery turned out OK, a lot of coincidences moved the story along, so I didn't love the resolution. Manya defaults white.
Lisa Librarian
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