It's a Mystery, Pig Face!

Gr 3–6—Tracy Munroe is hoping for an exciting end-of-summer adventure with her best friend Ralph, an aspiring chef. She also plans to make sure her little brother Lester ("Pig Face") doesn't dampen their plans. Soon the kids find a paper bag stuffed with money and set out to figure out where it came from. Though the mystery is somewhat interesting, the novel as a whole is confounding. The title and cover art are off-putting and not indicative of the book's content; the title itself includes name-calling, and the cover drawing of the main characters makes them look menacing. The older kids reluctantly allow "Pig Face" to help them after he spies on them and blackmails them into including him as they try to discover the origins of the money bag. The book is set in a small Canadian town where the author lives, and Tracy is drawn from her own experiences growing up. Unfortunately, Tracy's voice comes across as an adult trying to sound like a tween. Though readers may enjoy Tracy's vivid imagination and flair for the dramatic, most of the plot is predictable.