Sleuth on Skates

Gr 3–5—Precocious 11-year-old Sesame Seade, Cambridge's amateur sleuth-in-residence, is confident that she, using her skates and observation skills, can solve the mystery surrounding a student ballerina's disappearance. Her parents, a professor and a chaplain, exasperated by their daughter's sneaky antics, annoy her with obscure references ("the problem with Sesame is that she's a self-involved little Narcissus"), while other literary allusions are more kid-friendly (Harry Potter). The Seades write off Sesame's sleuthing as eccentricity, leaving her to her own devices with the occasional punishment, including the "gift" of a horridly unsophisticated "Phone4Kidz." Beauvais brings Cambridge alive, while maintaining a quick-paced, laugh-out-loud comedy, and a thought-provoking mystery that explores technology and its use. For graduates of early readers such as Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's Nate the Great, this first installment offers an engrossing whodunit, with charmingly funny prose and illustrations—reminiscent of Lauren Child's Clarice Bean series (Candlewick)—and is an excellent transition to Lemony Snicket.—Hannah Farmer, Austin Public Library, TX