The Best Mistake Mystery

Written in typical middle-grade omniscient and sarcastic language, this story revolves around character Stephen Nobel, who is an uber inquisitive, awkward and analytical boy with an extreme glass-is-half-empty and if-there-is-smoke-then-there-must-be-fire mentality. Stephen gets involved with a series of misadventures and because of his personality, inadvertently solves mysteries along the way in a dry humorous manner. It is an entertaining story that grown-ups will probably enjoy even more than kids, because of the humor in between the lines. My ten-year old daughter’s opinion of the story is that has a staccato bounce to it and the transitions are almost too abrupt. She liked the story, but is having a hard time identifying who to recommend it to, since she says this book will be better appreciated by someone who loves reading, and unfortunately most of her 5th grade friends do not enjoy reading as much as she does. If they do, it will be the usual straightforward mystery stories. On the other hand, I will be glad to recommend it to all word nerds out there, because the play of words and quality of writing is just geeky fun. We received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.