Freshly-Brewed Monday Book Recommendation #1!

I love books about girls in trouble. Wrinkle in Time, Mixed-Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler, Harriet the Spy, the list goes on and on. If it was in print in the 70's and a gal pal was in trouble, I was curled up under the avocado tree in the backyard helping my girl out of her particular pickle.

So when my oldest son started devouring certain books, and throwing some to the side without even a cracked spine (showing the same penchant for a particular taste in literature as myself!) I knew I had a challenge ahead of me. Mission: cool boy books to match my son's taste. Right now that means- firmly set in this world + humorous protagonist + a mystery element + can include a touch of magical realism but no spinning off into strange fantastical locales. (ahem. Mom, that is so not realistic.)

Enter The Big Splash by Jack Ferrariolo, I could not put this book down.

The book opens with Matt Stevens, a seventh-grade private eye who has just made a choice he thought he'd never make. He accepted a job from Vinny Biggio "Vinny Biggs". Vinny is behind every deal made at Franklin Middle School from black market candy to forged hall passes. Franklin Middle School is a tough place, if you cross Vinny and his henchmen you could end up in "the outs". How do you get there? Water pistol attacks below the belt for maximum humiliation. When Nicole (aka Nikki Fingers) the most feared water assassin is put in "the outs", Matt feels partially to blame so he sets out to find the new trigger kid. I am telling you, you are going to love this earnest super-sleuth and his throw-back film noir style.

This book reads like a Raymond Chandler novel for middle-graders and boys and girls alike will fall for the pre-adolescent Phillip Marlowe, in Matt Stevens.

Due to its noir style, this would make a fun and dramatic read aloud. Meet you under the avocado tree.