Masterpiece by Elise Broach

Eleven year old James lives with his mom and his stepdad. His mother’s career seems to be a higher priority than her son’s happiness. This is evidenced by the birthday party she throws for him with guests he does not know but who might be future business connections. His dad, who appears to be more sincere, stops by later with a gift for James. James politely acknowledges the pen and ink set that his dad brought him, but James doesn’t really feel any passion for drawing. Meanwhile, the family of crickets who live in James’ apartment notice the lousy birthday and decide to do something nice for James. They send their son Marvin (whom they sometimes overprotect and smother with attention) to James’ room with a gift. However, when Marvin gets to the room he discovers the pen and ink set and he decides to draw a present for James. Later James’ mother discovers the streetscape that Marvin drew and assumes that James drew it. James doesn’t deny this and before he realizes how fast things can get out of control, he gets wrapped up in a plot to catch an art thief in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It turns out that Marvin’s style is remarkably similar to that of Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer.
Children who enjoy The Cricket in Times Square will enjoy the unlikely friendship between James and Marvin. Chasing Vermeer fans will be intrigued by the twists and turns of this suspenseful art forgery caper. I booktalked this is October and it continues to be a popular request. Recommended for grades 3-6

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

FOUND by Margaret Peterson Haddix is going to be one of this year's favorites. Adolescents (and adults) will really like the plot to this story. It's intriguing and mysterious. Like Haddix's Shadow Children series, this new series of books, The Missing, is going to be very popular among readers. FOUND is the first book in the series with the next book, Sent, coming out in August. The story begins with a plane that appears literally out of thin air, though this isn't the only mystery...the plane has 36 passengers - all toddlers. There was no pilot and no crew. Interested? I thought so. Once you start, you will not put the book down. It's just that good.

The Calder Game by Blue Balliett

The third book in this series finds the three friends in “The Button’s” seventh grade class and no longer students of the beloved Ms. Hussey. While they get to go on a field trip to see the fabulous retrospective exhibit of the work of sculptor, Alexander Calder at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, “The Button” allows no notebooks or pencils, takes Calder’s pentominoes from him, and dogs Tommy whom she has decided is a troublemaker. Seemingly adding to their misery is the fact that Calder will be leaving to go to England with his father for a time. After only a few days in the little town of Woodstock, both the boy Calder and a Calder sculpture mysteriously disappear. Chaperoned by Mrs. Sharpe, Tommy and Petra are brought to England to help Walter Pillay find his son. Tommy and Petra make peace with each other in order to find Calder and soon realize that the two disappearances are related and the townspeople of Woodstock are more involved than the police seem to realize. The discovery of a broken piece of one of Calder’s pentominoes leads to his rescue and the three friends are united as the Calder sculpture is returned to its place of honor in the town square.
Strengths: Balliett continues to give the reader very real children and adults in exciting plots with the added benefit of the author’s passion for art and artists thrown in. The author’s sense of place is also very strong evoking village life in England as well as the grandeur of Blenheim.

Recommended grade levels: 5-8

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

1- A shape shifting 1000+ year old snake imprisoned in a clay jar far beneath the earth imagining finding her missing daughter when she is released.2- A bitter, scarred man set out to kill a giant alligator.3- A gentle make-shift family of a chained hound dog and a mama cat and her kittens who live carefully underneath the man’s ramshackle house.Three wildly different stories are artfully woven together like a tapestry to tell a gothic Southern tale about what love can do for the human spirit.This is an animal tale at heart that tugs at your heartstrings. The fantasy elements blend in as though your grandmother was exaggerating one of her favorite tales from long ago.In the beginning the chapters of each character are so short it’s difficult to keep the reader interested. However, as the mystery begins to unravel, the reader begins to imagine how each story could possibly be connected. Patience is a virtue while reading this yarn.