Description
Stumbling upon a secret library, two friends are sucked into a book and thrown headlong into a perilous adventure.

Cleo and Evan have to sit out recess in the library, when their librarian disappears moments after speaking with them, they go to investigate. But the magical library they find brings more questions than answers, as they discover notes from a past librarian who also disappeared, and are literally pulled into the story of a book. Can they solve a mystery to get home? And if they even can, will they find any answers when they get back?

Disclosure
I borrowed this book for free from our library system, it was provided for my personal use. There was no agreement with the author, publisher, or any third party that I would publish a review. The following review is unsolicited, unbiased, and all opinions are my own.

Review – Spoiler Free
I feel like books marketed to this age range tend to give way too much away, or drop in lots of humor for the adults, that kids totally don’t understand and end up getting confused by or asking questions about. Why does there need to be humor for the adult reader? If it’s a good book, shouldn’t it just naturally pull the adult reader along anyways?

I didn’t get any of that with this book – I hadn’t solved the mystery early on, and most things that a kid might not know are explained casually in text. (My favorite of which is when one character is confused about what a Red Herring is, assuming it is a fish, and another character explains it in a line that isn’t clunky and doesn’t mess with the story line. This example also makes me wonder if subsequent books will point out other story devises in similar ways, which I’d be pumped for.

Some other fun things are: good character development with hints at more depth coming in later books, and a full page image in every chapter.

One of my favorite things was that Evan and Cleo actually did something – they didn’t just get whisked off to some adventure and stumble through, flying by the seat of their pants without actually doing anything. No, they were involved in the adventure in intentional, thoughtful ways, and had a big part in how everything turned out. It’s a short, fast read and Luper was able to comfortably fit a meaningful plot in there.

This is advertised as appealing to 3rd and 4th graders, but I would totally read this to a 3 year old who is excited to listen to books. It’s also advertised as 3rd grade reading level – I have no experience with this yet, so I can’t add opinion to that. It could easily be compared to Magic Treehouse books with comprehension and reading ability.

I have very little complaints about this book. There is some teasing, but it is just playful banter between good friends. There was also one spot where I mixed up two minor characters, but it was easy to get them straightened back out.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it! I plan to read the rest of the series, and if they’re all this good, we’ll most likely be buying the set. ( )

Bold, active Cleo and her friend, shy, timid Evan, are very upset that their favorite librarian is gone. Ms. Hilliard has been replaced by mean, unfriendly Ms. Crowley and Cleo suggests something mysterious is going on. Evan scoffs until they discover a huge underground library and a magical key. It takes them back in time to Victorian England where they help a teen detective solve the mystery of the mysterious moonstone, a cursed jewel. Along the way they discover the meaning of the magical keys, some of Ms. Crowley's secrets, and the fate of Ms. Hilliard.

Black and white illustrations show dark-skinned Evan and exuberant Cleo transformed into Victorian dress and dropped down in the midst of a Sherlock Holmes atmosphere, including a mysterious Indian butler named Kumar.

On the one hand, this is a fast-paced mystery that kids will enjoy. It looks like the two protagonists will be traveling through history a la Magic Tree House and encountering various mysteries along the way. On the other hand, I thought the story was badly written. The writing was choppy, the dialogue stilted, and the characters stereotyped. Events happen and characters appear with little explanation or backstory. Additionally, there are some glaring historical anomalies - yes, it's a fictional story, but a girl and a dark-skinned boy couldn't just walk into high society with a teenager (why is Watson employed by the police anyways?) without a lot of questions and consequences. While I like the effort to add diversity to beginning chapter books, I don't like it coming at the expense of historical accuracy and whitewashing the treatment of minorities and women in the past.

Verdict: I'll keep looking for other chapter book series to offer my readers. I think time travel fantasy should be more historically accurate.

ISBN: 9780545822053; Published 2016 by Scholastic; Borrowed from another library in my consortium