The Mystery Monster

November 1, 2021
In nine brief illustrated chapters, readers meet purple-haired, information-loving, eight-year-old investigator-in-training Paige Turner, a self-described Fact Collector whose motto is: "If you can't prove it, it's not a fact!" Recently moved to Evergreen Street, Paige gets to know her new neighborhood ("When arriving in a new place, it is helpful to collect facts to feel at home") by making observations and talking with those she meets. Upon hearing the local legend about a monster on the street, skeptical Paige's fact-meter goes off. Her subsequent assertion about monsters not being real, however, is countered by her young neighbor Penn: "Or...they ARE real! They just have not been discovered yet!" Paige concedes the point and spends the rest of the book, with Penn, trying to gather definitive proof, yea or nay. Lively, varied, digitally colored pencil illustrations fill the pages, including singles, double-page spreads, panels, and more. The main text is easy to read, with notebook entries from Paige's "fact diary" and well-delineated speech bubbles helping to enhance the characters' personalities. Paige's methods are satisfyingly and accessibly scientific, and the mystery is engaging enough to keep readers guessing -- because, as we've learned, "all facts start off as guesses." Elissa Gershowitz

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
In nine brief illustrated chapters, readers meet purple-haired, information-loving, eight-year-old investigator-in-training Paige Turner, a self-described Fact Collector whose motto is: "If you cant prove it, it's not a fact!" Recently moved to Evergreen Street, Paige gets to know her new neighborhood ("When arriving in a new place, it is helpful to collect facts to feel at home") by making observations and talking with those she meets. Upon hearing the local legend about a monster on the street, skeptical Paige's fact-meter goes off. Her subsequent assertion about monsters not being real, however, is countered by her young neighbor Penn: "Or...they ARE real! They just have not been discovered yet!" Paige concedes the point and spends the rest of the book, with Penn, trying to gather definitive proof, yea or nay. Lively, varied, digitally colored pencil illustrations fill the pages, including singles, double-page spreads, panels, and more. The main text is easy to read, with notebook entries from Paige's "fact diary" and well-delineated speech bubbles helping to enhance the characters' personalities. Paige's methods are satisfyingly and accessibly scientific, and the mystery is engaging enough to keep readers guessing -- because, as we've learned, "all facts start off as guesses."

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)