Friday, December 7, 2012

Signed by Zelda by Kate Feiffer

While I was on Nantucket Island I spied several picture books by this author Kate Feiffer (she is from Martha's Vineyard) and I knew I would enjoy her books so I ordered this chapter book for my Kindle and began to read.  One night later I lifted my head.  Start here with the web site - it has a tantalizing little video introduction to this book.

Grandma Zelda goes missing.  Lucy is learning the art of handwriting analysis.  Nicky her neighbor  grandson of Zelda, is an isolated boy who is lonely and suspicious but he must trust the pigeon that lands on his windowsill and Lucy if he is ever going to solve the mystery of his beloved relative.

"Lucy planned on becoming the world's leading expert on handwriting. She'd be so sought after that someday the FBI and CIA, and Interpol would contact her with their most mind-boggling cases."

"Nicky hadn't grown in two years.  After his mother had moved to India, he'd stopped growing. It was like his body had decided to stay the same height until she came home, only two years later she still hadn't returned, which meant Nicky was the same size as most nine-year-olds and the shortest kid in his class."

The ending of this book is a little rushed but the flashbacks and diary style format with alternating viewpoints held my attention.  Read more about the plot here.  One more thing there is a yummy pie recipe in this book which I am planning to make. It contains blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and huckleberries.  My copy of this book also had a handwriting test and some interesting details about the author's inspiration for this story.

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