School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-A delightfully clever mystery. Winston Breen loves puzzles and finds them everywhere, including in the antique box he gives his younger sister, Katie, on her birthday. The siblings discover that it has a false bottom containing wooden strips with words and single letters on them. When two somewhat sinister strangers with their own wooden strips arrive looking for Winston, the boy realizes that the only way to crack the mystery is to pool their clues. A group that includes the town librarian, a giant ex-policeman, a young reporter, the two strangers, Winston, and Katie faces dangerous threats, mistrust, decades-old clues, and in-fighting as they set out on what turns out to be a treasure hunt. There is plenty of suspense to engage readers, who are sure to enjoy tackling the brainteasers and word games along the way. (A note sends readers to a Web site to download printable versions of the puzzles. Answers are included at the end of the book.) Recommend this to fans of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game (Puffin, 1992) and Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer (2004) and The Wright 3 (2006, both Scholastic).-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Starred Review Twelve-year-old puzzle addict Winston Breen notices brainteasers everywhere, even in baseball players' uniforms or the toppings on a pizza: "The only thing better than discovering a puzzle is stumping someone else with it," he says. But Winston is stumped himself when his younger sister finds a set of wooden tiles printed with random letters. Both siblings guess the tiles are part of a larger puzzle. Sure enough, they point the way to the town librarian's inheritance, but the holders of all the other missing pieces must agree to cooperate. This ingenious novel, which conjures up Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game and good old Encyclopedia Brown, peppers a classic treasure-hunt plot with nifty puzzles om familiar crosswords and word scrambles to number games. As one would expect from a professional puzzle creator, Berlin's puzzles are challenging yet satisfying, but they're also backed by a lot of storytelling flair. The author dexterously sustains the plot's momentum while leaving kids space to work things out on their own, and he shores up over-the-top aspects with nicely delineated characters, sharp dialogue, and an exciting twist. Readers both avid and reluctant will surface from this unusual mystery with their hearts pounding and their brains limbered up for more. Recommenders wary of overeager solvers may choose to circulate the book along with printouts of the puzzles, helpfully posted on the book's Web site.

Voice of Youth Advocates

The author creates a very entertaining blend of puzzle solving and mystery writing. Winston, an intelligent adolescent puzzle aficionado and the protagonist in this straightforward story, sets the wheels in motion by purchasing an old box in an antique store as a gift for his sister. A secret compartment reveals the long-lost fourth of a set of clues to the whereabouts of a local founding father's hidden treasure. Two clues are in the hands of somewhat unscrupulous treasure hunters, and the other is held by the town librarian, the last remaining descendant of the deceased. They must cooperate and trust each other as they travel the winding path around town, solving increasingly difficult riddles to find the hidden location of a valuable family heirloom. In a tale reminiscent of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game (Dutton, 1978), the characters stumble and bumble yet persevere through many unexpected twists and turns to an exciting conclusion. Several puzzles are thrown at the reader throughout the story, some related to the mystery, some not. Most are simple enough to figure out given an open mind and patience. (Answers are provided in the back of the book.) A few seem to be awkwardly inserted but are still entertaining for the avid puzzle devotee. Even the supporting characters are well defined and a narrow ribbon of humor runs throughout the plot and the characters' demeanors. Past readers of Encyclopedia Brown will particularly enjoy this upgrade to the higher elementary, middle school-appropriate reading level. Expect sequels to follow.-Kevin Beach.

Kirkus Reviews

For her tenth birthday, puzzle enthusiast Winston Breen gave his little sister Katie a decorative box with a secret compartment containing four curious strips of wood with numbers and letters. Their efforts to solve this mystery lead the two into a treasure hunt requiring them to cooperate with the local librarian and two unsavory strangers, under the supervision of policemen, an attractive journalist and Winston's helpful junior-high friends. The puzzle's creator, like Winston's father, wants siblings to share. Although Katie inexplicably is not a part of Winston's first meeting with the treasure hunters, and is consistently seen as a bit young for the action (which may annoy some readers), she plays an important part in the solution of one of the more complicated puzzles that make up the plot. Along the way, the author includes a number of relatively simple word and number games, some old and some new, for readers to solve. (The answers are in the back.) Both the children and the adults do learn to cooperate, an obvious message but one puzzle-loving readers may not mind. (Fiction. 10-14)