Book Review: Art Attack by James Ponti (The Sherlock Society #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Wonderful characters, good mystery overall

Cons: Pacing could have been better

The Bottom Line:

Tracking a “writer”

Can these kids find any clues?

Kids will devour it

Hunting for a Graffiti Artist

While I seem to have dropped most of the middle grade authors I was reading for a while, I’ve stuck with James Ponti.  It helps that my nephew loves his books.  The Sherlock Society isn’t my favorite of his series, but I do still enjoy checking in with the characters, and book three, Art Attack, just dropped.

The main characters in this series are all in middle school.  Alex Sherlock is our narrator.  The Sherlock Society is made up of his older sister, Zoe, and their friends Yadi and Lina.  Rounding out the society is Alex and Zoe’s grandfather.

As this book opens, the friends have just been hired for their first case.  A developer wants to have Funky Munky, graffiti artist (or graffiti writer, which is their preferred term), do a mural on their new building.  Just one problem – Funky Munky has kept their identity a secret for the year that they’ve been tagging buildings in Miami.  But it’s hard to turn down the money, so the society takes on the case.  Will they be able to piece together some clues?  Or will Funky Munky remain elusive?

This series uses one of my least favorite literary devices, which is to start with something exciting or surprising and then flashback to how we got there, leaving us hanging until the very end.  I find it makes me impatient waiting for the story to catch up to that moment.  It doesn’t help that this book has quite a bit of information about graffiti culture in the early chapters.

Speaking of graffiti, that was an issue I had with the book in general.  Yes, we do eventually hear that it is bad, but that seems like an afterthought.  When, guess what, it’s vandalism.

Anyway, I was impressed with how the plot unfolded.  The kids piece together some genuine clues to figure out what is going on, and there are some entertaining twists along the way.  Unfortunately, I think one plot point was left dangling, which bugged me but might not bug the target audience.

One thing I love in all of James Ponti’s books is the relationship between the characters.  We can feel the friendship between the kids, which has grown since the first book.  And the parents are responsible parents, too, not just people who let their kids do whatever.  Oh, the kids still find danger, but it’s treated appropriately.

Overall, I did enjoy Art Attack.  And I’m sure the middle grade audience will devour it.