4 out of 4 stars
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Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat is another adventure with Inca the detective cat and her furry family as they embark on another mystery-solving journey.
Inca was on holiday with her owner, known as Mom, her siblings, Fromage and Cara, and their lovable hamster friend, Charlotte. They were having the time of their lives, playing by the beach, and eating stuff that Mom would normally not allow them to. They also made some new friends like Meena, the baby elephant, and Rani, the turtle. Pretty soon, news about a robbery at a museum in Colombo hit their ears. A valuable, antique sword and some other valuables had been carted away from the museum. Their friend, Terrance, the detective doggy, and Solo, his owner cum detective partner, were called into town to investigate. However, Inca's snoopy nature kicked in, and she enlisted the help of her family, and all her four-legged friends to uncover the identity of the thieves and recover the stolen treasure. How they went about their investigation was what made this book worth the trouble.
The first thing I liked about this book was that it was written from Inca's perspective. It was presented in the form of Inca's daily journal entries, a format I did not realize at first but got to appreciate as I read further. I also liked the fact that the story lived up to its standalone promise. Being the seventh book in the Diary of the Snoopy Cat series, it did not rely on information from prior books to be completely understood. I also liked that the book started with a short introduction to the characters I needed to know to understand the book. Sure, a few characters from other books in the series were mentioned, but they remained on the fringes of the story.
In the book, the author, R. F. Kristi, also made sure to drop some cultural and historical knowledge. An example was when she revealed the status of Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its rich history and well-preserved ruins. I found it an interesting piece of information to put in a children's book.
The book's illustration was rich and accurately conveyed the message of the story. The author also flexed her powers of description in the book and she did it without losing the personal journal tone of the book. I also learned some interesting words like "blunderbuss", which is used to describe someone lacking the skill of stealth or subtlety.
I did notice about three errors in the book in the form of misspellings and punctuation misuse. However, they did not affect the flow or comprehension of the story in any way. As a result, I believe that the book was professionally edited. This was a really enjoyable read for me. I didn't find a single thing I disliked about this book, and as a result, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.
I agree with the author that this book is perfect for kids from the ages of 7 to 12. Parents and guardians do not need to be worried about their children and wards reading this book or any other book in the Diary of a Snoopy Cat series. If you don't enjoy mystery stories written for children or stories about animals in general, then this book isn't your cup of tea.
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Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat
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