Review by be45ne -- Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoo...

[be45ne]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat" by R.F. Kristi.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat (Inca Cat Detective Series Book 7) by R.F Kristi is a children's series featuring Inca a Siberian kitty who heads Inca & Company detective agency in London. Inca's detective team includes her two siblings; Fromage and Cara, two dogs and Fromage's best friend Charlotte. The family was on an enjoyable sightseeing Vacation at Sri Lanka when a comment Inca's human mom made on Monday morning while reading the newspaper spiked Inca's interest. Her team gets themselves involved with the stolen antique sword and valuable items case Inca heard mom talk of. Following the case, they learn that two men who assumed the position of policemen robbed the museum after keeping the security guard handcuffed in the basement.


I like how the author personified the whole story making the animals seem human. For instance;" Mom said that a mama elephant and her baby elephant lived in the estate next door to our cottage". I enjoyed the light-hearted conversations of Inca and the Sri Lanka locals, Rani the turtle and Meena the little elephant who lent a helping hand to Inca and her teammates. Aside from the story of Inca meeting a python in the forest which I think is a bit strong for children to read, the story is easy to follow and comprehend as a child since it leaves enough clues for solving the mystery. A typical example is the museum's CCTV photo that showed a scar on one of the thieves neck.


Nevertheless, I realized most of the picture drawings portrays abstract scenes in the story hence might be a bit misleading to the children. For instance, reading the Sunday afternoon chapter, they went to the shady patio as the sun was shining and had ice cream cones but the picture shows a Fromage holding an ice cream cone on the beach.


Though the central idea of the story is solving the sword robbery case, numerous scenes narrated their vacation routines. Children whose interest lies in a story's core objective might find it annoying to read since it drags the case long while filling in their vacation stories. In my opinion, the characters are cute and fun enough to capture the hearts of most children. I liked the modest humor used in the story. For instance, in Inca's first meeting with Rani on Monday morning. Rani thought Inca was a mermaid and asked if she would like to put on her swim fins and take a dip with her.


To my mind, this author's use of rhetorical questions was spot on. She used it to help readers relate to the emotions the characters were going through. For example, Inca's first encounter with mama elephant and Meena. Children can understand Inca's state of mind when she offered a ride on mama elephant's back through the rhetorical questions; "would I be crushed like a bug? would I be flattened like a pancake?" that she used.


Though the story is fun to read, in my perspective, the story deviates from the main topic and may get readers feeling impatient to get to the bottom 0f the story. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars and recommend this book for children ages 4-9. Older kids who enjoy fable stories may find this interesting.

******
Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like be45ne's review? Post a comment saying so!