Case Closed Vol. 63 - 2017 Book #3

Case Closed Vol. 63 by Gosho Aoyama is the latest installment in a graphic novel series that follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a teenage detective. In the first book, he follows some suspicious men but gets caught. They give him an untested poison and leave him for dead, but instead of dying, he is turned into a little boy. He goes by the name of Conan as he continues to solve cases, all while trying to keep his identity a secret and find the mysterious group known as the Syndicate to try and reverse the poison and get his old life back.

This book starts out finishing up a case started in the last book where they discovered a man who had been strangled in his car while driving. The time is ticking, because Jimmy has to solve it before Anita's mixture wears off and he changes back into Conan in front of everyone.

The next case happens when a food critic is poisoned at a revolving sushi restaurant where the Junior Detective League is eating. This is followed by a murder case at what was supposed to be a television quiz show as part of a final contest for a prize. I actually solved this one myself, which pretty much never happens, so I was pretty proud of myself for that one. 

The final case is about the Silver Witch who is known for racing people in the fog and leading them to their deaths. This one had a funny ending when the identity of the real Silver Witch is revealed.

I feel like this book of Case Closed had a much lighter feel to it. As always, it was a quick, easy read, with Conan showing off his amazing deducting skills and trying to guide the adults to the right answers, all while keeping his true identity a secret.

I've never really been interested in graphic novels, but I love a good mystery, and Case Closed never fails to deliver one.

The Hero of Third Grade - 2017 Book #2

The Hero of Third Grade by Alice de La Croix was illustrated by Cynthia Fisher. It is a really quick read, less than 100 pages with lots of space on the page and some pictures scattered throughout. This book was a cute story about a boy named Randall. His parents just separated, and he and his mom just moved to a new home. He hates his new school and doesn't know that he will ever fit in, since the school year is well on it's way and everyone already seems to have their own friends.

Randall watches a movie with his mom the first week of school and gets the idea to be the Scarlet Pimpernel at school - a hero who does things in secret. He begins writing secret notes to people signed with a red flower stamp. He still has no friends, but he starts to enjoy going to school, constantly looking for things he can do as the Scarlet Pimpernel.

This story includes all the things you might expect from an elementary school story including class bullies, group projects, and homework, as well as others to keep things interesting like pet trees, a monkey, a thief, and a runaway dog.

I really enjoyed the message of this book. When Randall stopped thinking about how terrible his life was and that he wasn't going to ever make friends and started looking for things that he could do to help people, he started enjoying school and it started looking like things were going to be okay.

Spirit Animals Book 6: Rise and Fall - 2017 Book #1

After a long break from blogging, I'm trying to get back into it. This blog is changing to add some other interests of mine, namely my three boys and teaching ideas, but I will continue posting about books I read. I have done a terrible job this year at keeping track of the books I've read so far this year, so I'm just going to pick it up with one of the more recent ones and go from there.

The first book for this year is Spirit Animals Book 6: Rise and Fall by Eliot Schrefer. This book follows Meilin, Abeke, Rollan, and Conor after they have been separated following a devastating betrayal at the end of book 6. This book is full of action. The story isn't complete without sacrifice, escape, cunning, a heart wrenching death, and yet another surprising act of betrayal as the Greencloaks race to retrieve another talisman before the Conquerors - this time from the Great Beast, Cabaro, a giant lion out in the middle of the desert in an oasis guarded by attacking ostriches, fierce lionesses, and other animals who have congregated to join the Great Beast in his sanctuary. I do have to say, the ending is quite terrible, leaving the group of kids wondering if they have any chance of succeeding.

I enjoyed this book. It flowed nicely, made me want to keep turning pages, and was a quick read. However, it didn't have as much of the light-hearted humor coming from Rollan, due to the events from the last several books weighing down on him. Things were a lot more tense as the whole group has been under pressure for the whole length of the series, and things are nearing an end that could be even more catastrophic than events that have happened so far. Because of this, everyone else is more serious as well.