Starting with a great cover and back story, this is definitely a fun read for kids. It’s short, quick, and it has the type of adventure antics brainy, nerdy kids would love to get involved with. This story involves an intricate scheme to steal valuable art, and the adults are fairly clever. They’re no match for the Twisted Oak Amateur Detectives, though, even if the kids can’t seem to get their strategy right at every turn. From falling out of trees to crashing supercharged wheelchairs, the detectives manage to work their past their foibles and eventually face their adversaries. Each of the detectives possesses a distinct skill, and pooled together they make a formidable squadron of crime fighters.
Although I feel young readers would never notice my minor critique, I am a college professor, a writer, and critique many manuscripts and papers. I think The Phony Farkleberry features what nearly all books contain, my early offerings included, and that’s too much prose where it’s not needed. “Less is more” is an old axiom, and I think it would hold true in some parts of this book.
All in all, though, I think kids would eagerly read this book, and the other Twisted Oak Amateur Detectives books as well. If you’re brainy, nerdy, or picked on because of those attributes, you’ll find the adventures of these kids very enjoyable.
I was given a free copy of this book for an honest review.