Grab The Case Of The Time-Capsule Bandit (Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective, #1) By Octavia Spencer Digital
read this right after Liar amp Spy by Rebecca Stead, Both are aimed at age groups, I thought it would be very interesting to hear the writing voice of the versatile actress Octavia Spencer, and it was a fun mystery, well written and cleverly put together.
However, when held up against the power amp messages in Liar and Spy, there is just no comparison though Spencer's book deals with similar issues, Liar and Spy wholly eclipses the Ninja Detective stylistically and emotionally how resonating amp affecting the reader and in about every way.
Here's hoping Ms. Spencer's terrific idea for a series gains in wisdom amp depth with the next in its series, Octavia Spencer . . actress AND author!
This is a cute, simple, quick read that is great for middle school students, It's fast paced and provides the reader with a fun journey,
The characters are decent with a little character development,
The storyline is great and will be easy for younger readers to follow and understand, Octavia Spencer, Academy Awardwinner of The Help, started writing this bookyears ago, Her Hollywood mentor, Sandra Bullock, gave it a read and encouraged her to seek a publisher, With her new stardom, she found a contract with Simon amp Schuster, and the second in the series will follow shortly,
Scooby Do enthusiasts will recognize the formulaic plot those meddlesome kids, bad guys in suits, the secret treasure and the wholesome reward at the end.
The chapters are peppered with inconsistent appendices activities that extend the action, Try this at home! an interesting idea that falls a bit flat in my view.
The best thing about this book is Spencer's attention to her heroine's emotional life, a recently deceased mother, a distant and preoccupied father, a move from urban New York to rural Tennessee.
She also finds an unlikely for rural Tennessee multicultural mix of friends, a Latino, an AfricanAmerican, and a Chinese nanny/daddy's girlfriend, Although the setting makes this a bit farfetched, it's nice to have multiracial representation, and having a number of strong women, including a female Sheriff, is refreshing.
The story itself is trite and nothing new, but the character development and relationships are worth a quick read, Recommended forrdth graders, Thanks to Ms. Spencer and SampS for the signed ARC, Engaging story, strong female lead tough but gentle hearted, urbanmeetscountry, widowed father, Randi helps the town by investigating the missing timecapsule and makes friends with two other town "outsiders" along the way, This a fun detective book for kids, Octavia Spencer reading her own book was fantastic, She really made the story come to life, Meet Randi Rhodes, the world's first ninja detective! Mystery abounds in this delightful new middle grade series from Academy Awardwinning actress Octavia Spencer,
Deer Creek is a small town whose only hope for survival is the success of their Founder's Day Festival, But the festival's main attraction, a time capsule that many people believe hold the town's treasure, has gone missing,
Randi Rhodes and her best friend, D, C. , are Bruce Leeinspired ninjas and local detectives determined to solve the case, Even if it means investigating in a haunted cabin and facing mean old Angus McCarthy, prime suspect,
They have three days to find the treasure the future of their whole town is at stake! Will these kids be able to save the day This book is a very interesting book, it is very mysterious and the details helped visualize what was happening Randi Rhodes is only twelve, but her black belt and the detective skills she got from her mystery writer dad make her a cool and competent defender of her Brooklyn neighborhood.
Unfortunately, her father is moving them to tiny Deer Creek, TN to die of boredom, As soon as they get there, someone steals the twohundredyearold timecapsule that was the centerpiece of the Founders' Day Festival, If the festival fails, the whole town will go into foreclosure, Randi and her new friends are on the case, A cute little mystery. The Ninja Tasks at the end are a fun touch, I seem to be on a bit of a mystery kick recently, I enjoyed this story of Randi Rhodes, a young girl that acts singlehandedly as a neighborhood watch, She follows in the footsteps of her favorite detective story heroine, who just happens to be written by her father, When her father decides to move from Brooklyn to a small town in Tennessee, Randi is resentful, That is, until the town'syear old time capsule disappears before it can be opened, Randi finds herself in a mystery with stakes higher than any other one she has solved, Can she risk taking on a partner or two It's always fun to dive into a new series with its fresh voices and unique approach, The Case of the TimeCapsule Bandit takes us along with Randi as she moves to smalltown Deer Creek with her mysterywriting father, She misses the big city and her secret crimefighting adventures, but there's a mystery afoot in the town, It isn't long before Deer Creek needs a ninja detective too! Although this book had some good talking points and perspectives, it also had kids breaking into a man's home without ever discussing that the action was inappropriate, lying to their parents, and easily defeating nine grown men in hand to hand combat.
Most of the book is presented as being realistic about what the kids can accomplish, but these things messed that up, I won't be sharing it with my kids due to the mixed messages, Randi is ayear old girl from Brooklyn, forced to move to a dinky rural town with her dad, She relishes challenges and mystery, and is dismayed to be stuck in backwater Deer Creek, until she is involved in the mystery of a stolen time capsule.
I really wanted to like this book, I really wanted to There are a lot of issues going on that I'm happy to see treated maturely in a kid's book death of a loved one, economic struggles, family conflict, bullying, gender bias, disability, etc.
This is good, but, in addition to other problems in this book, there are SO many issues going on that none of them got the time they needed, and some of them were just distracting.
For all its depth, some of the book was extremely juvenile, There was no subtlety about who was a good person and who was bad, And at one point threeyearolds beat upgrown men LOL, really,
In the end Randi and her friends solve the mystery, and then the sheriff shows up with the badguy arrested because she had figured it out too.
I do not get the point of this, but it really made all the heroes efforts pretty tepid when the local authorities had just solved the problem too.
What was the author thinking here
Some decent writing, some admirable efforts to incorporate important reallife problems, but overall a weak book that is just too all over the place.
by myyo. If you want to be a ninja and a detective this is the book for you! I want to be both and I learned a lot.
This Was So Much Fun To Read At Bedtime, I Even Got A Standing Ovation Afterwards, We Loved It!!! My seven year old picked the book purely because he liked the title, He said it was the perfect combination of two things he loves ninjas and detectives, Also, he loved that usually in the story the main character is the boys and he liked how in this story she changed it up and made it a girl.
His final enthusiastic observation was that three kids who were stuck somewhere they didnt want to be became friends and found that they actually kind of liked where they lived.
As a mom, this book was a huge winner, I started it as a read aloud we would read two chapters before school in the morning, After a couple of days my husband confessed he was reluctant to leave for work because he didnt want to miss out, Then I caught my son reading ahead, By the end of the book, he read the last few chapters out loud to me!
Thank you Ms, Spencer for writing such a great story that the whole family could enjoy, I loved that it showed a mighty girl without making boys look stupid, showed some sweet friendships, and the parents werent made to look foolish or overbearing.
Weve started on the second book with great enthusiasm and hope there are many more to come! I listen to this as an audiobook and Octavia Spencer did the narration and she did a wonderful job with the different voices and accents.
Randi Rhodes has moved permanently to Tennessee with her father, the exwriter of detective stories, Randi misses being able to solve local mysteries in her old Brooklyn neighborhood, but there is a new mystery to solve as timecapsule has disappeared and the Mayor is giving the Sheriff only a few days to solve the case so Randi and her new friend D.
C. form the Ninja Detective Agency to solve the case, Very much a Scooby Doo type mystery with those "meddling kids" solving the mystery, I would recommend it to children who like mysteries and are ageyears old, Great book to add to my mystery shelves! This is an interactive book because it has ninja tasks in the back that has recipes and other helpful detective tips.
It is the kind of book that everyone will love, There are no unrealistic or cheesy parts and it has inspired me to try Tae Kwon Do, I loved this book! Soon after Randi and her Dad moved to the small town of Deer Creek they attended the Founders Day Festival which included the unveiling of ayears old
time capsule.
Everything was going well until they discover that someone stole the capsule, Randi whos been dying of boredom decided to investigate because she loves solving mysteries and bring the culprits to justice,
The story is lighthearted but also full of emotion as you get to know more about Randis past and things her new friends and future partners in crime were struggling with.
I laughed so much and rooted really hard for Randi to find the capsule,
This story made me feel the way I used to feel whenever I read a Famous Five book when I was a kid, I absolutely plan on listening to bookand Im already bummed there arent more Randi Rhodes adventures published, I think this was really good for a children's book and it's pretty cool that Octavia Spencer wrote it,
.