Closed for the Season

"The Weather-Beaten Sign on the Gate of the Magic Forest Says Closed for the Season"

Bookworm's Ranking - 3 Worms

Storyline - When Logan moves to a new town, he learns that the previous owner of the house his family has moved into was murdered there. The case was never solved. As he and his new friend look into the mystery, they come across a message which leads them into another mystery, one where money disappeared from the old theme park, The Magic Forest, which closed years before. It was believed the murdered woman stole the money but the boys don't think so. As they follow the clues, they wrestle with lies and scary individuals to finally find the truth.

Author - Mary Downing Hahn

Publisher - Sandpiper, Houghton Mifflin Publishing

Age Group - 12 and up

Content - No swearing but several times a character mentions that someone else does. One of the main things the book teaches is that you can't judge a book by the cover because the characters do not follow stereotypes. Logan disobeys his parents and then doesn't get punished for it too much (well the first time he does, it seems like the mom goes over board and the second mentions him getting lectured but it doesn't seem to do much of anything. The mom is actually portrayed as an un-understanding, controlling woman). The boys also steal something.

Personal Opinion - The book had a good story but it seemed disjointed sometimes and didn't flow very nice. The kids disobeyed a lot and, when the mom freaked out about it, you ended up not really liking her. Yet, they were being naughty but everyone else made it seem like not that big of a deal. But the mystery that the author came up with was good and so was the set up for it. I was thankful there wasn't any ghosts in it which I feared when I realized the author also writes ghost stories (not really a ghost story person). Nice book but won't recommend it too much.

Video - (Not exactly a trailer but cool none the less)

Awards - Edger Award for Best Juvenile Mystery

Links - Lean more about the book and author at:

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