Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
I So Don't Do Mysteries
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Random House, 2009 ISBN: 978-0385736039
Sherry Holmes Bladwin has a problem. Her mother – a cop who died in the line of duty - has turned up as a ghost and she needs Sherry’s help. Apparently her mother needs to complete a mission before she can graduate from the beginner Prevent a Crime class in the Academy. The Academy is “an organization that trains ghosts to protect the living.” To be a member you have to have been a police officer, a firefighter, or a private investigator when you were alive. Unfortunately, though she was an excellent police officer, Sherry’s mother is having a hard time mastering her new role as a ghost. If she doesn’t complete her mission she will flunk out of the Academy all together.
Eager to have the opportunity to spend some one-on-one quality time with her mother, Sherry agrees to help her mother with her mission. All she has to do is to find out who is leaving “unauthorized banana treats in the rhino enclosure” at the San Diego animal park. The fear is that whoever is responsible is out to harm the rhinos in some way.
Soon after this first encounter with her mother, Sherry finds herself in San Diego and she sets about trying to find out what is going on at the animal park. There are plenty of shady characters around, and Sherry isn’t sure how she is going to find out what is going on. The situation is further complicated when Josh, a boy Sherry really likes, turns up on the scene.
Readers who like to read about ghosts and ghostly happenings are sure to enjoy this clever and often extremely funny book.
This is the first book in a series of titles about Sherry and her adventures with her ghost mother.
