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The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (a division of Penguin). $16.99.

I'm going to be honest here. Mr. Eric Berlin is no stranger to me. In 2006-07 he served on the judging committee of the Cybil Award's Middle Grade Novel category. He has a blog of note and I often steal his postings when they're particularly choice. It would logical for you to think then that because of all this I might be more inclined to like his book than I would that of your average anonymous joe. As far as I've been able to ascertain, however, the opposite is more often true. I have a very very hard time reviewing the books of anyone I've come into contact with. Certain authors and illustrators may publish and publish until they're old and grey but if I know them personally and don't think their work is superb, I will not immediately. A book must actually be good, if I know its creator beforehand. Hence, the following.

When adults start reminiscing about the books of their youth, they can grow eloquent in their praise. Amusingly, when those same adults starts comparing said books to the ones coming out today, they are in very great danger of suddenly contracting a case of Old Fogeyism. “Why when I was a kid we had GOOD mysteries. With lots of clues and puzzles and clever dialogue. We had ‘The Westing Game’!” (slams down cane) “I’d like to see you whippersnappers come up with a book like that today. Hah!” If that sounds like you (or, rather, the 108-year-old part of you that comes to life whenever the subject of “kids today” crops up) then I have good news. It's good news for actual honest-to-goodness child readers as well, now that I think about it. First-time newbie kidlit book author Eric Berlin (a crossword creator for The New York Times) is a fan of puzzles. Such a fan, in fact, that he’s worked them into the narrative of, “The Puzzling World of Winston Breen.” You have an old-fashioned treasure hunt on the one hand, puzzles galore on the other, and some fun dialogue, memorable characters, and an action sequence or two just for spice. Hard to resist.

Twelve-year-old Winston isn't like a lot of other kids out there. He loves him his puzzles. Mind games, riddles, crosswords, you name it. So it was only logical that when his little sister Katie discovered a hidden puzzle in the old antique box he bought her, she thought he put it in there on purpose. The two siblings soon learn, though, that there's more to these three wooden pieces than immediately meets the eye as they find themselves involved in a real life treasure hunt. Glenville's richest resident Walter Fredericks died years ago, and now his puzzles have reemerged. That means that Winston and Katie need to solve some puzzles alongside an ex-cop, a librarian, two untrustworthy hooligans, and a news reporter. The only problem is, someone else wants the reward at the end of this game. Someone who's willing to do almost anything to get it. Along the way, readers can solve puzzles alongside Winston, checking their answers in the back of the book.

I liked how the novel framed the book in such a way that Winston was trying to puzzle out the real life mystery (i.e. Who broke into a local librarian's home and threatened her?) alongside the real puzzles. It's kind of a pity that Winston doesn't figure out the villains before they reveal themselves. It's always good to have a proactive protagonist. Berlin makes up for this missing piece though by then allowing his hero the chance to solve the book's central mystery instead. Still, the last line of the book would have made a little more sense if Winston exhibited crime-solving as well as puzzle-solving skills. I do love that this is a book that requires that kids get actively invested. Besides the puzzles themselves, Berlin foreshadows his action nicely with a newspaper article near the beginning of the book that mentions various robberies that later turn out to be our villain's work. And I’m pleased to say that I didn’t see the real villain of this book coming until it was too too late. I don’t know if Mr. Berlin means to lead you astray, but a guy who can fool a child and an adult reader has his elements firmly in place.

Berlin's particularly good at keeping potentially dark elements kid-friendly. At one point the local librarian has an out-and-out breakdown when Winston shows her something by accident. But how do you justify that kind of a reaction without suggesting that the victim (in this case, a librarian) has had something terrible happen to her. Berlin instead explains that it would be easy to harass someone. "Phone calls in the middle of the night, notes left in the mailbox, perhaps a stone tossed through a window. Small, nasty things that individually would mean little, but taken all together could make someone very afraid." It's a clever way to convey darker elements without compromising the appropriateness of the narrative.

Now the stats. Total number of puzzles/riddles I successfully solved in this book: 3. Not that I tried to do every single one, but of the ones that I did try, I only got three. I liked the sheer variety of puzzles in this book, to be honest with you. Some are skewed easy and some are skewed very very hard. One puzzle on page 68 is "explained" in the back of the book, but the explanation ends up being just as difficult to understand as the original question itself. Still, the thing about the book is that it has something for everyone. True puzzle fans will be adequately challenged and for those kids who don't know the answers immediately there's at least one or two they might be able to stumble through. It's funny to say, but this book awakened a kind of visceral thrill whenever I flipped to the back to read the solution to one question or another. It was as if I was reading an old Encyclopedia Brown novel, with the answers just waiting to be looked at in the back. Visceral thrills such as this are not cheap.

Berlin's careful with his details too. It used to be that a villain could kidnap a hero and you'd truly feel the kid was in dire straits. Now we live in a cell phone age. Some authors ignore the contraptions. Others work solely in the genre of historical fiction. A cell phone is a recipe for disaster when it comes to dramatic tension. That's why clever authors work them into the plots, flukes, flaws, and all. For example, at one point Winston is in a bit of a pickle and he manages to get his hands on a cell. Unfortunately, he's underground at this point and that means he's not getting any reception. Slick storytelling uses these kinds of complications to their advantage.

A librarian’s motto mimics that of a Boy Scout. We try to be prepared. If someone comes up to me and asks for books that are similar to their favorites, I need to have a complex array of smart sounding titles in mind to recommend instantaneously. And until this moment in time I was empty in a particular area. If someone, a fan of Ellen Raskin’s, “The Westing Game”, came up to me and asked for similar books, I would have been stumped. Stumped and perhaps inclined against my will to recommend “Chasing Vermeer”. Berlin’s book maybe isn’t on the same level as Raskin’s, but it’s probably more fun to read anyway. Clever kids will adore it. Mediocre kids will enjoy the treasure hunt. And those children that only like non-fiction reads will probably skip all the narration and just solve the puzzles. Nothing wrong with that. This book offers quite a lot to an array of different readers. Definitely worth a peek.

On shelves September 20th.

Notes On the Cover: I'm going to give a thumbs up to this one. You may remember that artist Adam McCauley did the new Wayside School covers, so this seems an appropriate match. He's worked in elements of the book that are consistent with the narrative. Interestingly enough, I'm having a bit of trouble with the title, and I think I've pinpointed why. The phrase "The Puzzling World of Winston Breen" is not dissimilar from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Which means that when I'm discussing this book in polite society, I have a tendency to refer to Winston as Walter. But that's just me.

Other Reviews By: Jen Robinson's Book Page.

The Theft and the Miracle by Rebecca Wade. Katherine Tegan Books (an imprint of Harper Collins). $16.99.

Mystery watch 2007 continues unabated. The latest entry for possible inclusion in my Great Mysteries to Watch Out For: “The Theft and the Miracle” by Rebecca Wade. This one had a lot of built in potential. The possibility of supernatural elements. An appealing heroine. Suspense. Fear. An unnameable threat. And for at least half the story I was on board. The book has a lot of promise to it, but delivering happens to be another matter entirely. In the end, you’ll agree that while Rebecca Wade deserves to wield a pen, her fledgling effort cannot sustain the weight of its own narrative. A great premise and set of ideas that ultimately falls apart.

There’s nothing out-and-out wrong with Hannah’s life. Let’s get that straight right now. I mean, she’s a little overweight and her skin isn’t all the fabulous. There’s are girls in her school that are prettier and more popular that she is, but at least she’s got her best friend Sam by her side at all times. Yep, life is pretty normal for Hannah until the day she gets caught in the rain and shelters in a church to wait it out. The local cathedral is the pride and joy of the town, no question, and resting at its heart is a carved image of the Madonna and Child. Without realizing what she’s doing Hannah starts to draw the statue in a kind of trance. Then the next day the Baby Jesus is stolen and all hell (so to speak) breaks loose. Someone’s destroyed Hannah’s house in search of something. There are mysterious strangers following her. But most of all, the Baby Jesus is missing and Hannah, it seems, is the only person who can track it down. What she doesn't realize is that the mystery of the theft and the mystery of who Hannah really is are inextricably tied together.

Let me say right here that Hannah is a great character. She’s self-conscious like any and all adolescents (pre and post) but she still has a sense of humor. It is my personal belief that anyone who can realistically sustain their humanity through that particular age is someone worth knowing. Author Rebecca Wade knows how to use humor too. I was quite attached to sections where Hannah’s in the church and sees “strange modern signs, which seemed to be warnings against exploding lunchboxes but in fact were only forbidding flash photography.” Plus there are lots of great ideas in this book. You can say a lot about a character by showing rather than telling. For example, Hannah has drawn the big brother she never had (because her mother miscarried) for years. “… she had drawn him many times, at each stage in his life, or rather the life he might have had.” And heck, how many children’s books can you name off the top of your head that casually discuss the word “Satanism”? I’m sure that if this book weren’t so unapologetically Christian (that comes up later) selections of this sort might have been cut out. As they stand, they’re there but mighty unexpected.

Wade sets up her mysteries fabulously too. There’s a rather believable section that requires Hannah and Sam to decode a seemingly ordinary notice posted on their school’s wall. Plus the reason why Hannah is being pursued by creepy unknown characters is believable. Yet while Wade sets up her mysteries well enough, she just doesn’t know how to solve them. There’s nothing wrong with the set-ups in this book. It’s the explanations that come later that are a bit garbled.

Consider this a bit of a spoiler alert for anyone who’d rather not know the rest of the tale.

It’s the book’s tone, you see. It’s off. You think you’re reading a fun realistic mystery story and then you get sideswiped by a ton of religious meanings and goings on. About the time I ran across an odd fellow sporting a card that said, “Gabriel Jones. (Arch.) Practical Assistance Offered In All Areas. No Job Too Great,” I was incredulous. Wait… what? I mean, sure there was a mild miracle in the very first chapter of the book. But about the moment Gabriel (uh-huh) shows up the story is suffused in angels. I have nothing against angels, of course. Madeline L’Engle made them worthy kidlit fodder. But you can’t just start throwing angels into a book out of the blue. It feels, in a way, like the book has split itself into two. The first half is this cool mystery with possible time travel and subtle supernatural elements. Then the second half is blatant, with angels waltzing about the joint and the plot falling apart. Besides, I don’t know how some people are going to feel about the villain saying stuff like, “I can show you the secrets of the great masters. Leonardo, Michelangelo, they knew the mystic power of darkness.” Really? Did you really want to go there? In this book the Wiccans can be cool but Michaelangelo’s the spawn of the devil? Didn’t he, I dunno, paint the Sistine Chapel? That’s the problem with the villains you find here. They draw inspiration from the oddest sources.

Speaking of the villain, this is another problem with the book. You’re never quite sure what they're trying to achieve or what power is being bandied about. You see, much of this story centers on the fact that Hannah unknowingly has a broken finger from the Christ statue. And if the stolen Christ child statue gets its finger back then it’ll be bad for the good guys because…. no idea. Because then the villain wins, I guess. At one point the antagonist is taunting Hannah and offering her the usual power beyond that of mortal men, etc. But this isn’t Darth Vader offering Luke the chance to join him. You knew what that was all about. Here the villain offers vague powers to a girl who doesn’t really need them anyway. And then, AND THEN, when we get to the end of the book the Christ child statue has…. wait for it…. cured Hannah’s acne. So odd.

“The Theft and the Miracle,” started out strong and then just sort of slowly collapsed under its own weight. It’s a real pity too since I was looking forward to having a new mystery to pump up to my library patrons. Just between you and me? I think Rebecca Wade has loads of talent. She just needs to reign her expansive ideas in a little and focus more on what makes a novel interesting. She’s perfectly competent on characters, dialogue, humor, and foreshadowing. It’s just the plots that need some wrangling. Here’s me looking forward to her next book then.

Notes on the Cover: A curious marketing ploy. First of all, the same cover for this book was used in both the British and American publications. It isn’t the original image, however. A quick glance at the galley shows the same image, but with one significant difference. In the ARC, just under the title, an image appears of the Madonna and Child. The Madonna is doting, but where Baby Jesus should be there's only a bare blank outline and white gap. It's kind of cool and I wonder now why it was removed. Maybe the publishers were hoping the original picture could tap into residual "DaVinci Code" goodwill. Then, as time went on, they decided that tying this book into a distinct religious image might limit its potential audience. Maybe. There’s always the fact that mysterious guys in cloaks always make for good covers anyway. I do like the final result. Mary and Jesus made a nice touch, but this was the cover I felt drawn to in the bookstore.