Quick Facts
- Release Date: October 22, 2016
- Page Count: 124
- Publisher: Prodigy Gold Books
- Kindle Unlimited? Yes
The plotline of this children’s book was engaging and enjoyable to read for both adults and children, and the book incorporated relatable animal protagonists, promoting animal welfare. The title of the book and the intended lesson on the concept of serendipity was extremely clever.
Synopsis
Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat is the seventh book in R.F. Kristi’s Inca Cat Detective Series for children. When Inca the cat goes on vacation to Sri Lanka with her family, she learns that a valuable sword has been stolen from a local museum. She immediately puts on her detective hat and starts looking for clues.
She and her siblings, Fromage and Cara, befriend a local sea turtle named Rani, and a baby elephant named Meena. The museum has asked Solo, a human that is friends with Inca’s mom, and his dog Terrace to come help recover the artifacts. With Terrance relaying information from Solo, and Rani and Meena knowing the lay of the land, the group works together to find the sword and solve the mystery.
Review
Serendipity Mystery: Diary of a Snoopy Cat is appropriate for children between the ages of 7-12 (Grades 2-6) and reads like a short chapter book interspersed with pictures. I enjoyed how the book started by immediately introducing the main character, Inca, and her detective agency, Inca & Company. It would allow a child to familiarize themselves with the premise of the book before reading too far into it.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was the relatable content and valuable moral lessons for kids. The story is told through the eyes of Inca, the snoopy detective cat as she travels with her animal friends. I think this allows children to see themselves as the characters and promotes animal welfare by teaching them to treat animals as they would humans. It would help kids understand that animals have personalities and feelings just like humans do. Inca also learned a few important lessons at the end of the book: it is important to share the credit with others, and working together is more fun than working alone.
I also feel the overall theme of serendipity, which appears in the book’s title, is clever as it is not explicitly explained to readers. I can see parents or teachers using this book as a tool to introduce the concept of serendipity and relating it to the events of the story.
The one aspect of this book I thought could use improvement was the pictures. I did not feel the pictures added to the story. While they were clearly professionally done, it seemed that the overall reading level of the book was tailored to an older children’s audience than the pictures were appropriate for. Additionally, one or two of the pictures seemed out of place as they did not relate to the text around it; however, this might be a formatting issue associated with the Kindle application.
I also felt some of the vocabulary may be a bit advanced for the intended age group. Words such as trishaws, utterly, and contentment may need to be explained to kids in more detail. That being said, I do not think that the inclusion of difficult words would hinder a child from understanding the book and it would likely grow their vocabulary.
Summary
I am giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. The plotline was engaging and enjoyable to read for both adults and children and the book incorporated relatable animal protagonists, promoting animal welfare. Additionally, I felt the title of the book and the intended lesson on the concept of serendipity was extremely clever. If the pictures had complimented the story better and added to my understanding or enjoyment, I feel a 5-star rating would be appropriate.
Although this is the seventh book in the Inca Cat Detective Series, it can be read as a stand-alone book.
Link to Author’s website: https://www.incabookseries.com/
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