Mariella Mystery Investigates The Curse of the Pampered Poodle by Kate Pankhurst (Children's, 7 years +, 9/10E)

 144 pages, Orion Children's, 144 pages, Paperback,  Review copy

Themes: friendship, mystery club, curse, school trip, museum visit, school sleepover, strange goings on, ancestors, poodles, clues, lots of thinking

 

Content: black poodles, unexplained goings on, scary stuff, humour

Summary from Orion

Mariella Mystery (That's me!) - totally amazing girl detective, aged 9 and a bit. Able to solve the most mysterious mysteries and perplexing problems, even before breakfast.

How will Mariella and the Mystery Girls cope when they're faced with the Mystery of the Cursed Poodle?

Nayuleska's thoughts

I have to point out that I found this a scarier read than most because I intensely disliked aka hate black poodles. They freak me out, so reading this story had me nervously turning the pages not just because of the ghostly goings on, but because I didn't know what I would see. That's why this doesn't get a perfect grade.

I love Mariella's pjs that you can see on the cover! Other fashion favourites include the bunny slippers and the sleeping bags, which Mariella and her friends look comfy in. Their bond of friendship is sweet to watch, they look out for each other, and try to solve mysteries which show up in front of them. I tried to figure out how the mysteries happened, but was stumped and rather surprised when the truth was revealed. I think staying over at a museum with school sounds like heaps of fun! I giggled at seeing Mariella's teacher in pjs and the mini-mystery of who stole Mariella's toffee yogurt. The numerous illustrations provided a lot of humour to this scary to me story.

Find out more on Kate's website.

Suggested read

Another fun read for 7 year olds which is not exactly a mystery but does involve pets is Pooch Parlour #1 V. I. P. (Very Important Pooch) (Children's, 7 years old, 10/10E)