Winston loves his puzzles and this book is full of them. He inadvertently stumbles upon a treasure hunt when he buys a present for his sister in a second-hand shop. Turns out the treasure hunt was devised by puzzle lover himself. There is a twist in the end, that puzzle lovers will probably see ahead of time. Along the way readers are treated to many puzzles. Honestly, they are mostly given in places readers can easily stop to solve, so they don't interfere with the story. ( )

An almost-perfect chapter book for kids in 3rd-7th grade. The title character is amusing and has the usual issues...an annoying sister, following directions at home, and hanging out with fun pals. He also has an insatiable urge and ability to solve puzzles. Each chapter has actual puzzles that the reader can solve as well, with answers provided in the back of the book. In this first book of three, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen, Winston finds himself in a group of adults trying to find a treasure possibly worth millions. The clues take him around town and interacting with a variety of characters. I was not expecting the ending to become quite so serious, but it wraps up nicely. I'm happy to know there are two more books to read in this series. ( )

Fun book combining the puzzles of Encyclopedia Brown with the long-form story like the Hardy Boys. It's aimed at the pre-teen set, although the younger end of readers (say, 7- or 8-year-olds) might find one scene where Winston's family is held hostage a bit terrifying. The book is filled with brain teasers, few of which have much relation to the plot. I look forward to reading the next two books in the series (especially for the humor of wise-guy Malcolm!).

I had two quibbles with the book, though. The first was that one of the final mysteries required remembering something written about in barely a single paragraph earlier in the book; that seemed a little unfair. The second I'll preface with spoiler tags, although I don't think I'm giving anything from the plot away: Late in the book, a letter is found, addressed to the four children of Mr Fredericks, except they are not listed in birth order -- instead, it's the youngest, who also happens to be the one child we know, followed by the others in birth order. That just seemed very strange to me. If I'm at the target age for this book, I suspect I would have noticed the first quibble, but I doubt I would have noticed the second.

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LT Haiku:

Kid-friendly book of
puzzles that takes place in a
town-wide treasure hunt. ( )

A really great series, tailor-made for the kids who like some adventure and puzzling with their reading. Solving the puzzles is usually not integral to the story but it's nice to "play-along." Love to handsell this one. ( )

Squeezing in one last book for the year!

Winston loves puzzles. A LOT. Enough so that there are several just dropped into this book, in addition to the ones better integrated into the story. I can see upper-elementary and lower-middle school readers enjoying this mystery, where Winston and his sister (and a few random thugs and the town's librarian) are searching for treasure. The extraneous puzzles don't slow the story up too much; it's enough that it's important to the character and that's why we're seeing it, but it gives the book a more obvious gimmick than just "hey, a mystery, with ciphers!" ( )