Catherine Nichols

A small coastal town in Maine finds its peace disrupted by "the Trasher" -- someone who keeps knocking down garbage cans and stinking up the whole neighborhood. Siblings Maddie and Atticus are on the case, determined to find the culprit. Meanwhile, a pod of dolphins have been showing up along the coast, and the brother and sister start to form a bond with them.

This was a really cute chapter book, simple and sweet. The mystery is a completely non-scary one, but it still has some twists and turns. As an adult, I guessed the culprit very early on, whereas my 10-year-old niece figured it out closer towards the last few chapters. Since she's more of the target audience, her opinion counts more here and she enjoyed the book. The plotline with the dolphins will really appeal to animal lovers.

Sprinkled throughout the book are nonfiction facts about ocean life, from types of boats to tidal creatures. This was interesting and informative, but I found the placement odd. Sometimes the facts made sense with that part of the story and sometimes they seemed a little more random. But more to the point, these page spreads often came in the middle of a chapter or even the middle of a sentence! They would have been more effective as asides at the end of each chapter.

The watercolor-looking illustrations marking the story's progression are fine but not strictly necessary. The factual information is accompanied by stunning full-color photographs, which are nice addition. Indeed, with all these breaks in the text, this short book will fly by even quicker, making it perfect for relatively beginning readers (i.e., those who have graduated beyond early readers but aren't yet ready to tackle a 200-page novel).

The book makes some nods toward diversity, especially as seen in the illustrations. The biggest thing to note in this regards from the text itself is that the siblings are being raised by a single father. (Of course, while seeing single parenthood represented is good, the reality is that there are far more single mothers than fathers, even though literature shows the opposite. Oh well.)… (more)