Sometimes it’s a challenge for me to know whether to give books 5 or 4 stars. I had been giving this series of books 4, but I like them more than some of my 5 star books and I always knew I’d have given them 5 stars if I’d read them at the targeted reading age (at ages 9 & 10 and maybe 11, etc. they’d have bee among my favorite books) so I did go back and I changed my 4 star to 5 star ratings – these books really are great – 4-1/2 stars rounded up. For me all that keeps them from being a full 5 stars is that I do find the mixture of fact and fiction jarring. However; I do enjoy and appreciate the author’s note(s) at the end that say exactly what the facts are and what exactly was fictionalized, and the reader is given a wonderful mini-history lesson which I love.

I know Goodreads is adamant about not having half stars and having a 1 through 5 rating system. I’ve always been in favor of half stars. Even better, for me, because that’s how I think of things, would be a 0 or 1 to 100 rating system. That would be the very best system for me, and I do wish that from May 2007 on I’d put my 1-100 rating in the body of all my reviews and added it in the review field to rated but not reviewed books. I have too many rated books to do that now, especially because I don’t remember every single book well enough to give it the “right” 1-100 rating. Too bad though.

This book’s/series characters are great. All of them. Emily and James of course, and the other main characters, but also all the minor characters. I liked that Matthew had a major role in this book and wish that James was in it a bit more, but Emily as usual was great, as were many of the other kids and many adults too.

This book was so much fun for me to read – I felt back at age 9-11; a great escape.

I loved the included puzzles, and especially love the math. These books are great for math phobic kids and also probably great for reluctant readers too. And for both girls and boys!

If I’d read these at ages 9-12 I think I’d have learned to like math more. Except for learning the abacus in sixth grade and basic arithmetic in the very low grades, I didn’t like math until college, and even then only statistics. Here there is some basic algebra, and it’s presented in such a fun way.

As with the earlier books, I found bits a tad scary, but not too scary for middle grade reading.

I know San Francisco, and the 1962 Alcatraz escape (attempt?) freaked me out. I was 8 and really frightened. I was reassured that the three men probably drowned and even if they did make it to shore, they likely wouldn’t come to my area of the city. Probably true, but I remained afraid. Now that I know their crimes I’d probably have been a tad less worried. I’ve been on two of the Alcatraz tours, the first time with a friend and her mother when the tours were new/fairly new, and then again with a friend and her young niece, a different tour by then. I know that now they offer multiple tours and to experience them all it’s necessary to go many times.

I’m lucky to live in a city and area with many independent bookstores but I so wish that Hollister’s bookstore was real, and that I lived in that part of the city, very close to it. I love Hollister and his store.

The illustrations are charming and add to the story. There aren’t very many of them but I’m glad that they’re included. ( )