The Name Of This Book Is Secret (2007)

I purchased this book for .99 cents on my Nook Color. It was a worthy purchase. The narrator was phenomenal, and I found myself laughing out loud a lot. He does an excellent job of building suspense because he turns the whole story in to one big secret—a secret so dangerous that he can’t tell you where it takes place, who’s involved, when it happened, or what the secret is—and by the end of the story, you STILL won’t know what the secret truly is. Be prepared to invest some serious time in to this series, because I get the feeling that you won’t really find out the facts of the story until the last book, and I actually think the author just released another book in the series.

I have no doubt that you will fall in love with Cassandra and Max Ernest, Cassandra’s 2 grandfathers, Benjamin, the mysterious magician whose name I won’t divulge at the moment (those aren’t the characters real names. The author refuses to tell you their real names because he doesn’t want to put them in danger). They’re all excellent characters—quirky and funny.

Overall, if I was 10 years old I would have gobbled up these books. I don’t know if I’ll continue with the series just because I’m a little weary of series right now, but if the Nook Color decides to put the second book up for .99 cents, I’ll be sure to buy it.
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Cass is always looking for a disaster, and when one finally comes along she really shines as a heroine. The birth and growth of her friendship with Max-Ernest is one of the best parts of the book. This book is kind of like cheesy pasta with vegetables snuck-in. The author includes a lot of "nutrition" in what appears to be a candy-bar book!

Listened to Scholastic Audiobooks Playaway edition narrated by David Pittu. A fun read-alike for the Lemony Snicket books, this has the same sort of arch narrator with footnotes and asides, intrepid child heroes, puzzles and codes and such. I'm not sure how well the plot would hold together on a re-read, but this is solid commercial fiction. Pittu does a fine job with the narration, particularly with the villains, different voices for all the characters complete with accents as needed (and with one particular character it turns out they're needed a lot!). It's clear by the end that there are more mysteries to be unraveled and there will be more books, but the events of this one are tied up so that the ending is satisfying. The print edition includes full page illustrations at the start of each chapter by Gilbert Ford which contain bits and pieces of the story which are fun to look for. There's also a glossary of magic terms included that is not part of the audio. ( )

A cute enough middle reader frolic, with some good ideas (the Symphony of Smells) is a fine example. It didn't have much in the way of character identification or emotional punch for me, but it's a fast book and probably satisfying for readers in its target demographic. ( )

11-year-old misfits Cass and Max-Ernest find a mysterious box, The Symphony of Smells, filled with vials and an encoded plea for help. And from there, their troubles begin: an eccentric magician has been killed, a classmate kidnapped, and Cass is getting scolded on manners whenever she tells the principal what clues she has. An engaging mystery-adventure, though with a writer insecure in his own cleverness; he instead tries too hard to be the next Lemony Snicket. Fourth walls aren't just broken but demolished while the writer begs us to notice just how funny he is, and how much of a risk he's taking by sharing this awful, tragic story. Here's a book that will find readers; don't expect it to stay a secret in the 4th-6th grade set.

(Apologies for the formality! I've been reading official School Library Journal-esque book reviews all day.) ( )