The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case

The Stanley family is off to Italy thanks to an inheritance left by Molly's uncle (which is just mildly implausible) and because of Amanda's bragging about her rich father, they get kidnapped (which is more implausible). Fortunately, however, the Stanleys are terribly fun to read about with genius six-year-old Janie, and the four-year-old twins, neat-freak "Tesser" and possibly supernatural Blair. They are ingenious and courageous in a scary situation, which young folks will enjoy reading about, and I, at 30 years of age, could not put down.

A good novel for middle-grades and fun, light story for younger YA readers. The family dynamics described in The Headless Cupid have progressed toAmanda accepting her step-family and revealing some inner angst of her own about being loved..
Some of the adventure is more than a little implausible, but the character development is interesting plus an excellent vehicle for understanding a young teen's worries. I have a quibble though: considering that kidnapping is a serious crime, the emotional tone of the story is too bland; and why do David's perceptions dominate the narrative, instead of Amanda's?

I wasn't overly impressed by The Headless Cupid, but this looks like fun.
It was.

I never know what to expect from Snyder. For example sometimes it seems like she's being more careful to communicate, whereas other times she's more obscure and makes the reader not only figure out some things, but guess at others. Specific example, the character of Blair. I wanted to get to know him better after the first book. Thankfully, in this one, she told us a lot more about him.

This is interesting in another way. It's an effective joining of two stories, really. The first part is about the family discovering Italy, and I really liked it, though some kids might get impatient for the adventure promised by the title. Then the adventure begins, and show more it's more humorous than anything (because we know, of course, that there will be a happy ending). It's just thrilling enough for the reader to feel shivers and have interesting dreams, not terrifying imo.

I think that if you're interested you would be glad to make time for it.
(it's short, and you don't need to read the first book first). show less

A great sequel to The Headless Cupid. Continues the wonderful characterization of the 5 Stanley children. An enjoyable adventure.