Review Detail

THE MONSTER MAKER is the first book in the Solve Your Own Mystery series, a kids mystery series where you are one of the detectives working on the case. Through a choose-your-own-adventure style narrative structure, kids are able to choose what actions they want to take and who they want to question.

The setting for this book made it a lot more wacky and fun than other mystery books. It’s set in the town of Haventry, but you work on the shady side of the town. The side that has vampires and witches, you even have a yeti boss. The addition of monsters and supernatural creatures allows for more possibilities with the mystery while also just providing a lot of fun and jokes. It even plays into one of the endings in a heartwarming way. Also, there are puns, references, and word play in this book as well. They might go over some kids’ heads, but parents might enjoy their additions.

The mystery itself is fairly well crafted. It’s not an overly complicated mystery, especially since this book is meant for 8–12-year-olds, but it does have multiple suspects who would all have a reason to want to steal the Monster Maker. There are also no dead ends in this book; each piece of the story either leads to an ending or to another piece that will lead to an ending. For a mystery aimed at kids, that is a solid way of having the story flow. And I found that it didn’t really interrupt the story to have it happen that way either. The story continued to flow well, and the pieces connected very cleanly.

There are images scattered throughout this book and they are fantastic. It allows the chapters to feel a bit shorter, and it provides images so that readers can connect what is happening on page with the images. A bonus that wasn’t necessary but definitely added to the story.

The length of the chapters in this book is one of its highlights. None of the chapters are very long, though some are definitely longer than others, which could make this book a great bedtime story or book to read with kids when getting ready in the morning. Small snippets of a story that ends with the kids having to make a decision on which path to follow.

THE MONSTER MAKER is a fun book that puts the reader in the spot of the detective as they try to solve the mystery of the missing Monster Maker. With a vibrant cast of characters, beautiful illustrations, and no wrong choices; this story is a great choice for children looking for a mystery.