Middle Grade Review: Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest

Title: Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest (Shirley Link #3)
Author: Ben Zackheim
Publisher: Independent. 2013, 120 pages
Source:  Purchase

Publisher's Summary:
Shirley Link loves pirates. Well, she loves the idea of them. She wouldn't like them if they were running up the street stealing bikes. But digging for treasure and swashbuckling adventure are on the top of her to-do list. So when a clue pops up that there's a hidden pirate treasure under her hometown, Shirley gets to work.

In Shirley Link & The Treasure Chest, the third volume in the critically-acclaimed Middle-Grade Mystery series, our heroine takes on her biggest challenge yet. But this time the stakes are higher than ever. If she fails to find the treasure, or if it ends up being a hoax, then Shirley's elderly neighbor, Mrs. Smiley, will lose her home to the bank.  


My Review:  
Before I begin, a disclaimer: I have an on-line acquaintance with author Ben Zackheim, and have shared space in the BookElves Anthologies with him. As always when reviewing the work of people I know, I have tried very hard to be objective and honest.

This is the third volume of the Shirley Link series (see reviews of The Safe Case and The Hot Comic), and I continue to be impressed with the series. This book runs a little longer than the first two, but it's still a quick and easy read for kids who are good readers and ready for a more sophisticated story, but don't want to be at it for weeks.

In the first couple of volumes, I found my only real criticism was that Shirley's ego can get a bit much. In this book, while she continues to value herself and her ability at least as highly as is deserved, she seems also to have discovered a bit of humility and humanity. It's a good addition to her personality. The interactions between Shirley and her friends Wiley and Marie are good, with the trio moving into slightly more mature interests and tastes--and conflicts.

This book also left me feeling as though Shirley is learning to care more about other people than herself. Her work has always been for the good of the community, but this time I felt like she really cared about the people, not just "winning."

The mystery is sound for the age range (it ends up being more puzzle than mystery, which is fine), and the writing is clean, strong, and impeccably edited.

My Recommendation:
This series continues to provide great reads. Shirley is the spiritual heir of Nancy Drew, but in many ways more like Cam Jansen--and is a great choice for kids aging out of that series. The books are written for older elementary school children, and don't talk down, but they are short, quick, and without violence. Reluctant readers will find the book easy to get into and through, and accomplished readers may enjoy the break from longer books.

FTC Disclosure: I purchased Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

KidLit Blog Hop: Shirley Link and the Hot Comic

Title: Shirley Link and the Hot Comic

Author:  Ben Zackheim

Publisher: self, 2013.  107 pages

Middle-grade detective fiction

Summary:

Shirley's back, and this time the principal has retained her as an extra precaution to safeguard the first edition of The Avengers comic #1 which has been loaned to the school library for display. Since it's worth a million dollars, he's understandably nervous about it.  It takes Shirley no time at all to discover someone is determined to steal the comic, and even who it is.  Foiling the plot is the harder part.

Review:

This was a quick, fun read, but I just wasn't taken with it the same way I was with the first of Shirley Link's cases (The Safe Case).  Several things contributed to that.  First, I was put off by the device that has Shirley narrating most of the story while dangling from a chain thirty feet above the street.  That seemed a bit hard to swallow.  It also created the difficulty that while most of the story is told in past tense, the last two chapters are present tense.  

None of that really matters, especially not to a kid reading the fun and gently exciting story.  More of a problem, I think, is that Shirley's friends, Marie and Wiley, get pretty short shrift in this one.  I was hoping for more development of an interesting three-way friendship, but felt a little let down.  Without more input from them, Shirley's ego can get a bit much.  And she keeps a few too many surprises back, not sharing her plans or insights, so that the reader can't reach the same conclusions she does.

Lest it sound as though I didn't like this, I hasten to add that I had a good time reading it, and can definitely recommend the series.  Any kid who likes the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Encyclopedia Brown (okay, or whatever the modern equivalents are, though kids are still reading those, too!) will enjoy Shirley Link, with her hot computer skills, extra-sharp observations, and at times self-deprecating sense of humor.  Actually, thinking about the way she uses her ability to really see stuff, Shirley Link might be Cam Jansen's spiritual heir, and is just about right for kids moving up from those easy readers.

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Full Disclosure: I purchased  Shirley Link and the Hot Comic  myself, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."