Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

Precocious doesn't begin to describe 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, the heroine of this story - chemistry aficionado with a special interest in poison, youngest of three motherless girls, daughter to an emotionally distant philatelist father, amateur sleuth, and prankster.

The investigation into the murder of the man Flavia discovers in the cucumber patch is at the center of the story, and as with most English village murders, launches a chain of events that weaves together sins of the present with sins of the past. It is the summer of 1950 and the de Luce daughters are pretty much left to their own devices as their father dallies with his postage stamp collection behind closed doors in their family mansion that has seen better days.

Eccentricity abounds both within the de Luce household and in the folks of Bishop's Lacey (the local village). Within the genre of the English village mystery, author Alan Bradley has created a fresh and unique protagonist who, like many 11-year-olds, vacilates between adult and childish behavior. Too clever for her own good, Flavia manages to fall into and then extricate herself from one situation after another as she pushes the story to its conclusion.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is one of those books that can be read and enjoyed by both teen and adult readers. Flavia's desire to get to the bottom of things and to save her father from miscarried justice is at the heart of this puzzle. I look forward to Flavia's next adventure with great anticipation. This is a very satisfying story on every level.

Review: Subway Ride

Whether you live in a city with a subway system or are planning a trip with a child to a city where there is a subway system, Subway Ride by Heather Lynn Miller and illustrated by Sue Rama is a must read.

The author's perspective is that riding subways is a great adventure whether in your own country or in one of the 10 international cities that are featured in the book. Whether you're traveling in Cairo or London, Chicago or Mexico City, the similarities between subway systems are evident making the people who ride them seem familiar too. In this way, subways are an important part of each community and link communities together.

Fun facts about each of the subway systems are included in the back such as the longest escalator in the Western hemisphere is located in the Washington, D.C. metro at the Wheaton Station. It climbs 230 feet from the tracks to the street.

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