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A Carmen Sandiego Mystery
The Cocoa Commotion
Junior detectives Maya and Ben travel back in history to stop that elusive thief, Carmen Sandiego, from stealing the very first cocoa plants, a mission that takes them from a Mayan settlement to the moon. Original.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
6 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Wiley
29 books377 followersMelissa Wiley is the author of The Nerviest Girl in the World, The Prairie Thief, Fox and Crow Are Not Friends, the Inch and Roly series, the Martha and Charlotte Little House books, and other books for kids. Melissa has been blogging about her family’s reading life and tidal homeschooling adventures at Here in the Bonny Glen since 2005. She is @melissawiley on Twitter and @melissawileybooks on Instagram.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 31, 2020
I came across this title searching for books to include in LEARNING WITH CHOCOLATE (A Homeschool Curriculum for the Whole Family). I started the story but then put it down not sure if I was going to complete it. -- My husband picked it up and read it in one sitting, so I gave it another chance.
SUMMARY: The mysterious Carmen Sandiego -- the greatest and most elusive thief in the world -- has outdone herself! Carmen and her henchpeople have managed to go back centuries in time to steal the first crop of cocoa plants. And that means chocolate will never exist! In fact, folks in the present have already begun to forget what chocolate is....ACME's baffled Chief sends junior detectives Maya and Ben back in the ACME time machine to check things out. Their first stop is a Mayan settlement in A.D. 600. From there they follow clues through time to Europe and America..and even to a moon colony in the future! Can the determined duo stop Carmen before chocolate -- a food that changed history -- is nothing more than a sweet memory?
The story line is OK -- the characters are a little flat -- the chocolate facts are significant but few -- and how does one get to a moon colony in 2242 if you don't know that it will exist -- It does emphasize that the original chocolate was very bitter something that us sugar added chocolate lovers would find hard to drink. There was a passage somewhere stating that slavery workers on plantations no longer exists (which isn't true). The names of Carmen's henchpeople are very creative and I didn't get them at first (had to read the aloud several times to hear the behind the words intents) i.e. Hammond Swiss, Dee Molish, Hal E. Luya, and Sarah Nade. The illustrations were fair but really didn't add anything to the story. Plus I don't know if today's readers know who Carmen Sandiego is -- makes me want to YOUTUBE the old tv game show -- Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
NOTE: My copy of the book had a different cover and the author's last name was Peterson not Wiley.
SUMMARY: The mysterious Carmen Sandiego -- the greatest and most elusive thief in the world -- has outdone herself! Carmen and her henchpeople have managed to go back centuries in time to steal the first crop of cocoa plants. And that means chocolate will never exist! In fact, folks in the present have already begun to forget what chocolate is....ACME's baffled Chief sends junior detectives Maya and Ben back in the ACME time machine to check things out. Their first stop is a Mayan settlement in A.D. 600. From there they follow clues through time to Europe and America..and even to a moon colony in the future! Can the determined duo stop Carmen before chocolate -- a food that changed history -- is nothing more than a sweet memory?
The story line is OK -- the characters are a little flat -- the chocolate facts are significant but few -- and how does one get to a moon colony in 2242 if you don't know that it will exist -- It does emphasize that the original chocolate was very bitter something that us sugar added chocolate lovers would find hard to drink. There was a passage somewhere stating that slavery workers on plantations no longer exists (which isn't true). The names of Carmen's henchpeople are very creative and I didn't get them at first (had to read the aloud several times to hear the behind the words intents) i.e. Hammond Swiss, Dee Molish, Hal E. Luya, and Sarah Nade. The illustrations were fair but really didn't add anything to the story. Plus I don't know if today's readers know who Carmen Sandiego is -- makes me want to YOUTUBE the old tv game show -- Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
NOTE: My copy of the book had a different cover and the author's last name was Peterson not Wiley.
Displaying 1 of 1 review