The Case of the Portrait Vandal

Museum Mysteries #3

by Steve Brezenoff, Lisa K. Weber (Illustrations)

There's a vandal in the Capitol City Museum of American History, and he or she is intent on defacing priceless artifacts. Raining Sam, the son of the Head of Educational Programs and local Ojibwe tribe member, is determined to get to the bottom of things before anything else can be destroyed. But when Raining himself is considered a suspect, he and his friends must race against the clock to unmask the real culprit and solve the museum mystery before it's too late. Discussion questions, writing prompts, a glossary, and nonfiction resources continue the reader's learning experience long after this e-book ends.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction

128 pages, Library Binding

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Steve Brezenoff is the author of the young adult novels The Absolute Value of -1 and Brooklyn, Burning, and his third, Guy In Real Life, will be released in 2014. He has also written dozens of chapter books for younger readers. Though Steve grew up in a suburb on Long Island, he now lives with his wife and their son in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series has gotten progressively weaker since the first book, unfortunately. The mystery sounded interesting at first, but in contrast to the book's actual title, no portraits were vandalized; mostly someone painted mean words around the museum, some of which weren't even in my son's vocabulary yet. I found myself having to fill in details on the American history that was skimmed over, and then I had to fill in a lot when there was a pair of openly racist and Islamophobic characters whose ideas weren't explained or challenged, alongside a weirdly xenophobic side plot involving visitors from China. Everything was wrapped up extremely quickly, and the takeaway lesson seemed to be "These guys said some mean things but they learned their lesson so the kids forgave them." The reason they believed these ideas, and the entrenched power dynamics of a white adult spewing hatred toward racially diverse kids, were never touched. My son said he liked it in the end, but we'll see how the next one goes; we may be done with this series.

[Carolyn Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the diverse characters who work together to solve a crime the adults do not solve. Many historical facts are sprinkled throughout the text making this a multi-genre book with non-fiction and fiction working together to help bring history alive. They also have to deal with prejudice and hateful statements which offer rich classroom discussion opportunities. How would the reader have handled the situations? Would he or she have been able to resolve it happily as the book characters were able to do?
Recommend for ages 8 and up
very good book for group discussion in schools
This book was given to me for review for Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016 and is being donated to a Minnesota school.

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't quite work for me -- still like the diverse cast of kids and the reading level. Useful as a jumping off point to talk about prejudice. However, the final confrontation with the security guard just didn't read as realistic, and there were no real amends made for previous hurtful statements. Also, as much as the end of the book makes it seem likely that the accused boy was the culprit, he was never caught in the act, admitted anything or had any evidence linking him to the vandalism aside from proximity to damaged pieces. So in many ways, he was accused just like the other kids were, with no opportunity to answer the accusation. Troubling.

[Krissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Four young friends, whose parents all happen to be museum directors in “Capitol City,” find vandalism in different museum displays. Then their attempts to befriend the son of a new security guard are rebuffed. It doesn't take a genius to guess who the vandal is....

Potential Problems: Predictable, forced, and contrived.

I did not care for this book as its attempt at showing a diverse and politically correct and intelligent-beyond-their-years group of kids, who also love history, was thinly veiled behind a really lame story. This book is an insult to a child’s intelligence.

[KP · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried so hard to love this series, but with this volume, I finally have to admit defeat. The mysteries are painfully simple, and the kids seem to suspect anyone they see, whether or not it makes any sense. There is no real depth to the characters. This volume, too, had characters who were openly Islamophobic, and yet not only were there no consequences for their cruelty to Amal, the narrative also seemed to absolve the characters. I was disappointed, ultimately.

[Karen Broughton · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story, easy fun read.

[Joy Lane]

AR levels in the 4's. diverse characters,
just over 100 pages and has pictures
telling a story by solving a mystery