The Case of the Stolen Space Suit

Museum Mysteries #6

by Steve Brezenoff, Lisa K. Weber (Illustrator)

When the spacesuit of famous astronaut Sally Ride is stolen from a traveling exhibit, theres no shortage of suspects in Capitol City. Thankfully, Amal Farah, daughter of the Air and Space Museums head archivist, and her friends are on the case. But theyre running out of time and clues are hard to come by. Can they solve the mystery of the space case before the one-of-a-kind artifact is lost for good?

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Chapter Books, Middle Grade

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

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

[San Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am unsure if my first post went but just in case.. We loved the cover of this book and my kid likes a good mystery.. She is right now R.L. Stine Goosebumps all day everyday at the moment. I am looking forward to reading more of Amal and her friends adventures.. I love that she is a hijab wearing brown girl!!!

[BruisedBeans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent book, terrible ending, interesting beginning.

I loved the idea of this mystery thriller book of Amal and her friends trying to find Sally Ride, the astronauts, missing space suit.

But COME ON, a MAID who stole it was not a fun ending AT ALL.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This one was kind of silly, to be honest. It involves a bunch of people being mean to the kids for no reason (though thankfully not outright racist like in an earlier book) while they bumble around trying to come up with any clues or suspects, and then the solution makes little sense and there's no reason the thief would confess to them. The treatment of the Russian janitor was odd, too (aside from the inconsistent dialect in which her lines were written) — Amal wouldn't stop saying how weird she found her, while Clementine kept saying she was cute, which was a terrible way of treating a foreign character. I also did not like that Amal kept calling the security guard "Maggie" after the security guard explicitly stated that she wanted to be called Margaret. Definitely not one of my favorites in this series.

[Ingrid Hopkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I chose this book to read with my student from Morocco because the main character wears a hijab and is interested in science - all relatable to her. Other than the head covering though, there was no other sense of the character being Muslim - the story even starts with her father working late on a Friday night. Seems like boxes checked but no depth of identities.
The more startling and deeply disturbing characterization was of Mortimer Mordecai, a man described as short, unpleasant,with a shrill, breathy voice like a snake who says "nasty words" about Amal's father and is depicted in an illustration with an exaggerated hooked nose. These old, familiar anti-Semitic tropes have no place in children's literature and only serve to reinforce ugly stereotypes. Let's do better!

[Monica Hocking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me like this book very much! Me been interested in space, especially. Armstrong, me whole life! Me haved builded space models from me K'NEX sets many times. But as me stated before' me enjoy this series of books because you can easily pick-up new facts of history from being engaged in any of the stories. It broadens you knowledge by easily keeping you interested in what is going on in the book! And you no have to have long attention span.

[Becka Ramaglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is it a cute, basic mystery for young children to learn the structure of the mystery genre. This group of friends have a vested interest in finding who stole the space suit, because one of their parents will get in trouble. The book leaves the children to decide what to do with the culprit, and therefore we don’t know what happens because it’s open ended.
I feel like the clues could’ve been a bit more extreme, considering I didn’t feel they were overt enough to teach a student.

[Marci Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quickly read this book to help my niece with a school book project. It was fun and a great introduction to mysteries—A who-dun-it for 3rd graders. I enjoyed going over vocabulary words and feeling out if she could guess who stole the suit. And I really enjoyed learning more about Sally Ride along with her!

[Octavia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute and good mystery!!

I normall don't read grade school? Middle grade? books but the cover and the little bio of each character made me get it!

I'll do a full review soon, but I am so grabbing the rest of these!

[Sophie Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a 4th Grade level book that I read with my 5th graders. It was fairly good, but students got a little bit bored because the plot wasn’t super suspenseful like most mystery books. Definitely a great fit for 3rd or 4th graders.

[Karen Broughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

decent story aimed at 8 to 11 year olds. nice read

[Kathryn Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too sanitized for my liking, but has redeeming qualities that include diverse characters and the Smithsonian setting.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the diversity in this book!

[Jennifer Mundo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next novel for the fourth graders - easy to follow and understand. Diverse cast of characters and educational component which was appropriate and not pushy.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my daughter for her book report. An interesting kids book that throws in history and learning organically.

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hi

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stellar tween book, looking forward to the rest of the series. Diverse friend group both in backgrounds and interests. This book introduces readers to Sally Ride, the first American woman in space and talks about space, mysteries, and friendship.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the resolution was disappointing in the glossy over of a real crime, the fact that the diverse (though privileged) group of kids are amateur sleuths was refreshing. And the discovery that women have frequently been turned away from meaningful work in the sciences was important. Good for kids who have finished Ron Roy.

[Daria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diverse set of characters. Quick read. Solution seemed a bit far fetched.