Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno (and Alberta): Quivering Quavers: Book 5

The Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno and Alberta #5

by Ursula Dubosarsky

Perplexing puzzles, mind-boggling mazes and cracking codes feature in this series of stories about a pair of guinea-pig detectives -- Coco Carlomagno, the easily startled Chief of Police, and his more sensible cousin, Alberta.

Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Ursula Dubosarsky is an award-winning author of numerous books for children and young adults. About The Golden Day, her first book with Candlewick Press, she says, "The little girls watch, wonder, respond, change, and grow — and then their childhood is gone, forever. This element of the story, I suppose, is at least partly autobiographical. But, as I say — all of our teachers come home safe and sound in the end." Ursula Dubosarsky lives in Australia.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quivering Quavers is a picture book for kids by Ursula Dubosarsky, and illustrated by Terry Denton. It features a story about Alberta, who receives a message from her cousin, Coco, who is the Chief of Police in Buenos Aires. He needs help trying to solve a case about an opera singer.

This is the fifth book in the series, and you don’t need to have read the other books in the series prior to reading this one. It can be read and understood without having read others in the series. It’s a lovely book. There are puzzles for readers to solve. They get to visit the opera and meet the incredibly talented singer, who has been receiving some suspicious notes. The story is interesting, and I often enjoy these characters; Coco and Alberta. They have a lot of fun together, as well as getting to use their minds on solving the cases.

As per usual, the illustrations and puzzles of the book are the best bit. There are a variety of different types of puzzles, so readers are able to use their brain in several ways, in order to try and solve the mysteries of the book. Plus, there are little clues in the background illustrations, so readers can solve the bigger mystery of the book. There’s great work on the character visuals, and getting to see the sights of the book. Definitely a fun adventure!

Overall, I think it’s a good book and that a lot of readers will enjoy the story, as well as the illustrations and puzzles of the book. Both the author and illustrator have done really good work.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

More puzzles to solve in Book five, and the penultimate book in the series. Another little ride for the younger reader to puzzle their way through this book, and solve all the little conundrums.