Shelly's Book Blog

I was happy when I found out that one of the main characters of Masterpiece, by Elise Broach, is an insect. I like books about talking animals, especially those where the animals are not the traditionally cute and fuzzy kind. The rats in Elizabeth Winthrop's The Red-Hot Rattoons made rats kid-friendly long before Hollywood did the same thing with Ratatouille, and Lynne Jonell's Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat skates right along with that same idea. From there, how far is it, really, to an artistically gifted beetle?

Yes, in Masterpiece, Marvin the beetle in an artistic genius who surprises 11-year-old James with his exceptional drawing ability. Marvin and his family live in the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink in James's family's apartment. One night, Marvin uses the new pen and ink drawing supplies James received for a birthday present to draw a picture of the scene outside James's window. In the morning, James's mother thinks James is the artist, and things kind of spiral a little bit out of control from there to involve an art museum and the mysterious theft of a very old and valuable drawing.

This is a clever but not too complex little story and I liked it a lot. It was actually refreshing after reading Pepper Roux, which was so complicated it made my head spin.