The Case of the Portrait Vandal (Museum Mysteries)

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 upvery good book for group discussion in schoolsThis book was given to me for review for Multicultural Children's Book Day 2016 and is being donated to a Minnesota school.

Among the worst mystery books I have read with my kids. My 8-and 10-year-olds knew the moment they introduced the character who the culprit was, and there was never even a portrait vandalized, despite the title of the book. Only flags, documents, doors, trees, etc. While the 4 main characters are interesting in a multicultural way, I have trouble believing this book was ever approved by a publisher. Very disappointed. I would certainly amend the age group you suggest for this book to far younger than 8-11 year olds.