The Great Shelby Holmes

by Elizabeth Eulberg

[Berls]

I do not read much middle grade - I tend to be YA and up. But this one was strongly recommended and I got a copy for free so why not, right? It's short and will be a fast read.

Glad I went for it. The Great Shelby Homes was seriously cute and I could really see a middle grade reader enjoying it. The characters are relateable and the mystery was fun. Yes, I solved it super fast but I'm an adult reader and the mystery wasn't meant for my age bracket. I think the right age group would have a tougher time solving it, while still being able to, making it that much more fun for them.

Shelby is definitely Gifted and Talented and I love that she came with so many of the, sometimes annoying, eccentricities that can entail. And I loved that John Watson (who goes by Watson due to Shelby renaming him basically) struggled with finding her interesting but annoying, and realizing they could be friends just the same. He saw through some of her eccentricities and saw a girl who didn't have friends but could actually be a good friend. But it took him a minute to get there and to see her overtures of friendship. I thought that made this a particularly good book for kids, hopefully they could learn how to approach friendship with some "annoying" or "weird" kids from John.

I will probably eventually read more of the series. I might even consider reading this series to my Kinders. I don't think it's too advanced for them to understand and relate to -- and it would yield some good discussions about friendship too.