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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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I picked this up at a little free library on a walk with the dog as a super casual light read (a palate cleanser) between heavier books.
Rating: 2.5/5
Pages: 297
Started: 29 August 2022
Finished: 30 August 2022
Summary:
Jin Yi loves to watch the customers that come into her grandparents' bodega. Everyone has a story, and it's fun to try to guess strangers'. When she befriends an intimidating but kindhearted girl named Alex and a boy named Elvin who is hiding from the people who put his grandfather in the hospital, Jin is quickly swept into a treasure hunt. In their neighborhood of Harlem, people both good and bad are looking for hidden paintings created by a famous Harlem artist, and Jin and her friends are determined to find them before anyone else can use them for nefarious purposes.
Thoughts:
This was a very average young middle grade book. I don't really have any complaints--the art mystery was pretty basic, the characters and history the book covered were diverse (which I think is super important for books whose target audience is young enough to not be able to recognize an author's prejudice or lack of education). The characters themselves were pretty two-dimensional, but their relationships with each other and their commitment to justice were nice.
Overall, this book felt vaguely like a cheap Blue Balliett book for slightly younger readers. I'm not going to look for any more books by the author, but I'm sure the book would be a great fit for a first or second grader who goes through a lot of books.