BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Today we feature mystery- solver Kat Wolfe in a Jurassic Coast adventure involving dinosaur bones, mysterious deaths and crumbling cliffs. Review Panel member Daisy tells us what to expect in the latest instalment of Lauren St. John’s mystery series….
Book Title: Kat Wolfe Takes the Case (available here)
Author: Lauren St. John
Illustrator: Daniel Deamo
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
Publication Date: April 2019
Most Suitable for: Year 5/6
Reviewed By: Daisy Rizo, Year 6 Teacher & Key Stage 2 Phase Leader
Review
A fantastic addition to the Kat Wolfe series, Kat Wolfe Takes the Case is an exciting, fast-paced mystery that takes its readers on a compelling adventure along the Jurassic Coast.
From the very first chapter, readers are led into the mystery and intrigue of God-like medicines, mysterious characters and emerging threat. The story begins with an exciting prologue to the mystery with which Kat Wolfe soon finds herself entangled – one with dragon dinosaur fossils, crumbling cliffs and vague, eerie warnings.
Along with her best friend, Harper Lamb, Kat is determined to solve the mystery that has taken over their home of Bluebell Bay. Faced with an unexplainable death and a deadly unspeakable secret, the young detectives find themselves working hard to uncover the mystery that threatens everything and everyone they know.
The language is rich and woven beautifully to create a non-stop, action-packed adventure. At just over 350 pages, the story could easily be devoured in one sitting by eager, would-be detectives or read aloud as a class read, appealing to a vast range of readers with its suspense and thrilling mystery.
Author Lauren St. John’s second addition to the Kat Wolfe series is a celebration of traditional storytelling and is reminiscent of timeless classics such as Blyton’s Secret Seven or Famous Five.
With appealing cover artwork by Daniel Deano, and a beautiful seaside map of Bluebell Bay by Michael Reyes, the story also features a poignant Author Note where St. John highlights the dangers of poaching and the importance of animal and wildlife conservation. A fitting end to the story, St. John explains that though the mystery of Kat and Harper is fiction, many elements of the story are based on fact, educating the reader in the real dangers of poaching and ‘dinosaur bone thieves’.
A fantastic book – fast-paced, full of description that enables the reader to visualise each step the detectives take and with enough peril to keep the pages turning – Kat Wolfe is a must-have mystery series for any Upper Key Stage 2 classroom.
Curriculum Links: Rocks & Fossils
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You can order Kat Wolfe Takes the Case online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Daisy for reviewing the book.
