Mystery Mansion: A Seek-and-Find Puzzle Book: Seek-and Find Puzzle Book

From Publishers Weekly Garland (An Elf for Christmas) fashions his computer-generated artwork into a visual puzzler leading to a surprise birthday party. After receiving an invitation from his eccentric Aunt Jeanne, Tommy finds successive notes that lead him through her mansion, into a maze in the garden and finally to cake and guests. Readers are invited along for the ride from the start (Aunt Jeanne's letter instructs them to "Take a pencil and paper/ And carefully look./ Make a list of the things/ That you find in this book"). The rhymes may be forced, but the hunt is the main draw. Garland hides several hundred objects in the illustrations, from butterflies, bats, frogs and more in the statuary and shrubbery, to letters that spell out clues. The surreal quality of Garland's digital illustrations works well here, allowing for an abundance of repetitive elements and lush layering of wallpapers, textiles and so on that play up the trompe l'oeil effect. Heightening the game is the fun-loving Aunt Jeanne herself, hiding in each display. An afterword provides a checklist of all the hidden items. Ages 5-11. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. When Tommy goes to visit his Aunt Jeanne at her mansion, he finds a series of notes that are clues to an unnamed puzzle meant to be solved by Tommy and the reader. From School Library Journal Gr 2-4-Children who enjoy poring over crowded pictures and cataloging details will have a ball with this new offering from the creator of Dinner at Magritte's (Viking, 2001)-though only the truly indefatigable may be able to stay the course. Directed by a series of rhymed notes from his mysterious Aunt Jeanne, young Tommy undertakes a tour of her palatial house and gardens, passing hints and visual clues that he will have a surprise birthday party at the end. The big, brightly patterned rooms and locales he traverses are positively encrusted with small animals (more than 400, according to the itemized list at the end), plus hidden words, a trio of magical creatures, and often a concealed Aunt Jeanne watching his progress with a smile. Garland doesn't try very hard to camouflage this plethora of birds, butterflies, reptiles, and other creatures, but even young detectors trained on Ruth Brown's If at First You Do Not See (Holt, 1995) or Walter Wick's dazzling photographs for the "I Spy" series (Scholastic) will find keeping a running tally, then matching it to the author's, a tempting challenge.John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. About the Author Michael Garland is the prolific and versatile author-illustrator of many children's books.