Maisy and the Missing Mice, from Elizabeth Woodrum (The Maisy Files #1)

Hello, again! So, I decided to try to review a book per day until I catch up with myself. Of course I can’t promise anything, but trying is important, right? 🙂

I’d like to talk today about a lovely middle grade mystery that I received from Lola Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review: Maisy and the Missing Mice, the first one in The Maisy Files series, from Elizabeth Woodrum 😀 Thanks so much for my review copy! Let’s do this 🙂

*Oh, I’d like to take a moment to explain why I have a lack of bookish pictures on my reviews lately: I haven’t got a second alone with my iPad to take nice pictures. My parents are always using it, 24/7, and now that I’m back to work I don’t have a single moment of the day in which I have the damn tablet all for myself, haha! I’ll try to take some decent and pretty pictures this week before they get home 🙂

Maisy Sawyer has two passions on her life: mysteries and cherry lollipops. Even being only a fourth grade student, she is considered her school’s professional detective and always helps people solving their mysteries… In exchange for cherry lollipops, of course!

At first, the robbery of the school’s mice seemed just another regular mystery on Maisy’s schedule. But it all became personal when the thief, The Black Boot, decided to also steal Maisy’s cherry lollipops collection. That just went too far.

Now it’s not only a matter of helping the school getting their mascots back. The Black Boot went too far and made it personal. And Maisy Sawyer never left a mystery unsolved.

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

This book was insanely cute. It was so refreshing to read a so well-written children’s book! ❤ I won’t lie, the mystery is really obvious, but I can really see middle grade students grabbing this book and reading it in one sitting (like I did) to find out who stole the mice and Maisy’s lollipops, haha! (like I did, because I needed to know if I was right, haha!) I had some small problems with Maisy’s behavior – she did things too right sometimes, to the point that it became unnatural for a kid on her age to have that level of awareness of her surroundings – but overall, it was a delightful read. Four stars ❤

The narrative is third person from Maisy’s point of view, which really works for the suspense of the mystery. I liked Maisy, she was a very cute kid and has a great future as a detective 🙂 Woodrum’s writing style was fluid and simple, but sometimes it felt too simple. For example, she would always use “but” instead of mixing it with “however” or any other synonyms and while I understand this is a middle grade book, a child can feel how repetitive it gets. I talk from experience, as I’ve been an assiduous reader since I learned how to do it, with the age of seven – ironically, I was the last child on my classroom to learn how to read, haha! But after I got the hang of it, I never stopped, oops!

The plot was good and well executed. The mystery wasn’t that complex – it is a middle grade book, after all – but I liked that the author didn’t make it too easy too. I think a child can solve it too, but nothing is outrageously obvious 🙂 I was highly satisfied with all the technical aspects of Maisy and the Missing Mice!

Now, let’s talk about characters. While I really appreciate that Woodrum didn’t treat Maisy as a naïve and vulnerable child just because she is young, there were times in which Maisy’s maturity was beyond forced. I get that she tried to “teach” children what they should do, but it’s from the young nature to be impulsive and reckless. I was a mature child myself and even so, I did impulsive and reckless things all the time and my mom would end up fighting with me. My point is, I missed a little this natural aspect of a child in Maisy.

On the other hand, there is this scene in which Maisy’s classroom is leaving for their break and Maisy sees some children with their coats on and suddenly decides she wants her coat too. While I think this is perfectly normal behavior among children, it felt forced on Maisy, because she was so decided and couldn’t care less for what her colleagues and friends thought. Contradictory much?

Anyway, even with those small problems, I still loved Maisy and the other characters. They were overall very real and relatable, as we saw little habits that make people who they are 🙂 Veronica, her best friend, was lovely ❤

Overall, if you like a good mystery for children or is looking for a good middle grade book – who knows? – you totally should give Maisy and the Missing Mice a try 😀

Thanks so much for reading my review ❤ Also, thanks again to Lola’s Blog Tours for sending me my review copy!