Searching for A Starry Night by Christine Verstraete

Searching for A Starry Nightby Anonymous

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June 30, 2008: I really like reading mystery stories. It is also my belief that for young people to read good mysteries written for their age level not only is a pleasant pasttime but also may help them develop critical thinking skills. They can search for clues in the plot and try to find the answers that will help to solve the problem. Having grown up with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, I think that author Christine Verstraete has provided a worthy addition to this genre with Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. Samantha Ann Carlton, better known as Sam, and her friend Lita, both age 13, go for a week with Sam's mother Grace to settle up affairs at the Wisconsin home of Grace's Aunt Hilda, who was a professional artist and art collector but had recently passed away at the age of ninety. Grace plans to donate most of the Aunt Hilda's miniature paintings to museums, but while there, they find that one of the paintings, a miniature reproduction of The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, is missing and was replaced by a cheap imitation. Sam and Lita, who enjoy sleuthing, set out to find the lost piece of art. There are three main suspects: Mrs. Ursula Drake, the crabby housekeeper Mr. Jensen, the mysterious gardener and Emma Taylor, a local librarian, all of whom were taught painting by Aunt Hilda. The book follows the activities of Sam and Lita, accompanied by a mischievous dachsund named Petey, as they investigate and ends with a surprise conclusion. It is well written, very exciting, and hard to put down, especially with the spooky old Victorian house, stories of an ancestor who died while burning the barn to exorcise demons then was said to have been seen as a ghost, scary goings-on at night, and a lot of suspense. In addition to being a nice story, it has a great deal of interesting and educational information about art in general and specifically about miniature paintings. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing it in bookstores.