Snowize & Snitch: Highly Effective Defective Detectives

by Karen Briner, Victor Rivas

Overview

Ever attends the School for Children of Gifted Parents. Unfortunately, she has no idea if her parents were particularly gifted. They vanished without a trace nine years ago, and Ever now lives with the Doc, an eccentric inventor.
When the Doc, too, goes missing, Ever enlists the help of an unlikely pair of detectives: Harry Snowize, a once-intrepid spy, and Snitch, a dignified rat.
As the trio sets off to catch the diabolical mastermind behind a spate of crimes against ingenious humanity, Ever has her doubts. But she's about to discover that there's a whole lot more to these detectives -- and herself -- than meets the eye!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823436217
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	05/05/2016
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Karen Briner grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where her family garden was home to wild chameleons. After realizing she would never become an intrepid adventurer, she became a writer -- which is just as fun. She now lives in Los Angeles.

Victor Rivas lives and works in Spain.

Editorial Reviews

05/01/2016
Gr 4–6—A middle grade adventure that hooks readers right in the first chapter with a strong female character and a cryptic message from a crow about her missing parents. Ever Indigo Nikita Stein is enrolled at the School for Gifted Children of Genius Parents—even though her genius parents are missing and presumed dead. She is pulled into an adventure when her guardian, legendary Doctor Professor David Ezratty (otherwise known to students as "Scatty Batty Ezratty" and the creator of invisible ice cream), goes missing and it is up to Ever to find him. With the help of the Highly Effective Snowize and Snitch Detectives (a onetime spy and a dignified rat), the characters, along with a "mean-spirited robot fridge," embark on a long journey through time to find all of Ever's missing relatives. Ever is a successful underdog forced to rely on her wit and humor and her oddball team as they race through an international quest to find the missing geniuses and capture the evil mastermind. VERDICT This is a fun, action-packed story for any fantasy/adventure reader.—Christina Pesiri, Michael F. Stokes Elementary School Library, Island Trees-Levittown NY

School Library Journal

2016-02-17
Hoping to find her lost guardian, Doctor Professor David Ezratty, 12-year-old Ever Indigo Nikita Stein teams up with a pair of detectives battling the forces of the evil ColdCorp Corporation. When Doc disappears, a crow from the future brings Ever a message: save the detectives. But who are they? Following a holographic message left in her guardian's laboratory, Ever solves this first mystery by going through a formerly forbidden tunnel that takes her to the office of Harry Snowize, in denial about his imperfect memory, and Snitch, a giant African pouched rat that communicates in sign language. These are the defective detectives. This elaborately constructed and bizarrely detailed adventure is full of slightly off-kilter references and scene changes. From South Africa to Zimbabwe, Japan, and Spain, and back to Cape Town, the unlikely trio pursues the problem of disappearing scientific minds. Occasionally they're joined by Doc's perpetually angry robot refrigerator. Ever has a useful photographic memory, but she also has an attitude problem of her own. Struggling in school, the sarcastically nicknamed "Einstein" believes she's "a magnet for bad luck." Briner plays with quest-adventure tropes, but it's the elaborate vocabulary and play with words that will appeal to her audience. Ending with a grand semantic twist, this convoluted caper even offers a satisfying solution to the mystery of Ever's missing parents. Finished interior illustrations were not seen, but the cover depicts Ever and Snowize as white. For able readers looking for the unusual. (Adventure. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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