I loved this little book! Marvin is a beetle. He lives in an apartment occupied by James, James' distant mother, his pompous stepfather, and his little brother, William, the only good thing about his parents' divorce. Marvin wants to do something special for James for his birthday and ends up experimenting with the pen and ink set James got as a gift from his artist father. As it turns out, Marvin is a brilliant artist! When James' parents find the picture Marvin drew, they assume, naturally, that James made it, and this leads to a series of events, ultimately involving the theft of a masterpiece.
I didn't know what to expect from this book, as it could easily have gone either way. Marvin was a very believable character (well, if you can get past the anthropomorphism). The story was, of course, a bit far-fetched, but it was so cute. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux or Chasing Vermeer. It started out reminding me of Beverly Cleary's mouse books, but the intended reader is, I think, a bit older than for those books, and the story is more complex.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that this was an ARC copy; Masterpiece is due to be published in September.
If you've reviewed this one, leave a comment!
This fills the "M" spot in the A-Z Challenge.
3 comments:
Okay, right to the wish list with this one! I loved both The Tale of Despereaux and Chasing Vermeer!
Yes, Debi, I think you would like Masterpiece! I did forget to say (and will go back and edit the post) that this was an ARC, and it won't be published in September. Good thing you, like me, no doubt, have a mile-long wishlist already!
This sounds great! I'll be looking out for it in September!
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