Freckle Juice

Goodreads Synopsis:    What’s a guy gotta do to get some freckles? This perennial bestselling favorite from Judy Blume has a fresh new look!

More than anything in the world, Andrew Marcus wants freckles. His classmate Nicky has freckles—they cover his face, his ears, and the whole back of his neck. But when Andrew asks Nicky where he got them, Nicky just says he was born with them. Some help he is!

That’s when Sharon offers Andrew her secret freckle juice recipe—for fifty cents, she promises, Andrew can look just like Nicky. His freckleless days are over! He rushes home to whip up the concoction. Grape juice, vinegar, mustard…

But what starts out as a simple freckle juice recipe quickly turns into something disastrous. Andrew is still determined to get his freckles, and to show that pesky Sharon that she doesn’t know everything—and he has the perfect solution! Or does he?

My Thoughts:

-    Gnome and I both liked this a lot. 

-    It was a cute and silly story, and I love how innocent and naive Andrew is. 

-    The illustrations were fun, and they matched the story well.

-    This is a great one if you want a quick fun read with your kid.

The Westing Game

Goodreads Description:  This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, which involves blizzards, burglaries, and bombings. Ellen Raskin has entangled a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.

My Thoughts:

-    There are a lot of characters in this book, but it isn't too bad keeping track of everyone and knowing who is who, especially after they've been paired.

-    I love the mystery!  The gears in my head were turning the whole time trying to figure everything out, but I couldn't!!    

-    Well done and clever story!  Great characters and a captivating plot.  I loved every moment!

-    The perspective changes from character to character, but I liked being able to get inside all of the characters heads and find out how they were piecing the clues together.  

-    I want to play Clue now.