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Release date: December 9, 2008 | Age Range: 8 and up | Series: I So Don't Do... | Lexile Measure: 600L (What's this?)
SO HERE I am spending spring break in California with my best friend, Junie. Our chaperone is a teenager, like us. And soon I’ll get to hang out with the coolest, cutest boy in the Southwest. Life is so good.
Except I should tell you that I’m not actually in San Diego for fun. Even though I’m a normal person who likes normal stuff—friends, clothes, the mall—I’m supposed to be solving a mystery, one that involves a rhino heist and a crazy chef. And I have to do it because my supercop mom is counting on me. Did I mention she’s a ghost? A ghost who can make contact with only one person. Me, Sherry Holmes Baldwin. My mom is flunking out of the Academy of Spirits, and if I don’t help her, she’ll be banished to an afterlife for ghost failures.
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"Barrie lives in California with her husband and their four children. She's currently hard at work on her next book. Please visit her at www.barriesummy.com"
There are obviously lots and lots of gaps in this bio. Which is probably the way it should be. I mean, come on, you don't want to scroll through pages of boring facts about me. Oh, what was that? You'd like to hear a few odd ones? Did someone tell you I was odd? Perhaps one of my children?! You realize they have a very skewed perspective.
How's about this:
I cannot have licorice in the house. Or white cheddar cheez-it crackers. I will eat these items until I am sick.
I do not like going to the post office. So, if you're waiting for something from me, well, you're in good company.
One of my most successful New Year's resolutions: Drive through the car wash twice a month.
And....I loved, loved, loved university. To the point that I wouldn't stop going until my parents pulled the plug. I have a degree in French, a degree in Canadian Literature, and a degree in Speech Pathology. The latter has resulted in very chatty children.
Email me (barrie.summy@gmail.com) if you need more detail. :)
Title: I SO Don't Do Mysteries Author: Barrie Summy Pages: 264 Delacorte Press Date of Publication: December 9, 2008 Genre: Mystery Recommended to: Tween girls, 10-13 Rating: A
Sherlock ("Sherry") Holmes Baldwin is not the mystery-solving type, despite her name. In fact, she's the polar opposite of Nancy Drew: she'd rather spend her time gorging on Oreos, shopping at the mall, hanging with her nerdy-but-sweet best friend Junie, trying to avoid her new stepmother, and fantasizing about her major crush, Josh Morton. But then Sherry's former cop of a mom suddenly contacts her from the ghost world and requests her assistance: she's flunking out of the Academy of Spirits, and needs Sherry's help to solve a mystery that will secure her a spot in a successful afterlife. Unfortunately, Sherry so doesn't do mysteries, but before she knows it, she's being whisked to San Diego, California, with Junie and her bratty teenage cousin to solve a conflict that includes a poacher, a bunch of innocent rhinos, a chef looking for revenge, and a group of crazy old people! Can Sherry save her mom's afterlife, save the rhinos, and get Josh to like her back? It's going to be one crazy spring break... First off: I gotta say that I love Sherry: she's positively hilarious. She's realistic and always comes up with the craziest lies and smartest plans. Ms. Summy's dialogue is straight-to-the-point and realistic, with teenager lingo and great details. The plot flowed smoothly and was easy to get into: from the exciting climax on, it was extremely difficult to put the funny, cute book down. I loved all the crazy characters and their actions, which sometimes had me cracking up (Old people plotting serious revenge? Crazy chefs? What isn't there to love?).... Perhaps my most favorite aspect of the story was how unique I SO Don't Do Mysteries was. The plot was totally different from any other YA book I've ever read: Ms. Summy incorporated romance into the storyline without it being trashy; the mystery that needed to be solved was fresh and serious but at the same time funny; and the way the strong, funny characters handled things was absolutely refreshing. I also enjoyed how you could clearly hear Sherry's voice in the narration: it was positively fresh and real. All in all, I give Barrie Summy's upcoming mystery two big thumbs up and can't wait to check out the sequel (coming out in mid-2009, or so I heard), I So Don't Do Spooky. Hopefully it will be as good as the first!Read more ›
This book is great!!! Sherry is so realistic! Even though this book is definetly fiction, I can totally realate to the problems Sherry faces with school and friends. I have a best freind just like Junie (Sherry's best friend and a super smart girl) so I can understand the way she can be somewhat annoying sometimes. I love ghost stories and mysteries so this a perfect book for me. I just couldn't put down this book!
As a librarian I will sometimes ask students to review books, the following is an eighth grade student review!
In the first installment of the series, i son don't do mysteries, Sherry's mom has died three years ago in the line of duty on a drug bust. After her death her mom decides to go to the Academy of Spirits (an organization that trains ghosts to protect the living) where she finds out that working there is a lot harder than she bargained for! Unless she manages to solve a major case she is going to get banished. At first she and Sherry get help from her Academy friends but in the end it its up to them to solve the case.
This series is a hilarious mystery that keeps you guessing. Sherry (Sherlock Holmes Baldwin) manages to juggle boys, friends, makeup, fashion, a brand new step-mom and on top of all that, her coffee obsessed ghost-of-a-mom who is failing out of the academy for spirits. With help from her one time grandpa (now a cactus) Sherry and her mother solve mysteries that include rhinos, makeup and even a robotics competition. I look forward to the fourth installment in this riveting series!
This book is extremely good! It has just the right blend of mystery and teen drama. This is the perfect book for girls who enjoy stories that have makeup, boys, and crazed teens in them as well as the supernatural. The book is extremely humorous and has cliffhangers and suspense as well as parts that make you want to say the answer right out loud, even if you are not correct. it also includes a very dramatic end, that makes you want to smile. What to say? Barrie Summy has made a genius book, and trust me, I know one when I see one. I am a big reader, and read all types of books, and this is a definite re-read.
A girl named Sherry (short for Sherlock ) finds that her deceased mother has become a ghost and SHE needs to help her with a mind boggling mystery. I strongly recommend this book and hope you will trust my opinion.
I brougth this book for my granddaughter for Christmas, but had to peek at the first page before I wrapped it. Well, I was hooked! I sat down and read the book, laughting all the way. I'm far from a tweener, but I loved this book. The mystery is engaging, the characters are VERY real and...it's funny!
Run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore or here at amazon and buy this book! Now I can't wait until the next Barrie Summy book comes out next year!
Sherry's got typical seventh grade issues. She's not so great at school and she's got a serious crush on Josh, an uber cute eighth grader, and makes an unforgettable impression on him by bloodying his nose. Plus, her dad's engaged to Paula, the math teacher at school, aka The Ruler. But if you're thinking that I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES is just another book about an everyday teen who just wants to be loved, you'd be so wrong. There's nothing normal about Sherry's spring break.
You see, Sherry had big plans for her break, plans that involved sleeping in, shopping, and then more shopping with her best friend, Junie. Until her dad told her that he and The Ruler have moved up their wedding date to this weekend. And she'll have to spend her break in San Diego with her aging great-aunt. Course, that's better than staying with her little brother at her dotty old grandma's house. The same one who believes in ghosts and thinks she communicates with the spirits. Shoot, she even thinks her dead husband is a bird. How weird is that?
When Sherry goes outside to curl up in her favorite pear tree, her mother (who, by the way, was killed in the line of duty a year and a half ago), shows up in a rush of wind and a cloud of coffee, and Sherry's no longer sure what's weird and what's not. Even stranger, it turns out her mother needs her help solving a case of unauthorized banana treats at a rhino enclosure in (you'll never guess) San Diego! Her? Sherry? Go undercover? Think on her feet? Solve a mystery? No way. Sherry's always been the one most likely to mess up, if she doesn't freeze up first. But no matter how bizarre it all sounds, her mother needs her. Actually needs her!...
It doesn't take long to convince her dad to send Junie with her to San Diego, even if it does mean she's also going to have to put up with Junie's older cousin, Amber. Soon, Sherry's up to her elbows in meringue and buckets of coffee, pounding the pavement like a regular ol' sleuth till she's got blisters on her feet. Who's trying to kill the rhinos and why? Will she be able to find out in time to save them? Will her directionally-challenged mother be able to find her so they can work together as she promised? Can she trust Junie with her secret? And what about Josh? Will he forget she even exists while she's gone?
I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES is a funny, engaging debut novel and Sherry's antics will keep you turning pages since nothing happens as expected. Ms. Summy's title suggest she so doesn't do mysteries, but I believe she does them very, very well, and I surely hope she will be brewing up more mysteries for Sherry and her mother in the future.
