Customer Reviews

I So Don't Do Mysteries

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4 star:		(1)
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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!

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!

Funny, funny, funny - this book has a laugh on every page. Hys-TERICAL! Sherry is a delight - a fresh voice for tweeners. I can't wait to see what Barrie Summy does next!

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.

Reviewed by: Cana Rensberger

this book is great! it is very funny. after chapter one i was hooked! a unexpected twist on every page.

Originally posted on my blog: http://mrsvsreviews.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-so-dont-do-mysteries.html

I So Don't Do Mysteries is a creative book exploring mother daughter relationships and having a first boyfriend all in the midst of a life or death mystery (for a rhino at least). Sherry already had a lot to deal with: regular 7th grade drama, her mother's death, and her dad's impending marriage with "The Ruler". Then, the unexpected happens, and her mother starts to visit her and tells her that she will only be able to continue her visits if Sherry helps her solve a mystery enabling her to stay at an Academy of Spirits. Sherry is desperate to build a close relationship with her mom that she always yearned for when she was alive, but she is skeptical that she will be able to pull it off. It was fun to see the twists and turns the investigation took. Summy is currently at work on another I So Don't Do... book. I can't wait to see what the next one will be about.

I have been waiting a very long time for Barrie Summy's I So Don't Do Mysteries, ever since I found Barrie in the blogosphere and started hearing about the book. Then, finally, finally, I got my copy for Christmas. Yesterday, I cracked the cover.

(By the way, I LOVED finding out what was behind the beautiful blue cover: no spoiler here, though!)

You know, we all know, that there's pressure when you meet someone online, blog back & forth, share memes and THEN read their book. So, yes, it was with a bit of trepidation that I started reading Page 1.

By Page 2, I was laughing. And I pretty much didn't stop until I reached the end. Barrie has given her MC, Sherry (Sherlock Holmes) Baldwin, a light fun voice and she (the author or the character, you decide) is the mistress of the LOL one-liner. Even when I wasn't laughing, I was smiling. Sherry's energy is contagious, and rooting for her was a delight.

Sherry's police-officer mother has been dead just over a year, so imagine Sherry's surprise when she smells coffee (her mother's favorite drink) and hears her mom's voice. Already destined for a vacation in San Diego, Sherry finds out that her mother, now a ghost and an investigator, needs help saving some rhinos at the Wild Animal Park from being poisoned.

What I really like about the story is that Sherry and her mother don't have it easy working together. In so many books, Sherry would have been angry at the start, but her mother would have--by virtue of dying--be seeing things more clearly and have turned into a wonderful parent. Barrie doesn't let Mom off the hook this easily. Sherry and she are stuck at the same place they were on the day of her death, with Sherry feeling inferior and ineffectual and Mom being the same perfectionist, totally immersed in her job. Yes, the two have to save the rhinos, but they also have to start building a better relationship than they ever had while Mom was alive. This is the layer that turns a fun, fast read into something extra, a book that definitely has us asking for a sequel.

Thanks, Barrie!