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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Masterfully Written - Muddy Message, April 8, 2009
I'm debating what level of stars to give this, because it is a technically well-written story - rich with imagery filled vocabulary. The message, however, is so misguided that it cannot receive endorsement.
This mystery is certainly amusing and adequately enjoyable. A young boy is in the typical stranglehold between divorced parents. His mother is somewhat neglectful and more interested in her new family and in being difficult to his artsy father than parenting her older son. A beetle living in the home demonstrates an incredible talent for drawing which leads to the boy getting credit for the drawing by his father and, ultimately, an art museum.
The art museum curator hatches a plan for the boy's drawing skills (actually the beetle's) to be used to create a copy of a masterpiece as a decoy to find an art thief. The beetle cooperates with this deception out of a sense of obligation to the boy's friendship and to somehow validate (by counterfeited art) the boy in his mother's eyes.
This is where the point of the story gets muddy to me. What is the author's message to young readers? The boy's deception is never revealed. In fact, he ultimately is made a heroic character despite his credit-taking lies and breaking/entering - yes for an ultimate good - but is this exhonerated? The book amplifies the flaws of parents and adults, and supports the often-touted message to conceal info from parents - even to the point of endangerment of the young protagonist. Even the beetle goes against his parent's protective instruction and receives only a prodigal beetle's reception. The boy's misdeeds are never dealt with other than an event that is implied as an intentional harming of himself as restitution or a divinely imposed consequence - either way allowing him an excuse to avoid the revelation of his lies. Further, it implies this lack of honesty was to protect the beetle rather than himself...again giving a heroic quality to bad behavior. His counterfeited talent becomes framed and enjoyed as a permanent source of pride in the family home. He is rewarded with the benefits of a friendly reconciliation of his bad parents based upon their appreciation of his previously underlooked talent - which he actually never had? Are we telling kids that they can feel self-worth in pretense? All's well that ends well? How about self-worth in integrity!
Even the art thief's misdeeds are stroked with a brush of empathetic understanding. His love for the work itself is the driving force of his crime. It is questioned whether his multiple thefts of invaluable artwork should be reported since all is well in the end?!? Out of respect for his friendship,(which he had moments earlier thrown under the bus) a delay occurs which allows him to escape scott-free, as well.
Another confusing aspect in the story was the lack of authenticity about the art itself. The author could have presented actual works of art to stimulate interest and unit studies OR could have entirely made up fictional works of art. Instead, an odd presentation was used that muddied fact and fiction. One actual artist's work, Bellini's Fortitude, was used in the story, yet credited to another artist, Durer. Fictional works to accompany Durer's (Bellini's) Fortitude made a quartet of supposed stolen works of Durer in the story. Durer had an actual artwork of a beetle, which related to the character in the story. This amalgam of fiction and fact was odd.
See my angst here? I just can't endorse this - well written or otherwise.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful!, November 10, 2008
Masterpiece
Regardless of whether or not you have read Elise Broach's SHAKESPEARE'S SECRET, you will absolutely fall in love with a marvelous little beetle named Marvin. Marvin inadvertently discovers he is a miniatures artist when he dabbles in James's ink set. The uncanny ability to recreate Durer miniatures puts Marvin in a number of dangerous (for beetles) situations, especially when everyone mistakenly assumes that James is the talanted artist--and later when Marvin and James try to thwart an art heist!
This novel has just the right blend of suspense, mystery, humor, and compassion to appeal to my middle school students. My students cannot put this book down once they start reading. As a matter of fact, one of my students got so wrapped up in the prose that she missed hearing her bus bell to go home.
I thought SHAKESPEARE'S SECRET was a masterpiece, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that MASTERPIECE was as masterful!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece is brilliant fun!, January 2, 2009
I have almost finished reading this book with my eight year old son, and we love it.
The style is warm, humorous and intelligently written from the point of view of Marvin, the
beetle narrator and artistic genius.
The story set in New York follows the adventures of Marvin who having descovered he is amazing
at ink drawings forms a friendship with a boy James, whose father, mistakes Marvin's
masterpiece for his sons. Intrigue ensues as James and Marvin get sucked into a world of forgery, stolen artifacts and double dealing .
A fast paced adventure with enough action for a reluctant reader and enough intrigue for a compulsive one.
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