Customer Reviews

Nana Cracks the Case!

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this book for my eight year old niece, and she loved it. I loved it too. The way Nana and the kids do everything but follow the plotline they're supposed to follow is utterly charming. And there are so many funny little things. I just opened it up to take a look before wrapping it, and I ended up reading the whole thing. Now when I see my niece she always makes an excuse to say, "I plop forgot."

It seems a guy named Cabell Harris (great name!) came up with this concept and Kathleen Lane ended up writing it, with Sarah Horne doing the illustrations. I'm not sure who made these arrangements, but then Lane takes the ball and runs with it.

Did I say runs with it? Actually, Lane takes the ball, paints it purple, dribbles it down the aisles of the grocery store while the paint's still wet, and then lobs it through a neighbor's window. Next she chortles.

Every once in a while a children's book author presents a little old lady (or, less often, a little old man) as a sort of pseudo-kid or pseudo-adult--both, really. Considering how small, brilliant, and mischievous my own grandmother was clear into her nineties, this makes perfect sense to me. Here's how the back cover puts it:

"Nanas, you see, are not supposed to become backhoe operators or marine biologists or circus performers (actually Nana did not join the circus, she only substituted while the trapeze artist recovered from a broken leg), and they must never--because they are so very fragile, you see--become detectives."

More important, you should know that Nana has a book on her kitchen table called The Joy of Napping. The book jacket is a fake: it's there to fool her highly anxious daughter, the mother of her grandchildren. Beneath the false cover is Nana's real reading material, say, a book about tightrope walking. A lovely touch from our publishers is that if you turn the cover of Nana Cracks the Case over, you will see The Joy of Napping jacket, complete with yawner quotes like this one from Dusty McThud: "I can't believe I wasted so much time striving for excellence when I could have been napping instead."

Nana's grandchildren, Bog and Eufala, know her secret. Like Nana, the two kids devote a certain amount of energy to keeping their worrywart mother from worrying. And like Nana, they are highly talented troublemakers. For example, one of their mother's numerous rules is never to open the front door. So we read:

"And that is why Eufala and Bog did not open the front door. Never in a million years would they have so much as touched the doorknob of the front door.

Anyhow, why open the front door when the kitchen window worked just as well--and, they had found, was much less likely to draw the attention of the neighbors?"

Nana's new goal of becoming a police detective soon intersects with her grandchildren's latest activities, and shenanigans happily scramble across the pages for the rest of the book. One of the funniest things about Nana is that she continues to be a little old lady. She keeps forgetting things, never taking the direct route anywhere, a trend highlighted by the discrepancy between the author's words and the illustrations. And watch for how Nana handles the reporters at the crime scene.

There's a touch of Lemony Snicket here if you listen for it. But the book's humor stands on its own, giddily over the top.

I will tell you that Nana Cracks the Case is less invested in its mystery than some other mysteries for this age group (e.g., the Saxby Smart series); the author is having far too much fun with Nana and her devious grandkids for that. But it is a new favorite of mine in terms of sheer enjoyment. Edgar Awards, Schmedgar Awards--you've got to spend some time with the coolest grandma since the extreme sports granny in that animated movie, Hoodwinked.

Nana is the wackiest, funniest, grandma ever. And she's hot... warm... cold on the trail of the Yumdum thief! This book is just plain weird! And that's a good thing, trust me.

It's a great book for kids - smart, kooky, doesn't talk down to them - but as an adult, I had just as much fun with it. And it's as wonderful to read for its voice as it is for crazy things that happen. I am so looking forward to finding out what Nana and her out of control grandkids (Eufala and Bog - what names!) get into next.

Here is the funny thing...there is a great story line at work in this book, but you would never know it based on the sentence structure, sequencing of events, or chapter layout. The accompanying artwork helped immensely - but that is the issue, artwork should compliment and liven/spice up a story, not be the what-is-the-author-trying-to-say-maybe-the-artwork-will-help-me-understand safety net. I see how this concept works in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series, but this isn't that type of book.

If you're a parent or adult who prefers buying books that offer grammatical structure for beginning readers, consider another item. If you are the type that likes quirky, offbeat, freeform books, you may like this.

Summary: Children who love a good mystery will be disappointed, as this book has nothing to do with solving a mystery. Nothing that matters in the beginning of the story matters in the end (and vice versa). Its just a fun and cutesy romp with Nana.

The Full Review:

You know, last night after I wrote the first version of my review, I realized there was one word that described this book very very accurately: campy.

Campy. As in that movie with the bad special effects, bad acting, and bad plot that everyone just loves because its supposed to be so silly.

Enter "Nana cracks the case". The overall story is nonsense, and its supposed to be. No, really. In the story:
1) The police hire a completely inexperienced new detective to find a missing box of candy
2) Nana can't even find her way BACK to the police station in her own town.
3) Nana goes to the suspects house and doesn't notice a book called "how to steal"
4) On page 20 the author themselves admits "we are getting a bit off track" because of the frequent tangents that are only half-related to the story. Its an intentional writing ploy, to be sure. Trite as can be, and definitely not clever.
5) The boy is named "bog". You gotta admit, its a bit funny, but has no point other than being funny.
6) Nana is supposed to have a lot of wigs to be a detective, but, after this page in the book, wigs are never mentioned again!
7) At the end of the story, Nana lets the perpetrator go, without fulfilling her job at the Police Station, without worrying about compensating the owner of the box of candy, and without actually having tried to solve the case.

Ok, so you get the point. The book rambles about in an amusing way. Its reasonably fun to read. But thats part of my complaint. Its just supposed to be FUN. It is a cotton candy mystery, melting when tasted, leaving only a sweet and sticky residue. There just isn't anything to take away in the end.

Children who love a good mystery will be disappointed, as this book has nothing to do with solving a mystery. Nothing that matters in the beginning matters in the end (and vice versa). Its just a cutesy romp with Nana. Brains need not apply.

Young readers will find the rambling exposition (which is the main feature of the first few chapters) to be confusing. Its one of those writing styles where instead of getting to the point and being clear, its intentionally confusing and obfuscating. Its SUPPOSED to be that way.

Its campy
Its silly
and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

And for some people, this is great ... unfortunately, it didn't leave me smiling.

I was really excited about this book. I thought it would be a great romp with a sly grandmother and her fun grandkids. Instead, I found a confused and befuddled grandmother, about whom her daughter has every right to be concerned, and some disobedient grandchildren who do dangerous things.

I thought that I was going to read about a sassy grandmother who had worked some exciting jobs and spent some time trying to hide her adventures from her overly concerned daughter, Elaine. Turns out, her daughter had EVERY reason to be concerned. For example, Nana goofed off by reading the paper while operating a back hoe and managed to dump a load of dirt onto another lady. This was viewed as an "adventure" Nana was hiding from Elaine who would be concerned about her "carrying on". When you consider that during her tenure as a detective Nana manages to get lost on two different occasions while trying to get to the police station AND that she gets sidetracked from a theft case by a half glass of wasted milk, it seems that Elaine's concerns may be justified.

Elaine's concerns about her children are also righteous. The minute she leaves them alone, Eufala and Bog set out to try everything she has told them not to do, some of them quite dangerous. There is only one rule they consider too important to break - not opening the front door - and they circumvent this rule by climbing out the kitchen window. They proceed to get picked up by the police after harassing ducks at the local park. At the police station they meet up with Nana who agrees to take them home. Eventually, after more wacky (in my opinion disturbing) adventures, Nana helps the children sneak back into the house so that their mother is none the wiser.

Like I wrote at the beginning, I was excited about this book and hoped it would be one I could share with my nephews. I am glad that I took the time to read it myself before sharing with them. I would not want to encourage the dangerous behavior of Nana, Eufala, and Bog. A little mischief would be fine, but I could not share a story about children who mess with the household appliances, sneak out of the house, and end up at the police station all without consequences.

Nana Cracks the Case is the story of a seemingly dotty old woman who, bored with the quiet life she is supposed to lead, becomes a police detective and sets out to catch a mysterious candy thief. When Nana's two mischievous young grandchildren realize that she's putting herself in harm's way, they're understandably worried... until Nana reveals that it's all part of her clever plan and saves the day!

This story has a cute premise, and was well-written and impishly illustrated. I truly liked Nana, who was simultaneously young at heart and wise beyond her years. Unfortunately, I didn't find much to like about Nana's grandchildren, Eufala and Bog. It's not that I don't have a soft spot for curious, naughty children - I have several of my own - but these two just didn't have enough personality for their flaws to be endearing. Still, an entertaining story overall, and recommended for the 7 to 10 year-old reader.

I was as excited to read this book as the kids were, ok more. Reading the plot my first thought was it's Mrs Polifax series for kids! not quite. Nana falls short of a smart fully capable whole character. Nana is more of a caricature of a person. She is however a bold quirky grandmother that doesn't let age or people's opinion slow her down. Did my nephews like the story? Yes they loved it! Reading it to them the story had a flow that was wonderfully lyrical (important when reading a story to kids)

Did my nephews feel the need to curl the curtain with an iron? no. Did they want to switch their mom's perfume with water? no. They understand the difference between real life and a movie or book. So if your children have no problems watching Disney movies and can tell the difference between "real" and "make believe" this book shouldn't be a issue. The boys did relate to choosing the best candy, to wild things happening (like cat in the hat book) and to Nana who just seems too fun to be a grown up(their words).

This book did leave them with questions. Like who cleaned up the house, did someone clean it up? Why would girls spend money on perfume when they could get candy or toys? (wondering the same thing myself) How does a person get hired to work a back hoe? Can anyone be a detective? and....(spoiler just know they were wondering what happened to Nana and her job). So there was quite a bit of talking about the book. That is good in my opinion and they asked me to read it again. Right there and then.

As an adult I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I did like it but it wasn't written for me it was written for children. My nephews loved it. Their one complaint? They didn't think the author finished it. They wanted to hear the ending.

So 4 stars for an enjoyable story and minus one for not ending it. They want to know what happened when mom opened the door and when Nana goes back to the police station and what happened to the thief? I let them tell their own ending to the story but as they said "it's not the same".


off to read Mrs Polifax! :)

Amazing Mrs. Polifax (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

This book is wacky and wandering as the author and illustrator show a Nana that is not content to grow old and doddering. Instead Nana wants to experience life to its fullest whether it is swinging from a trapeze, operating a backhoe or becoming a detective with the police department. Nana's daughter Elaine finds Nana to be a not-so-good influence on her two children Eufala and Bog.

Eufala and Bog are adventurous, disobedient children. One day when Elaine has to go to work she finds herself without a babysitter and the two kids promise to be good so she can leave them alone. She has lists of things they should not do, but of course once she leaves the kids start immediately being disobedient. Nana in the meantime has a candy stealing crook to catch! The two parties intersect and the fun continues.

The book has a cute premise--that of a Nana refusing to conform to her daughter's view of old age. Nana wants to experience life as an active participant rather than a resident of a nursing home. My issues with the book are more with some of the underlying messages of the book like it is okay to steal from your mother, take money from a fountain, disobey your parents etc. as Bob and Eufala do. Yes the book is fun and crazy, but there was no cause and effect for the actions taken by the children. So, it is okay to steal? To switch your mother's eau-de-cologne with toilet water and then sell the original stuff to your classmates?

Although Nana's daughter Elaine seems very uptight where the kids and her mother (Nana) are concerned, it read as though she had good cause. Nana's memory is not what it was and Nana seems to wander a bit--always taking the longest way to get wherever she is going. Most parents would have a concern or two about someone taking care of their kids under these circumstances.

In my opinion it is possible to write a funny, wacky book with eccentric characters and yet impart the values you try so hard to teach your kids--you know? Among other concepts that could be gently inserted is that it is not acceptable to steal money from your parents or from a fountain!

There are hours of fun in this chapter book for young readers by Kathleen Lane. Nana is not the normal kind of Nana that Nana's daughter wants her to be. Instead of napping, she prefers to be working. So, Nana takes on all types of odd jobs, including being a detective to find out who's been stealing Yumdums. With the help of her grandchildren, who manage to get themselves into one scrape after another (and eat quite a bit of candy along the way), Nana runs around town until she solves the case. This fun story is enhanced by the whimsical illustrations of Sarah Horne. There are plenty of ink drawings to capture the attention of very young who still need to be read to. Children who can read on their own will be sure to read this book over and over again following Nana through her adventure. The inside cover of the book lists jobs that Nana has either already had or those she would be sure to apply for. In fact, I can see a series of books based on Nana's jobs. The book's paper cover comes off and folds over the other way to reveal a secret book cover, which coincides with one Nana has herself.