Customer Reviews

The Scream Museum

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my opinion the book The Scream Museum was excellent. This book was full of suspense and mystery.The setting of this book was well described. Characters in this book was also well described. I would recomend this book to any one who loves murder mysteries. Also to any one who would like to sit patiently and read such a great book.

P.C. Hawke wants to be a professional detective when he grows up. His dad works at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, P.C. and his best friend, Mackenzie, have already helped solve one crime. When the chief biologist at the museum is murdered, P.C. and Mackenzie's friend Tom, a custodian who wouldn't hurt a fly, is apparently caught red-handed, they know he's been set up. They suspect that it may be either Mirsky or Congers, the two museum employees now fighting over the suddenly open position. P.C. and Mackenzie are determined to clear Tom's name by finding the real killer. But in the process, they uncover a web of deception that may put their own lives in danger. The first book in this new mystery series is full of thrills, chills, and more. I highly reccomend it.

The late Paul Zindel, most famous for his Pulitzer Prize winning playwriting, ended up his very prolific writing career with this series of murder mysteries aimed at adolescent readers. THE SCREAM MUSEUM inaugurates the series, narrated by hot shot teen sleuth P.C. Hawke and his equally brainy sidekick McKenzie. In Book 1 the kids' friend Tom, a slow-witted custodian at the musuem where P.C.'s dad works, is accused of murdering entomologiest Conchetta Farr. P.C. and McKenzie, aware of Tom's essentially gentle nature, know this cannot be the case and set out to discover the real killer.

This is nothing special, and it certainly does not rank among Zindel's finer works for young people, but it has an agreeable pace and a nice sense of how teens think and live life in the early 21st century. Best of all the narrator and his friend are eminently likable and believable characters.

This would make for a good intro for young people into the mystery genre.

"The Scream Museum" starts with someone already murdered which is the biggest mystery in the book. P.C. Hawke and his partner Mackenzie try to uncover clues in hopes to find out who the murderer is. They ask most of the characters where they were st the time of the murder and in time, they soon believe they have their man just like on an episode of Law and Order or CSI...but P.C. is mistaken. It's a neat suspenseful mystery novel.

Well....at least it's mystery for ya. I could not put it down.

I thought the Scream Museum was a slow, boring book. I wouldnt really recommend it to anyone, unless they really like those suspence books alot. It was about a boy, P.C Hawke, who dreams of being a detective. When there is a murder at the Museum of Natural History, where his father works, he jumps on the case. Tom, who is the custodian at the musuem, is accused of the murder but P.C knows that Tom wouldnt hurt a fly. He along with his best friend, Mackenzie, try to find the real murderer and prove Tom innocent. They believe that it must have been one of the two co-workers who are now fighting for the womans job. Can P.C and Mackenzie prove Tom innocent?

Zindel does not meet his usual quality of writing in this book. In the first chapter, P.C. says that his father left town yesterday, then says that his father's been out of town for a week. I also doubt that P.C., a high school junior, would have Jesus, a 13-year-old computer wiz, for a best friend. And the relationship with Jesus seems to be for P.C.'s benefit primarily. I will warn my junior high students that this book is not as good as others by Paul Zindel before they read it. I don't know whether I will invest in the rest of the series for my classroom library or not. The story was entertaining, but I feel that Zindel did not take the time to think carefully during the writing process. Take your time, Paul - you have great ideas to get kids reading!