Searching for A Starry Night [Paperback]

Christine Verstraete (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Samantha Ann Carlton would rather spend her summer vacation anywhere but a spooky old house in Wisconsin...like Lake Geneva! Somehow Sam knows it s going to take more than a couple days to find a missing painting no bigger than her hand.

Maybe things won't be so bad, she thinks, since she gets to take a friend's lovable, nosy, and often mischievous Dachshund, Petey, and her best friend Lita. If they're lucky, the three of them can find the miniature replica of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and help Sam's mother get it to the museum, where it belongs.

But it's not going to be easy, Sam realizes, when she discovers that her own family has some spooky secrets. Then Petey digs up an ancient curse, and Sam fears her friendship with Lita is doomed.

Can she find the miniature masterpiece before it's too late? Will she and her best friend go home forever friends or enemies?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christine Verstraete thinks you re never too old to play with dollhouses, so when she s not writing, she s probably working on a new miniature project.

Pets, especially dogs, also manage to find their way into many of Christine s projects and stories, with her real life dog serving as inspiration for her book s mischievous Dachshund, Petey.

Christine s real house is home, as well, to assorted fish and birds, plus wild turtles, and frogs that crawl across her lawn each summer.

Christine has had short fiction and nonfiction published in various magazines and online. Her short horror story, "The Witch Tree," was a contest winner published by Echelon Press. She also is author of the ebook, In Miniature Style, with miniatures photos, stories about collectors and how-to projects.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Quake (a Division of Echelon Press) (September 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590805798
• ISBN-13: 978-1590805794
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,689,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christine Verstraete is an award-winning author and journalist from Wisconsin.

Her short stories have been published in anthologies including, Hot & Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance, Steampunk'd and Timeshares(DAW Books); and, The Bitter End: Tales of Nautical Terror and Dragons Composed, Pill Hill Press.

A longtime horror fan, she also enjoys writing short fiction with a touch of the macabre, including the eBooks, The Killer Valentine Ball and Motherly Love.

She also is author of an award-winning children's book, Searching for a Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery, for ages 9 and up. (#1 Kindle book for miniatures; 2009 EPPIE Award finalist for ebook.) Available in Kindle, eBook, and print.

When she's not writing (when is that?), Christine also enjoys creating in miniature. She is author of IN MINIATURE STYLE II, with over 40 how-to projects, profiles and photos, featuring the work of talented miniaturists and IGMA artisans. Available in print, eBook, and other formats,including for Kindle.

See details on her books and collection at her website, http://cverstraete.com or her blog, http://candidcanine.blogspot.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising Miniature Art Mystery, June 19, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Searching for A Starry Night (Paperback)

Gripping, surprising, and leaving you wanting more are a few ways to describe "Searching For A Starry Night". It's a must read for mystery loving teens. As Sam Carlton and her friend Lita are searching to solve this mystery, of what happened when her Aunt Hilda's art mysteriously vanishes, you'll be shocked at the twists and turns Christine Verstraete leads you through. With her talent to bring these characters to life, chills are sent down your spine, and your adrenaline will start pumping, when you visit this old Victorian house in Wisconsin, to figure out this miniature art mystery.- Lily Huber age 13, 8th grade

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stories for Children Magazine 4 Star Review, July 3, 2008

By 

Virginia S. Grenier "Children's Author & Stor... (Ivins, Utah USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Searching for A Starry Night (Paperback)

I really like reading mystery stories. It is also my belief that for young people to read good mysteries written for their age level not only is a pleasant pasttime but also may help them develop critical thinking skills. They can search for clues in the plot and try to find the answers that will help to solve the problem. Having grown up with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, I think that author Christine Verstraete has provided a worthy addition to this genre with Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery.

Samantha Ann Carlton, better known as Sam, and her friend Lita, both age 13, go for a week with Sam's mother Grace to settle up affairs at the Wisconsin home of Grace's Aunt Hilda, who was a professional artist and art collector but had recently passed away at the age of ninety. Grace plans to donate most of the Aunt Hilda's miniature paintings to museums, but while there, they find that one of the paintings, a miniature reproduction of The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, is missing and was replaced by a cheap imitation. Sam and Lita, who enjoy sleuthing, set out to find the lost piece of art. There are three main suspects: Mrs. Ursula Drake, the crabby housekeeper; Mr. Jensen, the mysterious gardener; and Emma Taylor, a local librarian, all of whom were taught painting by Aunt Hilda.

The book follows the activities of Sam and Lita, accompanied by a mischievous dachsund named Petey, as they investigate and ends with a surprise conclusion. It is well written, very exciting, and hard to put down, especially with the spooky old Victorian house, stories of an ancestor who died while burning the barn to exorcise demons then was said to have been seen as a ghost, scary goings-on at night, and a lot of suspense. In addition to being a nice story, it has a great deal of interesting and educational information about art in general and specifically about miniature paintings. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing it in bookstores.
Reviewed by: Wayne S. Walker, SFC Book Reviewer

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searching For A Starry Night 2009 Eppie Award Finalist, January 31, 2009

By 

Chris Verstraete - See all my reviews

This review is from: Searching for A Starry Night (Kindle Edition)

The book in ebook format is a finalist in the children's/ya category for the 2009 Eppie Awards.

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