Customer Reviews

The Secret Apartment

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

 

 

This book kept me turning the pages just to see what happens next. I told all of my friends about it and they bought it and loved it too. I can't wait for Natalie's next book.

My daughter and I loved this book. It had everything that kept her turning the pages...a little romance, a mystery and a great friendship. The illustrations are wonderful and add to the fun of each chapter.

It's the worst summer of 11-year-old Jillian's life. She and her mother have moved to a New York apartment from their house in Pennsylvania to live with Jillian's new stepfather and a mean stepsister, Mariella. Jillian misses her home and friends, and yearns for her father, who died a few years ago.

Jillian's life turns even worse when her parents enroll her in a hippie-dippy day camp where her counselor, Rainbow, forces the kids to sit in a peace circle and make their own "special sounds." Mrs. Whiteflower, a sculptor who lives in the penthouse of Jillian's apartment building, saves the day by offering Jillian an afternoon cat-sitting job. It will work out perfectly, since camp is in the morning. Not only will she earn $25 a day, but Jillian (an artist) can help herself to any of Mrs. Whiteflower's art supplies.

Jillian makes a friend, Emily. Before long, the two girls are ditching their respective lame day camps to hang out in Mrs. Whiteflower's cool apartment all day and observe the fascinating people who are living their lives in nearby apartments.

But among the people cooking, talking on phones, arguing and watching television, they spy a mystery. Who is the handsome teen boy who sits alone, day after day, staring at the wall? When the girls finally discover who the mystery guy is, they're shocked. They know they must take action, but they're impeded at every turn.

Meanwhile, Mariella continues to be a total pain except when she's crying into the phone. Is it boy problems, as Jillian first assumes? Or could there be more to Jillian's wicked stepsister than her snotty persona suggests?

This is an enjoyable mystery with a funny, likeable main character who grows and changes in a satisfying manner through the course of the story. New York is an integral player in the plot, and is described so strongly that I feel as if I've visited Jillian's new city. Recommended as a quick, light read for mystery lovers.

P.S. I will never look at cheese again in the same light!

I am 10 year old girl (telling my mom) that I thought this book was great. I couldn't stop reading it during school and in the car. This book would be great for kids who are into mysteries. I really liked the way they showed the girl Jillian's point of veiw. It is an really good book even though it is a little harsh how Jillian's sister treated her in the beginning but I liked how they got it together and became friends.

Based on the item description, I thought this might REALLY be a great book. Of course, the title alone is intriguing and then the back cover sounded good. So, what the heck, I gave it a try.
In my honest opinion, this one needs a new title. "The Secret Apartment" makes it sound way too exciting for what actually happens in the book. While the characters are funny, I just didn't connect with any of them. Jillian whines too much about her old home and her new stepsister is so rude, she reminded me of Nellie Olsen off "Little House on the Prairie".
What the girls see from the penthouse apartment IS pretty interesting, but since they are kids, no one believes them. The thing that bothered me the most was that when people didn't listen, they decided to not say anything else, even though they knew they should tell someone -- anyone. This didn't happen only once in the book, it happened a few times, so that just didn't sit well with me. Then, of course, came the all-too-convenient-and-quick wrapup at the end. And you know from the beginning how this one will end...Jillian will like it in New York after all.
Not a lot of mystery here, but some cute friend scenes in the penthouse apartment, if you like that kind of thing.