Zoe Sophia in New York: The Mystery of the Pink Phoenix Papers

You have to watch those children's writers! Right there on the front end page begins this second adventure for Zoe Sophia and her wonderful great-aunt, Dorothy Pomander, a writer who lives in Venice, setting for the first book in the series. End pages are those two pages just inside the covers, both in front and in back. They are often the same, may be plain white, colored, or have patterns that tie in with the story. In this case two parts of the story are found here: a letter from Aunt Dorothy and the map of their adventures. Flip to the back covers and find the two scrapbook pages that Zoe Sophia creates after her aunt returns home. I am a children's librarian: I am privy to these things. When reading a children's book, always begin with the cover. Sometimes the story begins there. Then look at every single page because story parts can be placed there. Now turn the end page and find two pairs of glasses--a small thing but look at the next picture on the title page and see a photograph of the two characters and Zoe's dog Mickey. Ah, yes, the glasses. Make sense? Zoe Sophia's room is a surprise: colorful including bold stripes, but not as cluttered as I imagined. Yet no surprise with her school--Zoe attends a school for the gifted, "exceptionally curious" for "thirsty little minds." This book shows why Zoe Sophia loves her aunt so much. Dorothy Pomander focuses totally on her niece, unlike Zoe's parents who flit about in their social lives. A number of things make this series so special and dare-I-say educational: local color by way of famous places to visit, cultural tidbits that daily surround the characters, love and a close relationship between the girl and her very special aunt, and always a mystery unique to the story. Here are things inherent in New York: a Russian ballet mistress (in Shreveport she would be a ballet teacher), a Jamaican housekeeper for their apartment and her jerk chicken and mango chutney (recipe on a back end page), a neighbor, once a tightrope walker, who reads Tarot cards after dinner, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (of course), the Penguin House, dinner in a fine restaurant with a live pianist, friend to Dorothy who previously lived in New York, the New York Public Library, where they do research together, the Lincoln Center, where they attend a ballet (of course), a quaint bookstore, a place that turns up the very book they seek, and the top of the Empire State Building, a place neither had ever visited. The mystery for this story involves the pink phoenix, a naturally pink stone used in creating this scarab for Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, a missing book, a phoenix, the jack of clubs, a fire, and so on. Together Zoe Sophia and Dorothy Pomander solve the mystery, and in doing so, create new memories which will fill two more pages in Zoe's scrapbook. The reader takes this brief trip with them through colorful illustrations and fantastic things to learn and see and perhaps visit one day with their special person.

I loved this book, as did my daughetr (9). Zoe Sophia is an original, independent girl with a sense of adventure, sense of humor (and great outfits)! Both my daughter and her friends (boys and girls) can really relate to the character. It conveys the flavor of New York City, with clues driving the story from location to location. This book can be read on many levels and enjoyed by all ages!