Critique de School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Proclaiming to contain "real kids in real places," this new series follows the adventures of world travelers Mimi and Papa, along with their grandchildren, Christina and Grant. In Eiffel Tower, the kids find a series of clues that helps them to discover where a stolen statue might be hidden. In Big Ben, the kids try to stop a bombing of the titular London icon by "two shaggy-headed, dark-skinned men." Fortunately, by the story's end the two turn out not to be terrorists but just innocent college students making a movie. In both books, the protagonists are befriended by two children native to the area who take them, unaccompanied by any adults, to all the hot tourist destinations in town. Rickety writing and predictable plotting may be the hallmarks of these books, but there's no denying that these mysteries are also chock-full of factual information regarding real places. Nonetheless, libraries may question whether or not they wish to purchase a title that assumes that "dark-skinned men" are obvious terrorist suspects. Additional purchases at best.-Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.