When the Curtain Rises

Rachel Dunstan Muller
Orca Book Publishers (2007)
ISBN 9781551436159
Reviewed by Regan Zaborowski (age 8) for Reader Views (5/08)


“When the Curtain Rises” is a mystery book.  The main characters’ name is Chloe.  She goes to her great-aunts’ house to visit for the summer.  She learned about some of her relatives, especially her great-aunts’ father, who was a magician, about a hundred-years ago.  He disappeared.  There was a book that he wrote still in the house, and Chloe started to read it.  Lots of strange things started to happen in the house.

Chloe also met a new friend, and she told her about a talent show that she wanted Chloe to play the piano in, but she had stage fright and didn’t want to.  Chloe had also gotten a key in an invitation from her great-aunts, but no one knew what the key went to.  Chloe found out one day.  She tried to find out how the magician disappeared, and why all the strange things were happening.

I liked to read this book very much.  It was long, and the words were kind of hard in the letters the magician wrote.  But it was creepy how strange things kept happening.  I kept trying to figure it out while I was reading.  I couldn’t figure it out before Chloe did, though.  The ending of the book about the talent show was my favorite part.  It told whether Chloe played the piano in the show, or if she was too afraid.  I think that all kids who like to read mystery books will like to read “When the Curtain Rises.”

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