The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman

Ben H. Winters
HarperCollins (2011)
ISBN 9780061965432
Reviewed by Madeline McElroy (age 10.5) for Reader Views (12/11)

 

Bethesda Fielding has a mystery to solve. She is given a special project: solve a mystery in your own life. Bethesda has tons of ideas, but one idea really beats the others. She wants to solve a mystery about her music teacher, Ms. Finkleman. Everyone thinks she is just a boring, old music teacher, but in this book, you will find that Ms. Finkleman, isn’t what anyone thinks.

To find clues, Bethesda waits until after school, then she goes to Ms. Finkleman’s office to look for stuff. She brings a notebook and pencil, to write down what she finds. She goes to Ms. Finkleman’s desk and checks the drawers: first one, sheet music; second one, pencils and notes; third one, Ah Ha! She finds a list of something, but does not know what the list is, so she writes down what’s on it on her notebook, and goes home.

When home, Bethesda sits down at the kitchen table, staring at the list, trying to think of what it is. Her dad comes in and asks what she’s doing. She tells him she has a “special project” to do and she found her clues, but is still trying to figure out what they are. Her dad looks at the list and says, “Those look familiar from somewhere... I just don’t know where, looks like ... hmm, Ah Ha! Looks almost like a record list.” Bethesda is confused. So her dad takes her to his room and gets out some old records and says, “Take a look at these, these might answer your list.” Bethesda now is scanning over the records. She finds some records, such as the “The Red Herrings” and “Little Miss Mystery” and is sure that they go along with the list. Ah ha! A record list! But why would Ms. Finkleman have a list of 80s punk rock records? Now it is time for Bethesda to solve the mystery!

I liked this story because I love mysteries. I was really surprised when the mystery was solved, but this whole book is not just a mystery, “The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman” is a fun and interesting book to read and I like the “extras” in the back

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