Serafina and the Black Cloak
By: Robery Beatti
Release Date; July 14, 2015
Pages: 304
The Story
Serafina & her father live on the Baltimore Estate- home of the Vanderbilt family in the
1900s. It is a grand honor, a honor that is- if she could tell anyone. Her
father keeps her hidden away, and Serafina doesn’t understand why.
As a result, she lives in the basement with her pa, who is the maintenance man to the Vanderbilt family. Since no one is supposed to know
Serafina is there, she only comes out at night. One night, Serafina witnesses a
young girl go missing on the Vanderbilt property by a strange man in a black
cloak. She is the only witness to this crime. As more kids go missing, it is up to Serafina to find and stop the man in the black cloak before he comes for her next...
In case this isn't enough, here is the fantastic book trailer:
In case this isn't enough, here is the fantastic book trailer:
My Thoughts
This was an entertaining read! It reminded me a
great deal of the book The Night Gardner. I really like thriller mystery stories & I felt
like this one was appropriate for upper middle grade. I think my favorite aspect of
this novel, however, was not the mystery but history aspect. You can tell the
author did a great deal of research on the Vanderbilt family and the estate.
Here is a real picture and link to the estate:
Biltmore House
I think one could easily pair this book with non-fiction books on this subject.
In addition to this, I really appreciated the theme of the book which is everyone has their own unique talents. I wasn't expecting such a theme from a middle grade thriller, but I felt like the author did a great job of weaving this in.
Overall, I really enjoyed this.
This page turner kept me guessing, but without giving anything away, I did feel like the ending fell apart for me. For the ending, I will have to give this book three stars, but I do think it is a must read middle grade book for 2015.
Have you read this yet? What did you think?
Until next time,
Pamela
Here is a real picture and link to the estate:
Biltmore House
I think one could easily pair this book with non-fiction books on this subject.
In addition to this, I really appreciated the theme of the book which is everyone has their own unique talents. I wasn't expecting such a theme from a middle grade thriller, but I felt like the author did a great job of weaving this in.
Overall, I really enjoyed this.
This page turner kept me guessing, but without giving anything away, I did feel like the ending fell apart for me. For the ending, I will have to give this book three stars, but I do think it is a must read middle grade book for 2015.
Have you read this yet? What did you think?
Until next time,
Pamela
The history of this appealed to me more than the creepy/scary factors. I had trouble getting past Serafina's horrible living conditions, since there weren't any real reasons for her father to have treated her that way!
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