Children's Book Review: As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley



Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from Delacorte Press, via NetGaley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

And now for a great book for the kids in your house who got a new ereader or tablet this Christmas!



As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust cover


Synopsis:

Flavia de Luce—“part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” (The New York Times Book Review)—takes her remarkable sleuthing prowess to the unexpectedly unsavory world of Canadian boarding schools in the captivating new mystery from New York Times bestselling author Alan Bradley.

Banished! is how twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce laments her predicament, when her father and Aunt Felicity ship her off to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy, the boarding school that her mother, Harriet, once attended across the sea in Canada. The sun has not yet risen on Flavia’s first day in captivity when a gift lands at her feet. Flavia being Flavia, a budding chemist and sleuth, that gift is a charred and mummified body, which tumbles out of a bedroom chimney. Now, while attending classes, making friends (and enemies), and assessing the school’s stern headmistress and faculty (one of whom is an acquitted murderess), Flavia is on the hunt for the victim’s identity and time of death, as well as suspects, motives, and means. Rumors swirl that Miss Bodycote’s is haunted, and that several girls have disappeared without a trace. When it comes to solving multiple mysteries, Flavia is up to the task—but her true destiny has yet to be revealed.
 


Review

This is the 7th book in this series about a very precocious and intelligent Falvia, who is now 12. The series is a delight- you learn lots of things about Chemistry and Science, as well making you reach for the dictionary every now and then! I love reading young characters who are smart, have common sense and are people you want to see mature, and to get to know better! This book introduces the reader to Miss Bodycote's, which seems very much like a female's Hogswort! Harry Potter fans will love the nuances and magic here as well. There is also a wonderful mystery for Flavia to solve with common sense and intellect, and pre-teens/teens will really love this book, and the previous ones in the series.


About the Author:

Alan Bradley received the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, his first novel, which went on to win the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Macavity Award and the Spotted Owl Award. He is the author of many short stories, children's stories, newspaper columns, and the memoir The Shoebox Bible. He co-authored Ms. Holmes of Baker Street with the late William A.S. Sarjeant. Bradley lives in Malta with his wife and two calculating cats. 


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