The Eleventh Hour, A Curious Mystery by: Graeme Base

Genre: Picture Book

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Copyright Date: 1988

Number of Pages: 32

Reading Level: ages 4-8

Summary:

The Eleventh Hour, A Curious Mystery is about an elephant name Horace who is having his 11th birthday party at his elaborate manor. For his party, he made 11 types of food, he invited 10 guests (making the total count 11) and he planned 11 games for them to play. All the guests arrived early in the morning dressed up in costumes. The guest walked into his home and immediately they made their way to the banquet hall to admire the food. They thought they could eat right away but Horace made the announcement that the food would not be eaten until 11 o'clock. So, the games began! They played sack-races, musical chairs (to the crocodile playing Mozart), Poker, Snakes and Ladders, Cricket, Pool, Blind Man's Buff, Tennis, Hide and Seek, Chess, and Tug o' War. By the time they were finished it was time to begin the feast! But when they got to the banquet hall all the food had been STOLEN! Then it went through each person explaining why it wasn't him or herself. Instead of letting the food being stolen get him down, Horace went to the kitchen and made a huge platter of sandwiches and all the friends enjoyed them along with a birthday cake on the lawn. But, that's not the end, the book ends by saying that the person who stole the food is someone they all knew, and it gives the reader the quest to find out who. That is when the true story begins. On every page there are hidden clues and messages to help the reader figure out who stole the feast. For instance, it gives you clues like, "watch the clocks" which indicates that the clocks have significant meeting. It also gives more blatant clues like, "it was not max." In the end, all the clues lead to Kilroy the mouse. He gathered all of his mouse friends and together they devoured the feast. The most obvious clue that pointed to him was on the page that they were playing musical chairs. ON the top there is a line of music and if you sing or play the notes, it is playing "Three Blind Mice."

Who would benefit from reading this book/To whom would I recommend this book?

I would recommend this book to children who enjoy mysteries. I would also recommend it to someone (adult or child) who enjoys puzzles. It was basically a complicated puzzle. I have met children who like this book, and adults.

What problems/conflicts would this book potentially cause?

I am not able to identify any problems that this book could cause.

My reaction:

I really enjoyed this book. I was supposed to be doing other homework when I began to read it, and every time I put it down I couldn't stand not looking for the clues so I had to pick it back up again. That continued until I figured out who had done it. It was a fun read and I would recommend it to anyone.