Eddie Woo & Dave Hartley (text), and Mitch Vane (illustrator), Team Trouble (Whodunnit, Eddie Woo? #2), Pan Macmillan, June 2022, 204 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781760983000
Something fishy is going on at the Sunny Side Aged Care Home, and it’s up to Eddie and his friends, Rusty and DT, to work out what’s going on from the clues that elderly Mr Appleby has left for them. Mr Appleby may have Alzheimer’s, but he’s still sharp when it comes to maths and cryptic puzzles. Luckily, so are Eddie and Rusty and DT, and with every piece of Mr Appleby’s puzzle they solve they uncover another piece of a very sinister secret.
Can they solve the mystery, save the day, and still manage to win the school’s Triple Threat competition? Read on and find out.
There are strong positive messages about doing the right thing and being a part of a community throughout the book, and one of the elements that stood out for me, because it’s not something I encounter often in junior fiction, was the active, positive involvement of the parents in the story as they support Eddie and his friends.
There is action aplenty, and Eddie and his friends find themselves racing from night-time drama at the aged care home to clues at the zoo, with helicopter rides, dramatic plots, and attempted kidnapping along the way. In all of this, they manage to find time to practise their skateboarding for the Triple Threat maths, skateboarding and singing school competition, and face off against their rivals for the final talent performance.
The text is well spaced and visually accessible for readers who are starting to bridge the gap from beginner readers into longer chapter books, and the various clues are shown visually throughout the text to make them easier for readers to see what’s going on. The sketched illustrations add a fun energy to the story that would make the pages appealing to young readers.
This series is one for maths minded readers, and readers aged 7 to 10 who enjoy a bit of mystery with a solid helping of action and adventure. The puzzles at the heart of the story didn’t feel like ones that were intended for readers to solve themselves, but rather as clues to be understood as Eddie and his friends worked them out and explained them. As the puzzles move along, the action kicks up in a very satisfying way, and there is plenty of drama with justice for all in the end. Another title Time Out, was also released simultaneously.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
