Smashie McPerter and the Shocking Rocket Robbery

by N. Griffin, Kate Hindley (Illustrator)

Overview

“The story is fast-paced, the chapters are filled with appealing characters, and potentially unfamiliar words are clearly explained. . . . Young readers will be happily caught up in the duo’s latest mystery.” —School Library Journal

Smashie McPerter and her classmates from Room 11 are going on a field trip to the planetarium! Nobody is more excited than Smashie’s best friend, Dontel, who dreams of becoming an astrophysicist. In fact, Dontel has even created an accurate drawing of a working rocket, piloted by his and Smashie’s favorite action figure, Brainyon. In a surprise move, Dontel’s grandmother, who’s chaperoning, brings the rocket drawing with her to enter into the planetarium’s science contest. But in a shocking turn of events, the drawing goes missing before they get there! Smashie is on the case. But the suspect list keeps growing—prankster Billy, who prefers The Haddock over Brainyon; tight-lipped Tatiana, who’s wearing a NASA T-shirt; and . . . Smashie herself? Nobody is above suspicion in this third hilarious and clever Smashie McPerter mystery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536236200
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/25/2025
Series:	Smashie McPerter Investigates , #3
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x (d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

N. GRIFFIN is the author of the Smashie McPerter series, as well as The Whole Stupid Way We Are, for which she was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start author. Her other books include Just Wreck It All and Trigger. She received her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Kate Hindley is a children’s book illustrator living and working in the U.K. She worked as a print designer before illustrating her first book, Claire Freedman’s The Great Snortle Hunt, which was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Since then, she has illustrated a number of books, including the Smashie McPerter chapter books, The Same But Different Too by Karl Newson, and Don't Call Me Choochie Pooh! by Sean Taylor.

Editorial Reviews

Adorably earnest. . . The whole is related in a sophisticated style that trusts its readers to keep up all the way to the incredibly sweet, Christie-worthy resolution. . . . A welcome return!
—Kirkus Reviews

The story is fast-paced, the chapters are filled with appealing characters, and potentially unfamiliar words are clearly explained. . . . Young readers will be happily caught up in the duo’s latest mystery.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

05/01/2021

Gr 1–3—In this third book in the series, Smashie and best friend Dontel Marquise are now in third grade and still solving mysteries at Rebecca Lee Crumpler Elementary School. Griffin provides plenty of background to help readers easily follow the mysteries waiting to be solved in Smashie's and Dontel's latest adventure, a class field trip to the Stephen Hawking Planetarium. But on the road to the planetarium, mysteries like a missing space-related snack, Dontel's stolen drawing of a space rocket, and the discovery of the story of Smashie's "real" name start piling up. Even Smashie and Dontel's friendship gets strained, and young readers may wonder if it is irrevocably broken. Throughout the story, Griffin explains scientific words like pneumatics, nebulae, and constellations, describing in detail what a trip to a planetarium is really like. Hindley's black-and-white line drawings illustrate key plot points and showcase the diversity of Griffin's characters. Smashie is white with brown hair, while Dontel has brown skin and curly black hair. The story is fast-paced, the chapters are filled with appealing characters, and potentially unfamiliar words are clearly explained. VERDICT A recommended purchase to round out the series that can also be enjoyed as a stand alone. Young readers will be happily caught up in the duo's latest mystery.—Cheryl Blevens, Cunningham Memorial Lib., Indiana State Univ.

School Library Journal

2021-08-18
Smashie and Dontel return for their most convoluted case yet.

Room 11 is going to the planetarium today, and Smashie, Dontel, and their grandmothers have prepared a special “space-related snack” for the trip. But during morning meeting, Dontel’s grandmother—who, along with Smashie’s grandmother and Mr. Bloom, the head custodian and an avid astronomer, will be chaperoning—shows off Dontel’s “technically correct drawing of a space rocket” to the admiring amazement of everyone—except Dontel, who doesn’t want it shown. When Ms. Early announces that the best friend of Dontel’s hero, Dr. Cornelius duVasse Bryson, will be at the planetarium, well, Smashie just knows she needs to sneak Dontel’s drawing along to show Dr. Bryson’s friend. But before they even leave, someone steals the snack, and on the bus, Smashie realizes Dontel’s drawing has been stolen too! Griffin’s characters are adorably earnest, gravely enunciating space-related snack over and over, so seriously do they take both the treat and its theft, and Smashie’s agonies of regret at her subterfuge are believable and endearing. The whole is related in a sophisticated style that trusts its readers to keep up all the way to the incredibly sweet, Christie-worthy resolution. Smashie is White, Dontel is Black, and Room 11 is racially diverse. Final illustrations not seen.

A welcome return! (Mystery. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews