Title: Charlie & Frog: A Mystery
Author: Karen Kane
ISBN: 978-136800582-1
At the start of Charlie & Frog: A Mystery, Charlie Tickler is sent to his grandparents while his parents are in South Africa helping giant golden moles. His grandparents are a bit peculiar, they are addicted to television and will not do anything else.
Charlie goes off to visit a village library in Castle-on-the-Hudson. He meets, Aggie, a deaf lady who signs a message quickly to him. He understands only a little of the sign language and Aggie quickly disappears.
Bewildered by what the message means, he asks the librarian about it and she tells Charlier to seek Francine Castle (“Frog”), who taught her some sign language. Frog is a girl who is deaf and who also wants to be a great detective. Charlie finds her working at her mother’s coffee shop, Flying Hands Café. Frog is quick to jump at the opportunity to help solve the mystery.
Charlie and Frog take off to discover the truth behind the mysterious message. With this new collaboration, Charlie needs to quickly learn American Sign Language to communicate better with Frog and Frog needs to sharpen her detective skills to solve the case.
My 11-year-old found this title to be exciting and would strongly recommend it to others. It’s a great mystery for young teens and you get to learn some ASL too throughout the pages of Charlie & Frog too. This book is recommended for children ages 9-12 and is 256 pages in length.
