Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
I got a sneak peek* at the upcoming The Sherlock Society Art Attack (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, September 2026) by James Ponti and it was a fun romp. It may be the third book in a series, but the story sands alone just fine. (I have not read the others, but now I want to.)
Twelve-year-old Alex Sherlock, best friend Yadi, sister Zoe, new friend Lina, and former journalist grandpa make up the Sherlock Society in Miami, Florida. They agree to take on the case of finding who the graffiti artist Funky Monkey is for a developer who wants to hire the artist to do a mural. The team of five divide their search up into the five Ws: who, what, when where, and why. Along the way they meet a number of people in the tagging scene via Grandpa’s girlfriend, plus get involved with a podcaster who features Funky Monkey, and get involved in a some city arson cases.
The inside look at graffiti artists was interesting, although a bit too detailed in a few places. But I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, and their solving of multiple mysteries. It’s also fun how fluent the kids are with technology, and how they manage when that isn’t available. Can you say, “grounded”?
Check out this page for more about the series including a fun book trailer for the second book.
Read about the bestselling author of four series here and see all his awards here–it’s impressive! James will be doing a number of events for this book, which you can find here.
*I received access from the publisher to a digital advanced reader copy.