Meet the Little Braveheart Detective

 Review by Ronica Wahi

Bernice Takes a Plunge

By Ann Harth

First published: March 5, 2020, Odyssey Books.

Kindle Edition Pages: 103. 

ASIN: B084H76VYD

Naughty, overtly imaginative, sharp, observant, courageous, rash, impulsive, awkward, annoying, and lovable. That’s Bernice Peppercorn, the hero of Ann Harth’s Bernice Takes a Plunge. Hero indeed for the little girl braves a storm to solve a crime!

Because her imagination has, in the past, made Bernice draw inferences that had no touch with reality, people are not inclined to hear her out when there’s actually something she’s discovered. When she insists on going to the police with her latest finding, her mother tells her,

“Bernice, you really will be an author one day. Your imagination is amazing!”

Bernice really is on that route. She jots down what she sees, collects materials for the adventure she is penning, makes notes on what to be careful of, does free-writing to get her thoughts in order, and cooks up wild tales to explain the disappearance of yet another hat. Her constant looking out for adventure and mystery actually land her into her cherished zone.

There are some really hilarious instances such as the one where she creates a potion for helping cure her friend’s chickenpox and the one where she prepares patty cakes. Okay, may be just reading and imagining them is funny. These would not be as funny if one were to deal with a person like Bernice; they would simply be exasperating!

Bernice is courageous, perhaps to a dangerous degree. Fortunately, she has a helpful, nice fisherman friend in Ike, who ensures her crazy courageousness doesn’t lead to disaster. Ike is an interesting character. And there are others such as our hero’s brother Jake and Sergeant Bailey whose actions and reactions can be vividly visualized.

Ann Harth has prior experience of writing for kids and that shows in how the book flows smooth for children to comfortably comprehend. She shares in the Acknowledgments that her own daughter Becky is the inspiration behind her character Bernice!

This book will be a fun read for children about ten to twelve years of age. Many will identify with or recall in some form Bernice’s sense of curiosity,  her craze for a celebrity,  her sharing a hideout only with her bestie, her mean act of dirtying her brother’s towel (siblings, uff!), and her wishes for being able to escape her mother’s notice when she’s done something she shouldn’t have. In fact, older readers might also enjoy the tale, for the nostalgia it might bring, if for nothing else.

To all those real kids and not real kids but kids-at-heart who love adventures – fictional or otherwise, happy reading and Happy International Children’s Day!


Check out Bernice Takes a Plunge here:

Amazon India link for Bernice Takes a Plunge (Paperback, Import): https://amzn.to/3lseb1O

Amazon India link for Bernice Takes a Plunge (Kindle): https://amzn.to/3v15Yoh

 

DISCLAIMER: Ronica Wahi is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. If you make a purchase through any of the Amazon links provided by Ronica here, she may receive a small commission, without any extra cost to you.

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