The Ring of Rocamadour (The Red Blazer Girls, #1)

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The Ring of Rocamadour (The Red Blazer Girls #1)

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 979 ratings · 220 reviews

It all began with The Scream. And ended with . . . well, if we told you that, it wouldn’t be a mystery! But in between The Scream and The Very Surprising Ending, three friends find themselves on a scavenger hunt set up for a girl they never met, in search of a legendary ring reputed to grant wishes. Are these sleuths in school uniforms modern-day equivalents of Nancy, Harr...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published April 14th 2009 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (first published 2009)

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Sep 02, 2009 Inge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids

Starting this book, I noticed a real Blue Balliet "Chasing Vermeer"-type of vibe. But, that quickly evaporated. The Red Blazer Girls are much more accessible than the Balliet protagonists, who are genius child-prodigy types. You get the feeling that Sophie, Rebecca, and Margaret could be your friends, and that you (yes, plain old average-intelligence "you") could help them solve the mystery. Yet, I appreciated the fact that the mystery wasn't at easy to solve as you'd think, and just when you th...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Reading Vacation's Mom rated it 5 of 5 stars

REVIEW
Do you like puns? This mystery was full of them and they made me laugh. Oh, and there was a dash of romance mixed in. This mystery also had geometry problems and word puzzles to solve. How’s that for unique?
The idea of a girl detective made me think of Nancy Drew, but Nancy was always older. I loved that The Red Blazer Girls were in middle school and Sophie is a “reader.” This made it easy for me to relate to them. I also liked how well they got along and worked together.
The plot definite...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, mystery

In short, The Red Blazer Girls is an okay mystery. The story centers around a quartet of plucky Catholic schoolgirls tasked with solving brainteaser-type clues in order to find a valuable ring. Although the premise is charming, the writing lacks sophistication and there are a number of story-telling gaffes. The book is burdened by obvious foreshadowing; irrelevant characters clutter the background; the writer over-estimates the average reader's knowledge of French, Dickens, and classical literat...more In short, The Red Blazer Girls is an okay mystery. The story centers around a quartet of plucky Catholic schoolgirls tasked with solving brainteaser-type clues in order to find a valuable ring. Although the premise is charming, the writing lacks sophistication and there are a number of story-telling gaffes. The book is burdened by obvious foreshadowing; irrelevant characters clutter the background; the writer over-estimates the average reader's knowledge of French, Dickens, and classical literature; and stiff dialogue and oddly-placed parentheticals abound. In one scene, a character makes plans to visit an art gallery after one of her friends offers to baby-sit her siblings for the afternoon--but a few scenes later, when the character is at the gallery, all of her friends are running around hunting the ring or attending acting class--so who's baby-sitting her younger siblings??? Plot holes like this are--I hate to say it, but it's true--kind of sloppy.

In spite of that list of criticism, there are good things about the book too. The problem is that the book's strengths fail to rise above the average. In other words, Red Blazer Girls doesn't distinguish itself from other young adult mysteries. There's nothing really wrong with that. It's obviously still a book that's enjoyed by many readers. It's just that in my opinion, this book is treading water at three stars, when you want it to be Ye Shiwen-ing its way to the finish line.

...Then again, it's possible that Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes series has spoiled the young adult mystery genre for me for the rest of my life. What's that? You're tired of my constantly bringing up the Sammy Keyes books and how awesome they are in all of my Goodreads reviews, even when they're completely irrelevant to the book I'm reviewing? (See my recent review of Fifty Shades of Grey.) Okay, but look: it's really relevant here, because both the Sammy Keyes series and the Red Blazer Girls series are girl-centric mysteries written for the same age group. I'm just saying that I think the Red Blazer Girls are three stars, and Sammy Keyes is Ye Shiwen, that's all. And I mean, that's cool. We can't all be Ye Shiwen. If we could, human beings would live in the ocean and build houses out of coral. And that would be a disaster, because I'm pretty sure that coral's endangered. So, moral of the story--The Red Blazer Girls: not outstanding, not bad, but perfectly fine for a summer afternoon.(less)

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Jul 11, 2012 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh my- this book is awesome! I'm intrigued enough to have already ordered another book in the series as soon as I started to read it. This is the first book in the series, written by a teacher. Narrated in the first person by Sophie St. Pierre, she tells of her adventures with her friends, Margaret Wroble, Rebecca Chen, and Leigh Ann Jaimes, all 7th graders at St. Veronica's girl school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The girls meet a slightly batty elderly lady who lives in the old nunnery...more

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Jun 13, 2012 M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

One day in English class, 7th grader Sophie St. Pierre sees a strange face staring at her through a high window in the church next door. Somewhat in the tradition of Nance Drew, the and her friends decide to solve the mystery--who is the strange woman with the long, white hair and what is she doing in the church tower? Little be little the girls unravel a mystery--they find a hidden letter in an old book, solve a series of puzzles to hunt for a hidden treasure, and face an honest-to-goodness bad...more

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May 27, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An excellent mystery, complete with math problems! Setting the scene in a cathedral was a good touch. The characters are nice, though none jump out at you aside from the narrator. I had a bit of a problem with the unexpected and out of place profanity. It didn’t seem as though any of the characters were the cursing type, and then out of the blue there was a burst of ‘hells’ and ‘damns’ (for no special reason). They continued to appear sporadically, and unnecessarily, throughout the book. I imagi...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Miss Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sophie, Margaret, and Becca are three normal seventh grade girls attending a normal Catholic school (St. Veronica's) in New York City. One day they stumble upon an old woman with a puzzle to solve -- a puzzle created twenty years before for her estranged daughter. The puzzle was never solved and Mrs. Harriman enlists the girls to go on the adventure and recover the hidden prize at the end.

The puzzles in the book range from word problems to literature trivia and math equations, and they are exact...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Lauren Librarian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Witty, clever, and fun, these middle school detectives made for a cute and light mystery with a little bit of fluff thrown in. Rebecca, Sophie, and the ultra-brainy Margaret are close friends at a private school who consider themselves the Nancy Drew crew of the modern era. These girls are bright, optimistic and, yes, they enjoy doing math problems! They interact happily with their parents, their teachers, and other adults in a healthy and mature way which makes this a great book for 'tweens. Pe...more Witty, clever, and fun, these middle school detectives made for a cute and light mystery with a little bit of fluff thrown in. Rebecca, Sophie, and the ultra-brainy Margaret are close friends at a private school who consider themselves the Nancy Drew crew of the modern era. These girls are bright, optimistic and, yes, they enjoy doing math problems! They interact happily with their parents, their teachers, and other adults in a healthy and mature way which makes this a great book for 'tweens. Perhaps "too good for 'tweens" if you know what I mean. It's not realistic and it's the kind of thing adults like to foist onto young people in hopes that they will emulate the behavior. Everything is age-appropriate and the reading level is just perfect for a middle to high schooler. While I enjoyed the clever and pithy dialogue, along with the girls' banter with each other, I had a really really hard time imagining these girls as.. as well.. as girls. The red blazer theme reminded me too much of the 'red hat society' that older ladies seem to love and there were a few details that had me reminding myself that these were little girls. The main character, Sophie, has parents who are from France making her fluent in French and also a lover of food. I have never met a young girl who so enjoyed, looked forward to, and appreciated food so very much. Coffee, hot chocolate, blueberry pancakes, lattes, and pastries were being consumed at every turn. The "clues" were very difficult and content specific to either Dickens novels or religion in some way, which don't strike me as pursuits that a young girl might be incredibly passionate about. Despite the fact that I had to often remind myself of the girls' ages, I did truly enjoy the book. I found it cute, upbeat, and encouraging. I wasn't on the edge of my seat or anything, but I liked the characters and wanted them to succeed which I think is the test of likable characters.

Update: I'm changing my three star review to a two because of a few reasons...

1. Real kids have real problems and this book doesn't reflect that. The hardest problem they have at home is that they were mean to their grandmother and don't know how to make it up to her. Truly, one of the characters agonizes about this.

2. It's not contemporary. A reviewer pointed out that the girls make references to Seinfeld and Monty Python. I'm a 30 year old woman and I feel that these references are too old for even my time. I got the feeling that these characters were little old ladies and it was more than their dialogue or mature decision making. The content is outdated.

3. There is no conflict! Okay, yes, there is a antagonist and, yes, he tries to get the girls in trouble, but there is no real, true risk of something bad happening. Even if the bad guy had succeeded, the kids may have gotten detention and that's really it.
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Sep 29, 2011 Shauna rated it 1 of 5 stars

The Book Diva brought this to Aerie. I was really excited about it's high ratings and surprise ending. (it's for those who love mystery, math and a modest measure of mayhem) It sounded perfect for her.She loves math, mystery and mayhem! And the second book is all about a vanishing violin--what could be more fitting? However, after she read it for an hour or so during Sallie's group class today, she said, "I really don't like it." I told her I was surprised that she didn't like it, because it see...more

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Sep 09, 2011 LJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-books

When listening to an audio book with a juvenile main character, it can make all the difference to my shallow listening skills to have someone whose voice matches the age level of the characters but does not make an exaggerated attempt to sound young. This was the case for me in listening to this audio book, voiced by Tai Alexandra Ricci. The Red Blazer girls are four friends who go to a catholic girls school in New York City. They find themselves embroiled in a mystery when one of the girls sees...more When listening to an audio book with a juvenile main character, it can make all the difference to my shallow listening skills to have someone whose voice matches the age level of the characters but does not make an exaggerated attempt to sound young. This was the case for me in listening to this audio book, voiced by Tai Alexandra Ricci. The Red Blazer girls are four friends who go to a catholic girls school in New York City. They find themselves embroiled in a mystery when one of the girls sees a ghostly face in a window during class. After school they go to investigate and become acquainted with an old eccentric woman whose residence just happens to have a window in common with the nearby parish associated with the girl's school. Not much is made of this fact, except that it lends a creepy quality to the beginning of the book because the girls must pass through an unused neglected staircase to find that their neighbor's residence connects to the church. It's also a useful spying location for the old neighbor, Mrs. Harriman's nefarious maid who lurks in the background every time the girls visit Mrs. Harriman. Anyways. On their first visit to Mrs. Harriman's she tells them of a birthday card to her estranged daughter from her deceased father that she has just found in a book of poetry--Tennyson? The card describes a sort-of scavenger hunt that the grandfather had devised leading to a present he had hidden. Solve the clues and find the present. But would it still be there after 20 years? This is the task Mrs. Harriman sets before the girls.

The girls are likable and although similar, have different enough backgrounds and personalities to make them into fully fleshed out characters. Their relationship to each other is also something that is quite likable. What isn't so likable are all the literary references and allusions to Catholicism. I got them, but wondered if the book's intended audience would. It may even turn off some readers that it has such an overtly "Catholic insider" vibe, but hey, it is set in a Catholic girl's school. The clues to solve the mystery will satisfy those readers that enjoy puzzles, but it does seem like one character, "the brainy one" does most of the heavy lifting in solving them. In any case, it's a fun, clean ride--just a teensy bit of swearing, and a sprinkle of romance--but not enough for a YA rating.
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Dec 28, 2010 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a lot of fun. Having just read Heist Society and Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, I can say it fits in nicely with those others.

I expected the puzzles and mystery; what I didn't expect was the good writing and characterization. The protagonist, Sophie St. Pierre, narrates in a funny, fresh, likable voice that reminds me of several of my favorite bloggers.

Again, as in Theodore Boone, you have a functional professional family who still makes time to be together when it's important. The New Yo...more

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Nov 08, 2010 BookKids rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: midgrade, mystery

In this series Sophie, Margaret, and Rebecca are in school together in Manhattan where they meet an older woman next door who has just uncovered the first clue of a mystery. Intrigued, the girls decide to follow the (math-based) clues to try and find the treasure hidden at the end. Of course, other nefarious characters are also after the treasure, and the girls must use their wits to outsmart them.

It’s a fun, fast-paced, easy read (except for the math.) Fortunately, you don’t have to solve the e...more

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Jun 22, 2010 Denise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2010

This book didn't live up to my expectations based on the reviews I've read AND that it has been nominated to go on the Lone Star list. I'm a middle school librarian - grades 7 and 8. I think my younger students, mostly girls will like this book. The writing just seemed so juvenile - not much sophistication to it. I know it is supposed to sound like a 7th grade girl telling her own story but it just didn't ring true to me. I would recommend it to the elementary librarians but there is 'language'...more

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May 11, 2010 Madeline Smoot rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

I was a kid, I read Nancy Drew nearly every day in fourth grade. (I also read The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, The Bosbey Twins, Cherry Ames, The Three Investigators and pretty much every mystery like these except for The Boxcar Children. I somehow missed The Boxcar Children.)

You can probably guess that I liked mystery series as a kid. So imagine how excited I when the BookPeople buyer handed me a new children’s mystery series for girls. I even like to think of it as the Nancy Drew for the modern...more

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Mar 10, 2010 Ruhama rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen

Sophie, Margaret and Becca are your typical trio of friends just starting seventh grade at St. Veronica's, new red blazers and all, except that they've managed to get involved in a mystery in the first month of school. It all begins when Sophie sees a face in the window of the church and decides they need to investigate. This leads to a secret passage, Elizabeth Harriman and a twenty year old scavenger hunt. Mrs. Harriman's father was a famous archeologist who passed on his love for discovery to...more Sophie, Margaret and Becca are your typical trio of friends just starting seventh grade at St. Veronica's, new red blazers and all, except that they've managed to get involved in a mystery in the first month of school. It all begins when Sophie sees a face in the window of the church and decides they need to investigate. This leads to a secret passage, Elizabeth Harriman and a twenty year old scavenger hunt. Mrs. Harriman's father was a famous archeologist who passed on his love for discovery to his daughter and granddaughter, Caroline. Just before he died, he left a birthday card with a clue to treasure for Caroline. Mrs. Harriman would like the mystery solved so she can reconcile with her daughter, using the treasure as a peace offering, as the two grew apart as Caroline got older. Now the trio of seventh graders have a brain teaser to figure out, which will lead to other brain teasers, math puzzles and literature references. The going gets tough, though, when they start to suspect someone else wants the treasure, too, and time begins to run short.

Many are saying this is a modern Nancy Drew, with a new trio of girls solving mysteries. I would agree in part, but also would argue this is a little more accessible, as it's a bit more realistic (though I wasn't reading Charles Dickens in 7th grade) and gives the reader a sense of involvement with the puzzles provided. This novel has the mystery aspect, yes, but also has family, friendship and school woes to work out. Sophie is the narrator, but all the characters have a distinct voice and develop nicely. I enjoyed Sophie's humor, as well as Margaret's explanations of how to solve the puzzles (especially the math ones) and Becca's struggle with her mom's view of Becca's future. I also appreciated the girls trusting various adults when they needed help, as they knew they couldn't solve everything on their own. Give this to readers who enjoyed either Do the Math or Chasing Vermeer, as well as Nancy Drew. A second book is scheduled to come out this summer.(less)

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Aug 31, 2009 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the reasons I love serving on the Rhode Island Teen Book Award Committee is that it exposes me to so many interesting books that I would probably not have heard of or at least not picked up on my own. Not all of them are worthy enough to make it to the list, but they are still great reads, all the same. I think this one might make the list for 2011, but only time will tell.

Set in Manhattan, this is the story of four seventh grade girls who are attending a private school (St. Veronica's)....more One of the reasons I love serving on the Rhode Island Teen Book Award Committee is that it exposes me to so many interesting books that I would probably not have heard of or at least not picked up on my own. Not all of them are worthy enough to make it to the list, but they are still great reads, all the same. I think this one might make the list for 2011, but only time will tell.

Set in Manhattan, this is the story of four seventh grade girls who are attending a private school (St. Veronica's). It is not one of those city schools for the wealthy and privileged, though, which allows the book to have that "sweet" sense that encapsulates being a middle schooler.

The narrator is Sophie St. Pierre. She is really hoping to be a writer one day, and this is an attempt at taking that old advice about "writing what you know." Her two best friends are Rebecca Chen, who has artistic aspirations, and Margaret Wrobel, a girl of Polish descent who is stressing over the fact her grandmother has moved in.

The three girls find themselves drawn into a mystery after visiting Ms. Harriman, an eccentric lady who lives next door to their school and the attached church. While exploring books from in her home library, Ms. Harriman has come across a card written from her father to her daughter. It was carefully hidden in a favorite book for her daughter just before her 16th birthday to kick off a treasure hunt that would lead to her birthday gift. Unfortunately, through fate, the card was not found until 20 years later. Now Ms. Harriman is hoping the girls, who are quite bright, will help sort out the mystery.

Through following clues provided by the card and those found as each step of the treasure hunt is completed, the girls make their way toward finding the goal. They are joined by Leigh Ann Jamimes, their class mate and actress supreme, during the hunt. Together they use math, language, history, and literature knowledge to sort everything out.

Throughout the course of the mystery, they must balance the demands it places on their time with their classes and personal lives. They also find themselves in no shortage of nail-biting moments as they explore the church and nearby areas to locate each solution.

As a group, the girls are fun, realistic, and very funny. They are surrounded by a large number of interesting characters ranging from their parents to the various church officials and even their literature teacher. The clues they must draw from are not overly complex, but would likely prove challenging for most girls their age, and I think that most readers will find the book to be a fun and interesting read.

I would definitely have no problem in recommending this one. My only complaint, really is the cover. While it does a nice job of capturing the noir feeling and merging it with a sense of Nancy Drew or Scooby-Doo, it does make the book seem like it is for much younger readers. The girls are only twelve, but they seem very young in the image on the cover. It might drive potential readers away.(less)

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Jun 17, 2011 Krista (CubicleBlindness Reviews) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

One day in class like any other day, Sophie looks out the window at school and thinks she sees a ghost in the window of the building next door and screams. She and her friends decide that during lunch they are going to investigate. They end up sneaking through the church and "breaking in" to the upper floors which connect the church to the adjacent building where the old Ms. Harriman resides. Ms Harriman of course finds them snooping and befriends them. Eventually Ms Harriman decides to send the...more One day in class like any other day, Sophie looks out the window at school and thinks she sees a ghost in the window of the building next door and screams. She and her friends decide that during lunch they are going to investigate. They end up sneaking through the church and "breaking in" to the upper floors which connect the church to the adjacent building where the old Ms. Harriman resides. Ms Harriman of course finds them snooping and befriends them. Eventually Ms Harriman decides to send these girls on a quest to find a missing birthday present that her father and meant to pass on to her daughter before he passed. But sadly the first note with the clues on how to find the present had been stored in a book and left for 20 years. As the girls solve one clue it leads them to another clue.

What I loved about this story is that the girls are hilarious. I found myself very amused with the dialogue and their reactions. They had me laughing in every chapter.

The thing I found different in this book than others that are similar, is the way the clues are handled. The girls have to solve several types of problems, English, Math, etc. But the way that the book is written the girls explain the problems as they work through them. I of course would not have figured out these things on my own if I had to, but they all were very logical and interesting. I felt very accomplished when I found the answer to one of the clues before they did, then there was a twist I didn't see coming adding to my enjoyment of the puzzle. I was amazed the girls could figure out the very educational clues, but after all they were private school girls and seemed very advanced for their ages. (7th grade).

I learned as I read and not only that, I found out new things that I want to continue exploring. For example I think I found a brand new interest in reading the classics, especially Dickens. There was even a chapter or two with math equations and you HAD to work out the problem to continue reading. (you will not be graded of course) and they walk you through the answer in the next chapter. With graphs as well as verbal explanations.

I highly recommend these books, fantastic reads, very entertaining and enjoyable. I felt like I was one of their group and on a fantastic treasure hunt working through the clues along with them. (less)

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Oct 10, 2011 Rosalyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a clever middle-grade novel, following four seventh-grade friends as they try to solve a decades old mystery for an old lady who lives near their NYC Catholic school. The girls are all smart and fun (particularly the main character, Sophie, who tells the story) and I liked how wholesome (for lack of a better word) the story felt. Although each of the characters has her own challenges, the challenges were believable ones for middle school students, and none of the characters faced life-o...more

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May 09, 2011 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Apr 01, 2013 KayLee J. added it

I recently finished The Red Blazer Girls by Michael D. Beil. This book is great for people who like mystery, math, and a lot of action! Sophie's scream began it all... After searching the school's church attic the girls find a secret passage way leading to the mysterious Ms. Harrimans home. She sets on an adventure to find the ring of Racamoudor. The author does a really good job describing the setting. It's like a painted picture in my mind of what everything looks like. The next few chapters a...more

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Nov 23, 2009 Elisha Condie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I still haven't found a good groove at the new library we are forced to patronize. Our real library is closed for a 2 year renovation and we miss it badly. I haven't found any recommend books at this new library that I've cared about at all.

Except this one. I found it in the kids section because I had to stay there while the little girl I was with searched out her books. If left alone I can hear her using a threatening voice to other kids saying "that's MY book", so I stick close. And I found t...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Rosalia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, humor, mystery, young-adult, battle-of-the-books

Sophie see's a woman in a window at school and drags two of her friends. The women needs help solving a twenty year old mystery that may reunite her with her estranged daughter. In addition to the mystery there are boy problems, a Great Expectations skit and an evil deacon.

This was a cute little mystery. There wasn't anything super exciting about it. If you think about it enough a couple chapters in and you can figure out who dunnit. The girls are sweet and likable as are many of the other chara...more

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Mar 06, 2013 G.K. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries, realistic-fiction

This is a laugh out loud mystery which had me giggling from the very beginning! Even the chapters have hilarious names.

I hadn't really read an honest-to-goodness mystery in a while, so I checked this book out at my library after Goodreads recommended it to me. I started reading it and I was hooked. The narrator, Sophie, is extremely funny. So is Mr. Eliot. He made a comment about 'Randy Bob Shakespeare' that had me snorting in laughter. All the girls have their own unique talents, as well as the...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Isabelle rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like mystery and humor in their books

Recommended to Isabelle by: My friend

Shelves: just-plain-good, good-heroine, funny, favorites

This is a hilarious book about a few ordinary girls in extraordinary adventure. Meanwhile they go through life (homework, mean girls, the Boy). I love the mystery aspect and the humor from Sophie, the narrator. I love this whole series (although the second IS a little slow).

I think I especially like this book because it is narrated by a girl my age who wants to be an author and hoards books *guilty smile* Sophie has friends and doesn't act like some book middle school girls (they don't tell them...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: grades 6-8

Recommended to Sarah by: sp

Shelves: children-mystery, audio

This is a sweet story that I enjoyed--and I normally can't stand mysteries. It was well-written with very likable characters.

Sophie is a seventh-grader who is close friends with Margaret and Rebecca; they all attend St. Veronica's, a private school in New York City. While sitting in class one day, Sophie thinks she sees a figure in one of the windows of the church across the way in a place she thought was unused. She and her friends check it out and end up meeting a kind, if not odd, old lady wh...more

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May 13, 2011 Rosie rated it 2 of 5 stars

While I found this book to be completely unbelievable, I think this is a great book for tweens who like Nancy Drew. Four 7th grade girls who attend a prep school befriend an elderly woman who tells them about a mystery she wants them to solve for her. The woman's father, who was a famous archeologist, made a scavenger hunt for his granddaughter's birthday with a priceless ring as the prize. Unfortunately, he died before he could give her the first clue, which the elderly woman recently stumbled...more

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Oct 13, 2009 ananka rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-book

It was ok and probably most of my beefs are with the reading, since I listened to this book. The woman reading did a good job with the voices, but her portrayal of the older woman kept making me think she was trying to pull one over on the girls. I was waiting for the cat to be let out of the bag. Instead the flip was someone else. Maybe I just wanted to dislike her for her over-niceness. My second problem was with the "teaching moments". They were painfully obvious and I could imagine the kids...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Sally rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-girls

This is the first in the series and overall I think they are good books. Enough mystery to keep me interested. Characters seem well developed and draw you in. My one complaint is that they don't act like 7th graders/12 year olds. They act more like high school freshman. I would say the writing level is about at 5th/6th grade, yet the boy and girl drama is more appropriate for someone a couple of years older. Are they good books? Yes. Would I let my 4th grader who is reading at an 8th grade level...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Red Blazer Girls
by Michael D. Bell
Calling all math geniuses! The girls from St. Veronica's Catholic School stumble across a secret passageway that takes them on a quest to find something very special, something hidden over twenty years ago right in New York City. Strangely enough, the answers to the quest are hidden in a series of riddles that test the girls' knowledge of algebra and geometry. Sound boring? I think not. It's fun to see how the girls work together and reason over daily visits...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Carolyn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, childrens, mystery, multicultural, young-adult

This book starts out promisingly enough with a likeable French-American main character and a pleasingly multi-cultural cast, but quickly devolves into a strange amalgam of Nancy Drew and a soap opera. Unbelievable plot turns conspire to force a team of intelligent but high-drama middle school girls into a hunt for an extremely valuable religious artifact. Over-explanation of the brain teaser clues (including a lengthy discussion of the simple concept of the Pythagorean Theorem) are only part of...more

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About Michael D. Beil

Michael D. Beil grew up in rural Ohio , where he learned to milk cows and other important lessons. He was a sailor, sailmaker and lawyer before finding his true calling in 1997: Teacher.

Since 2001, he has taught English and drama at Saint Vincent Ferrer, an all-girls Catholic high school in Manhattan, where he also wrote and produced Aftershocks, a play based on the challenges facing the immigrant...more

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Books by Michael D. Beil

The Vanishing Violin (The Red Blazer Girls, #2)

The Mistaken Masterpiece (The Red Blazer Girls, #3)

The Secret Cellar (The Red Blazer Girls, #4)

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title link	preview: The Ring of Rocamadour
avg rating	preview: The Ring of Rocamadour Goodreads rating: 3.69 (979 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4581447-the-ring-of-rocamadour?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320427707l/4581447.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4581447-the-ring-of-rocamadour?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil[/url]

The Ring of Rocamadour (The Red Blazer Girls #1)

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