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Undersea Mystery Club #3
The Puzzling Paintings
When graffiti starts appearing on buildings all over Aquamarina, Violet and Wally follow the clues to find the culprit! In Book 3 of the series, join the Undersea Mystery Club as they explore the ocean to help their aquatic friends!
It’s the first day of school, and Violet can’t wait to see all of her friends. But after a mysterious blob of paint appears on the school building, Violet and her best friend Wally get to work looking for clues. Soon, the sleuths find themselves not only solving a mystery, but helping out the last person in Aquamarina they'd expect . . .
After the adventure, readers can turn to the back of the book to find STEAM facts about famous artists who incorporated nature, math, and science into their works!
It’s the first day of school, and Violet can’t wait to see all of her friends. But after a mysterious blob of paint appears on the school building, Violet and her best friend Wally get to work looking for clues. Soon, the sleuths find themselves not only solving a mystery, but helping out the last person in Aquamarina they'd expect . . .
After the adventure, readers can turn to the back of the book to find STEAM facts about famous artists who incorporated nature, math, and science into their works!
- GenresMystery
96 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2020
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 22, 2020
I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.
The Puzzling Paintings is the latest book in the Undersea Mystery Club book series for children aged approximately 8-9 years.
Viola and her undersea mystery club uncover a puzzling paintings case in this book and through a light and fun story they set out to uncover it.
This book introduces children to a new topic of mystery and detective work and also things such as graffiti that children may not really have heard of before.
This book series is great for reluctant readers or early readers or children on a reading scheme and would make a fun and bright addition to any bookshelf.
The Puzzling Paintings is the latest book in the Undersea Mystery Club book series for children aged approximately 8-9 years.
Viola and her undersea mystery club uncover a puzzling paintings case in this book and through a light and fun story they set out to uncover it.
This book introduces children to a new topic of mystery and detective work and also things such as graffiti that children may not really have heard of before.
This book series is great for reluctant readers or early readers or children on a reading scheme and would make a fun and bright addition to any bookshelf.
September 17, 2020
An interesting and short read, supplemented with wonderful illustrations and even more impressive characters that will easily attract the attention of your child.
The first thing that made my little daughter smile was the character of Violet, a little mermaid who was a decisive factor when choosing what kind of picture book to read. Although this is part of a series, for us it was the first book we read, and we had no problem because we had not read the previous books.
Children get an extraordinary opportunity to get acquainted with the inhabitants of the seabed, to increase their knowledge of certain types of aquatic creatures, so masterfully combined with fantasy, and more than enough to hold their attention to the very end.
The Puzzling Paintings (Undersea Mystery Club Book 3) by Courtney Carbone contains powerful profound messages and topics for reflection, presented through the use of simple and adequate language structures, which children can easily understand. The author in a very simple, but at the same time impressive way with the topic of the graffiti leads the children to think about social responsibility, about acceptable versus unacceptable behavior. Furthermore, what impresses me personally as a parent is the subtle message that, regardless of age, every child can take the initiative and play a role in solving the problems that affect them as well.
The additions at the end are an absolute benefit for all readers, who will opt for this wonderful picture book, which will help them to get to know the world around them better.
I don't know if you realized by now that I really liked this picture book, and I think it will be a great choice for parents with children who want to enjoy and learn at the same time.
The first thing that made my little daughter smile was the character of Violet, a little mermaid who was a decisive factor when choosing what kind of picture book to read. Although this is part of a series, for us it was the first book we read, and we had no problem because we had not read the previous books.
Children get an extraordinary opportunity to get acquainted with the inhabitants of the seabed, to increase their knowledge of certain types of aquatic creatures, so masterfully combined with fantasy, and more than enough to hold their attention to the very end.
The Puzzling Paintings (Undersea Mystery Club Book 3) by Courtney Carbone contains powerful profound messages and topics for reflection, presented through the use of simple and adequate language structures, which children can easily understand. The author in a very simple, but at the same time impressive way with the topic of the graffiti leads the children to think about social responsibility, about acceptable versus unacceptable behavior. Furthermore, what impresses me personally as a parent is the subtle message that, regardless of age, every child can take the initiative and play a role in solving the problems that affect them as well.
The additions at the end are an absolute benefit for all readers, who will opt for this wonderful picture book, which will help them to get to know the world around them better.
I don't know if you realized by now that I really liked this picture book, and I think it will be a great choice for parents with children who want to enjoy and learn at the same time.
February 21, 2021
A truly original fantasy story about an underwater world of amazing creatures. Violet, a mermaid and the protagonist, lives amongst all sorts of other sea creatures. When graffiti starts showing up all over town, Violet and her best sea friend are determined to solve the mystery. After careful note-taking at the crime scenes, they finally find out that the new octopus in town, Ollie, is the graffiti artist. Although the graffiti was an innocent doing, mainly a way of expressing himself, he gets in big trouble and is asked to clean up what he did. However, Violet does pull for the town to forgive him and to give the newbie a chance to express himself in a positive way. This book teaches young students of ages 4-9 the importance of not jumping to conclusions. Violet could have blamed the town troublemaker but she conducted a thorough investigation and didn’t blame anyone without being sure. The story teaches kids the importance of second chances and that sometimes we do wrong things without even realizing that they are not accepted, based on how we were raised or where we come from. In other words, sometimes our actions have good intentions but are completely ill advised. In addition, students can relate to Ollie being the new kid in school. Violet sets a wonderful example of how students should treat new students when she offers to help Ollie, allowing him to sit with her. All and all, in this fantastic story, there are countless morals, lessons and values that permeate the plot while grasping the attention of young readers with its use of sea animals as characters that talk and act as part of a sea community. There is so much a teacher could do with this book. It could be used to teach about reading closely for clues in a fantasy mystery. Moreover, the teacher could highlight the following life lessons: welcoming a new student, not blaming others even when a person seems guilty, giving second chances to people that make mistakes, asking for forgiveness, and things are not always as they seem. I read this on Epic!
October 7, 2020
This is a great series for primary students (age 8 or 9) in an early chapter book series. Violet the mermaid and Wally the narwhal make up the Undersea Mystery Club and they get together to solve a crime or situation. It is a fun way to introduce mysteries to young children by brainstorming and hypothesizing, evaluating each hypothesis, and finally observation. In this story, someone is painting graffiti all over Aquamarina. The police see it as a crime, Violet and Wally want to find out who is doing it and why. Talking it out and remembering what they had seen earlier in the day, they figured out what happened. There is also a new character in this story, an octopus named Ollie, who just wants to make friends and be welcomed to town. This is a cute early reader mystery with delightful illustrations and a fun story. The characters are interesting with human characteristics. There is friendship, curiosity, intelligence and fun. This was a simple mystery that was solved. I like that there is both a female character (mermaid) and a male (narwhal) so it will appeal to both boys and girls. The back of the book includes some general information about things from the story, in this case graffiti, murals and artists to encourage further investigation. I recommend this series for schools and classroom libraries or even family libraries. I was gifted with a copy of this book upon request. The rating and opinions shared are my own.
August 28, 2020
While this is a reasonable book for the reluctant reader who wants something this slim and slender to get a sense of accomplishment, and while it provides a bright and colourful world for its characters to live in, it is a little bit too basic. The mermaid, the narwhal and the starfish in the mermaid's hair who gets a solitary mention in the text, if I recall, are astonished to see graffiti all over their school – and it's only the first morning of the new school year. The culprit couldn't possibly be the inky, artistic outsider Ollie the octopus, could it? Well, yes.
Now I cannot remember the first book in this series being so patently solvable, but this is the second one in a row where the story has been too childishly simplistic. This is a step back up in quality, for the first sequel really struggled to get anywhere as regards narrative. This is a very, very juvenile thriller, though – with the grand total of two possible suspects, and the right one obvious even before we've met the second. There probably is a market for such easy-to-solve crime books, but all told this still seemed a little too facile.
Now I cannot remember the first book in this series being so patently solvable, but this is the second one in a row where the story has been too childishly simplistic. This is a step back up in quality, for the first sequel really struggled to get anywhere as regards narrative. This is a very, very juvenile thriller, though – with the grand total of two possible suspects, and the right one obvious even before we've met the second. There probably is a market for such easy-to-solve crime books, but all told this still seemed a little too facile.
November 20, 2025
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When strange black blobs begin appearing around town, Violet and Wally are on the case. The duo puts together the clues to figure out who is responsible.
This is the first I’ve read in the Undersea Mystery Club series. It can be easily read as a standalone, but I’m sure it would be better with the background information on the characters.
A sweet mystery. Nicely written. Great themes of friendship, forgiveness, honesty, and owning up to your mistakes. I also loved the emphasis on the difference between graffiti and street murals.
Wonderful, engaging artwork. The colorful illustrations pair well with the text.
The backmatter contains more information on famous artists, graffiti, and murals.
I enjoyed this short read and look forward to reading some of the other books in the series.
When strange black blobs begin appearing around town, Violet and Wally are on the case. The duo puts together the clues to figure out who is responsible.
This is the first I’ve read in the Undersea Mystery Club series. It can be easily read as a standalone, but I’m sure it would be better with the background information on the characters.
A sweet mystery. Nicely written. Great themes of friendship, forgiveness, honesty, and owning up to your mistakes. I also loved the emphasis on the difference between graffiti and street murals.
Wonderful, engaging artwork. The colorful illustrations pair well with the text.
The backmatter contains more information on famous artists, graffiti, and murals.
I enjoyed this short read and look forward to reading some of the other books in the series.
September 3, 2020
My daughter and I really loved this book. It was a fun book about mermaids and other creatures who live under the sea. Violet, Wally and the other characters were so cute and my daughter loved the story about Violet and Wally going to school and going on a detective hunt to find out who was responsible for doing graffiti on the local buildings. The story, characters and illustrations were fantastic. I highly recommend this book; it was really good!
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exhange for an honest review.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exhange for an honest review.
October 26, 2020
I really enjoyed this story and the illustration were just lovely!
The book was easy to read and follow and it had a lovely flow to it.
I thought that the characters were good, I liked how they worked together and came to a great resolution after they solved the mystery too - I will admit as a adult it was pretty predictable but for the age range it should be absolutely fine!
It is 4 stars from me for this one - a great story, well written and with some lovely characters!
Highly recommended!
The book was easy to read and follow and it had a lovely flow to it.
I thought that the characters were good, I liked how they worked together and came to a great resolution after they solved the mystery too - I will admit as a adult it was pretty predictable but for the age range it should be absolutely fine!
It is 4 stars from me for this one - a great story, well written and with some lovely characters!
Highly recommended!
September 9, 2020
4/5 stars!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The illustrations in this book are fabulous and very colorful! I loved the mystery aspect in here and I think it's perfect engagement for children and let them practice to think critically. I also loved how this book celebrates artists and their works/art.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The illustrations in this book are fabulous and very colorful! I loved the mystery aspect in here and I think it's perfect engagement for children and let them practice to think critically. I also loved how this book celebrates artists and their works/art.
April 22, 2020
Great young reader chapter book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews