Under the Egg in Mock Newbery 2026

May 18, 2014 Jan rated it really liked it

Just before Theodora Tenpenny's grandfather Jack dies unexpectedly, he whispers "Look under the egg, there's.....a letter, before it's too late." Theo hopes it's something that will help her figure out how she and her mother are going to survive without her grandfather. His job as a security guard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art was their sole means of support. Now that he’s gone, it’s completely on Theodora's shoulders to care for her fragile mother who has spent the last fifteen years in her Just before Theodora Tenpenny's grandfather Jack dies unexpectedly, he whispers "Look under the egg, there's.....a letter, before it's too late." Theo hopes it's something that will help her figure out how she and her mother are going to survive without her grandfather. His job as a security guard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art was their sole means of support. Now that he’s gone, it’s completely on Theodora's shoulders to care for her fragile mother who has spent the last fifteen years in her room working on her NYU math dissertation. Theo’s grandfather Jack always said she was a bit “off”, even as a little girl. “It’s not that she was crazy, or even slow. It’s just that she always preferred the world inside her mind to the world outside.” It’s a big responsibility for someone so young, to care for not only her mother, but also the entire household, the garden, and the chickens in the back yard. What are Theo and her mother supposed to live on when the only money she can find is $463 in her grandfather’s art studio?

Theo remembers that Jack told her to “look under the egg.” Did he mean the egg from one of the chickens that sits in a ceramic bowl on the mantle ( the whitest, most perfect egg would be selected each day to be placed there ), or did he mean the painting that hung above it of a white oval that floated in a dark, swirling abyss of blue, black, and gray? When Theo knocks over a bottle of rubbing alcohol on the work table where she has placed the painting, she is horrified to find that it has spilled all over Jack’s egg painting. Frantically she tries to mop up the alcohol with a rag, trying in vain to save her grandfather’s painting. Unfortunately it can’t be saved because the paint has now become a stormy soup of colors. But what is that underneath? Is it another painting? It certainly is. It looks like a Madonna and Child. Hmmmm. And so the mystery begins.

Theo and her new friend Bodhi ( a completely tech savvy teenager who can’t believe Theo doesn’t own a TV, computer, or cell phone ) head off on an adventure across New York City that takes them to The Jefferson Market Branch of the NY Public Library where they research the painter Raphael, art forgery, and stolen art (and meet the coolest reference librarian ever who enthusiastically joins them in the adventure), an art and antiques auction house to have the painting appraised, The Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the paintings of Raphael, and finally to the Center of Jewish History. Along the way they’re helped by the neighborhood street vendor who was a chemist in India (and knows a lot about paint chemistry), an ER technician who is talked into x-raying the painting, and an Episcopal priest with knowledge of religious iconography.

There is a lot here for not only the two girls to discover and learn, but the reader as well. What can you learn about? Well, there's lots of art history, especially about Raphael and other painters of the High Renaissance Period, WWII, The Holocaust, Nazis stealing valuable works of art from the Jews, and The Monuments Men who recovered most of the stolen treasures and returned as many as they could to their original owners or descendants. Luckily, the story reads like a fun and exciting adventure, and not a boring history lesson.

This is a fast paced, well written mystery starring two smart, inquisitive and adventurous thirteen year old girls, who are not only book smart, but street smart as well. They’re also really nice girls who are kind, responsible, and well mannered; the kind of kids you would want your kids to know or I would have loved to know at that age.

So is this book a Newbery contender? I think it’s a definite possibility.
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Jul 24, 2014 Jen rated it liked it

Shelves: drama, kids-books, mock-newbery-2015

When Theo's grandfather dies, she is left with her mother, who has a mental illness and around $400 left in cash. She has no idea how she will live. Then something very strange happens a bottle of rubbing alcohol spills over one of her grandfather's painting and the top layer of paint wipes off. Theo and her new friend Bodhi, being the art buffs that they are start to research this painting thinking it might be the works of a great painter. This book leads into many subjects such as the lives of ...more

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Apr 17, 2014 Sharon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: a-fiction-middle, family, art, a-mystery, ww2-holocaust, city-new-york-city, ww2, museum

When Renaissance art meets WWII history the result is an intelligent modern day mystery. The unique aspect of Under the Egg, is that it will appeal to all ages. When Theodora Tenpenny's grandfather suddenly dies, his death leaves Theo alone and without financial or emotional support since her mother lives in a world of mathematical formulas and expensive tea. Though they live in a NYC brownstone, in order to eat, their back courtyard is dedicated to vegetable and fruit plants, and a henhouse. Ea ...more

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Jun 18, 2014 Krystal rated it it was amazing

This is the kind of book I would have loved as a 10-year old, and he kind of book I love now. Part mystery, part art history, with a dash of World War II history thrown in as well. Adults will have to willingly suspend some disbelief, as there are so many coincidences that further the story, but I still really, really enjoyed it. I feel like a trip to the art museum is in order now!

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