I had hoped this would go over well with my all boys audience, but it did not. It felt a little too “cooties-ish” for me (if that’s a word???). Definitely targeted towards a more feminine audience, which is fine, but not useful for my classroom context.

This is a fun chapter book for children, in which Mina and her friends have a new mystery to solve. This is book 2 of the series, and this time around some animals and pets have gone missing, so Mina and her friends have to find out what has happened to them. The text and the graphics of the book are in a diary style, which I liked. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

A very fun adventurous and mystery book for young readers. The illustrations are great and really add to the book. Great addition to any classroom Library.

This is an entertaining way to introduce elementary students to the mystery genre. Mysteries help to promote higher thinking and make reading enjoyable. The illustrations are fun and adds to the children’s reading experience.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

I have also read the first book and again I did not like it as much. I thought it was too long and I could not connect with the characters. I just don't think that these books are for me.

A very cute book with great illustrations and that I can buy to offer to my nieces.
Little ones will love it for sure.

Another one that didn't totally grab us. I wonder if the boys were maybe a little too old to enjoy it fully and younger children who are just getting into chapter books might like it more.

The premise of the book sounded good but the conclusion of the storyline was a little far fetched and random. Talking about animal rights was a good addition and I think this could have been made a bit more of. Again, not for us but I think perhaps younger readers may enjoy it more than we did.

In this second installment of the 'Mina Mistry sort of Investigates' series, Mina Mistry finds herself a new mystery to solve and this time it involves the disappearance of her classmates pet animals and the ones from the local pet shop. Although Mina is the detective of sorts whose favourite pastime is investigating mysteries, I have to say that for me her best friend Holly was the star of this book! It seems when she puts her mind to it, Holly is quite good with figuring things out as well 😉.

This is a cute and fun series to introduce elementary level children (6-7 years) to the detective/mystery genre. Like the first book, the illustrations, the set-up /layout of the book and the choice of font are eye catching and lively.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Sweet Cherry Publishing and the author Angie Lake for the e-Arc of the book.

This was a fun and accessible chapter book for young readers. As the neighbourhood pets begin to go missing, Mina Mistry enlists the help of her friends to find out what has happened. Is it the work of an animal right's group setting the animals free, or is it linked to the make up factory on the outskirts of town? With short chapters and large pictures this is a great book for children making the leap to chapter books telling the story in short chunks.

After a pet presentation at Mina’s school, a bunch of the pets who were brought in by students go missing. Then, there was an explosion at the pet store in town, with all the animals in the store going missing as well. Mina Mistry starts investigating the disappearance of all the pets.

This was another entertaining Mina Mistry mystery. I found some parts gross, like the bugs that children kept as pets, but young readers would probably find that funny. The illustrations were great at telling the story. They made the story a quick read. Some of the illustrations were funny, such as the way Mina’s best friend Holly would dress her hamster up in clothes and jewelry. Her hamster, Harriet, was famous on social media for all of her glamorous clothes. I loved those illustrations because they really showed how fashionable the hamster looked in clothes.

I didn’t really like the ending of the mystery. There were multiple solutions to the various different kinds of missing pets. Since they were all investigated together, I thought the different missing pets would have been connected, but they had each disappeared to a different place.

This was a great illustrated children’s book, but the solution to the mystery was disappointing.

Thank you Sweet Cherry Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mina Mistry is on the case and ready to solve the mystery behind the disappearing pets in this second book in the Mina Mistry series. The unique diary style provides a different format for readers and the visual cues are perfect for reluctant and struggling readers. This fun mystery is a great addition for beginning elementary grades.

Thank you Net Galley and Sweet Cherry publishing for the e-arc.

Apologies that I requested this book in error. I did not realise it was a children's book and I have not read this book.

A precocious youngster who is parts Encyclopedia Brown and Harriet the Spy.

This early chapter book is perfect for readers of Cam Jansen, Nate the Great, and A to Z mysteries. The illustrations are fun and the text is perfect for readers making the transition to chapter books. She has funny observations and is a quirky character you can't help but root for.

This was the cutest book. I loved the pictures and how you felt like you were on a mission with the little girl main character.
I would recommend this for any classroom library!!

Oh, this is such a fun, easy, quick read for beginners who are 7 plus years of age.

I really like the illustrations and the details with basic storytelling done right!

The characters are fun to read. I mean everything is cute and the main character is so lively!

I appreciate the writing format with the most difficult and lengthy words being highlighted and kept in bold letters. It will definitely help the target audience to learn words better and quick while reading the book.

The story is fun. It's the cutest mystery read I have ever come across! The story worked out quite well in the end.

Thank you, authors and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the advance reading copy.

I let my daughter read this book on her kindle. She said she loved it and is her favourite book so far this year.

After several classmates pets go missing and there’s an explosion at the pet store, Mina concludes that this can’t be a coincidence. With the help from her friends, Mina figures out who is behind all the missing pets.

One thing I thought was interesting about the setup of this book was how it was a diary-style type of writing. The chapters are set up as log entries as she is a detective. I really liked the concept of it. The words were big and the illustrations throughout were a nice addition.

I think my main problem with the book and why I didn’t rate it higher is because of the characters. I really wasn’t a big fan of them. While I didn’t have a problem with our main character Mina, my issue was more with her friend Holly and Holly’s mom. I feel odd criticizing characters that are made for children because children might not see any issues with them. However, Holly felt very pretentious throughout the book, and to be blunt was a pretty bad friend to Mina. I just really didn’t like her. Holly’s mom was an animal rights activist, which I have no issues with, but the way the animal rights characters were portrayed in this book felt very negative.

Animal rights is a huge topic right now and a very important one. I feel like we should be spreading positive information about it instead of painting them as awful people which this book seems to do. The activist in this story send threatening letters to a factory that are rumored to test products on animals. While some activist may do this, I don’t think we should be spreading the negatives to children that are reading the book. I feel like the activism and animal rights topic could just have been overall done better.

If it wasn’t for my issues with the characters I probably would rate this book a 3 but because of my problems with it, I’m saying a 2. It’s a simple mystery that would probably entertain elementary school children. This is the second book released in the Mina Mistry Investigates series so if this sounds like an enjoyable book I would definitely look into reading the first one as I think you get more information about the main character.

I read this book with my first grader, and she loved it. It was simple and allowed her to try to figure out the mystery with the character. The fact that it was on missing animals just caused her to be even more engaged with the story. This story is great for any young reader that is making the transition to early chapter books. She was able to read most of the story without my support and the font was nice and big for her.

At the core of the plot, we are dealing, once again, with a real ongoing issue, specifically violated animal rights. Young readers are cleverly introduced to notions such make-up testing on animals, unfavorable conditions in pet shops and possible exploitation of one’s pets (once they have their own social media accounts). Nothing is brutally enforced upon children, they are briefly presented the main sources of animal cruelty. Small beneficial steps are also suggested as the story progresses and Mina, alongside her friends, pay extra attention to their behaviors towards their suddenly disappearing pets.

It is much appreciated that Angie Lake manages to maintain a genuine child-like perspective (and show us that Mina can simultaneously become mature). As serious as the cases may turn out to be, the young detective’s approach will still make readers recall their own playtime memories, the extreme missions they would embark on and their thorough dedication towards “saving the day”. We are never steering away from that environment filled up with creative children. For instance, during the Showcase Your Pets week at school, Mina and other colleagues reveal their resourcefulness, without overcomplicating anything (as an adult would), by preparing projects about homemade pets (shoes with faces), a hamster whose favorite thing is to pose for photos (simple, isn’t it?) or a panda plush who happens to enjoy extreme sports. We also encounter what I would call “innocently honest” children, who deal with more serious situations in their own conscious manner – an example is a girl who plainly talks about her rabbit’s battle with a disease in front of the entire school, apparently omitting to focus on her pet’s favorite activity. After receiving the respective feedback from a teacher, she gives a sincere touching answer – “Sorry. Mr Bunnykins’ favorite thing was not being dead.” – making readers aware of a certain bravery characteristic to children, a special way of dealing with reality. Unfortunately, however, in one such environment, adults intervene and tend to spoil the fun or miss the point one way or another.

Once you encounter Mistress of Mystery herself (as I dubbed Mina Mistry in my review for the first book), you have no other impulse than to follow her and be intrigued of what may pop out of her head. There may be an amusingly contradictory thought of hers, the fact that she treats her best friend, Mr Panda, as someone with feelings and interests, and yet she is briefly confused by how Holly Loafer claims she has been working with Harriet the hamster on their project. A similarly funny reinterpretation of an abbreviation may occur and bring a smile on your face (APB goes from All-Points Bulletin to the ingenious Absent Pet Bulletin). Perhaps Mina’s status updates will help you resonate with her (“Status: Feeling a bit sorry for myself”). Or maybe you want to stick around as much as possible due to her mysterious father, who drops helpful hints in his short scenes and leaves his mark through catchphrases such as “Loose lips sink ships”. Nevertheless, each reader has one reason or more to go from one page to another, thanks to Mina’s overall inviting attitude. In the best way possible, she is far from being, to quote her, “one sandwich short of a picnic” (look that up, you won’t stop using it).

First sentence: Like every year, at school the first week of October is Showcase Your Pets week.

Premise/plot: Mina Snotbridge (aka Mina Mistry) is a young girl who solves mysteries when she's not hanging out with her friends. In this chapter book, Mina is trying to discover WHAT happened to all the pets in town. A handful of her classmates have had pets disappear including her very best friend. (Holly's hamster, Harriet, is MISSING.) Who has taken all the pets? Was there foul play?

My thoughts: This chapter book for elementary-aged students is a fun and light mystery. The book has a lot of illustrations and uses a fun layout--the chapters are log entries in her case book.

The book is a little over-the-top at times, but it's all in good fun. (For example, Harriet the Hamster has a LARGE wardrobe with plenty of accessories.) Older readers may wonder why the first thought is that someone has kidnapped the hamster instead of the hamster just escaping from the cage and is now loose in the house. But, of course, that would be a less fun mystery to solve!

I liked this one well enough.