The Jigsaw Jungle
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A mysterious treasure hunt helps to heal a broken family in critically acclaimed author Kristin Levine’s first contemporary tale—perfect for fans of Wendy Mass and Jennifer L. Holm
Claudia Dalton’s father has disappeared. What began as a late night at work has spiraled into a missing persons case—one that’s left twelve-year-old Claudia questioning everything she’s ever known about her father and their family.
But when she finally gets word from her dad, it turns out he isn’t missing at all. He’s just gone to “think things over” and visit an old friend, whatever that means. Feeling confused and helpless, Claudia starts to assemble a scrapbook, gathering emails, receipts, phone transcripts and more, all in a desperate attempt to figure out what’s happening with her dad. Claudia’s investigation deepens at her grandfather’s house, where she receives an envelope containing a puzzle piece and a cryptic message.
It’s this curious first clue that sets Claudia on an unexpected treasure hunt that she hopes will bring her dad home and heal whatever’s gone wrong with her family. Told through the pages of Claudia’s scrapbook, The Jigsaw Jungle is a moving story of a family lost and then found, with a dash of mystery and loads of heart, from award-winning author and middle-grade master Kristin Levine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Levine (The Lions of Little Rock) crafts a powerful puzzle of a novel about a missing father and his daughter's search for the truth. The memorable narrator, 12-year-old Claudia, pieces together this "scrapbook" of a story through an inventive collection of notes to the reader, texts, emails, video transcripts, phone logs, Google directions, receipts, and other items. The fragments and ephemera serve to document and help Claudia to come to grips with the sudden, unexplained disappearance of her father. When Claudia's mother must attend a work conference in Switzerland, Claudia has to stay with her introverted grandfather, Papa, who is still grieving the recent death of her big-hearted grandmother. As Papa and Claudia forge a closer relationship, she also meets a budding filmmaker, who helps her decipher the intricate clues that her father (a lover of brainteasers) left behind. Through the story's patchwork format, Levine reveals characters' inner complexities while maintaining tension and uncertainty leading up to the story's moving revelation. This taut mystery is also a portrait of a family coming to terms with truth and identity. Ages 10 up.
