Undersea Mystery Club has just the ticket for early elementary girls

Undersea Mystery Club, Problem at the Playground is the first in a series of books by epic! originals on Andrews McMeel Publishing. Violet is a purple mermaid who lives in Aquamarina with Wally, her narwhal. This is logical because if an early elementary reader series of books is going to have a fish in the story it had better be the closest real animal to a unicorn out there. They’re near the city’s new park for its grand opening, only it’s evident that something is immediately wrong.

The scissors they’re using to cut the ribbon fall apart. All of the playground equipment comes to the ground when it’s touched also. Violet suspects the town’s resident prankster Gil Sharkfin is behind this. But a teen fish like Gil wouldn’t be so obvious, especially after the series of pranks he pulled last summer, would he?

Problem at the Playground is the sort of early elementary book that kids need. It develops the read-along skills that kids need to improve and does so in a fun way. The text is from Courtney Carbone and is very briskly paced. For an early reader book there is a lot that happens to Violet, Gil and Wally. It’s also a very fun book and part of that reason is accomplished by the art by Melanie Demmer.

There are bright illustrations on almost every page that those ages will enjoy looking at. The chapter lengths are also great, with the longest one being eight pages. The end of the book has a couple pages dedicated to More to Explore. These are non-fiction pages that tell readers real-life facts about a couple of the things mentioned in the book including decorator crabs, narwhals and civil engineers.

epic! Originals does a great job in creating books that elementary aged kids will be able to read by themselves. Undersea Mystery Club is now an ongoing series that targets those young readers who want and need some independence in their reading. There are very few, if any words that they’ll need help in reading. The series isn’t specifically for girls, but it does have a soft princess vibe that will attract more girl readers than boys. Conversely, the Creature Campers series has a more distinct boy vibe that will be one for the boys.

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