A Voice for Independent Authors

“You can kill a book quicker by your silence than by a bad review.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri

REVIEWING TODAY: THE CASE OF THE MONA LISA BY YVONNE JONES

Readers ages 7-12 make for an extremely challenging target audience, not at all content to sit back and be childishly read to, nor offered simplistic plots with no immediate challenge for their rapidly evolving, thoughtful minds, and certainly not to be diminished and demeaned by cartoonish illustrations meant to distract from empty writing. This precisely is the target audience sought by Yvonne Jones for her mystery/adventure book, The Case of The Mona Lisa. And fortunately for her audience, she hits the bulls-eye on every count. The plot is far from simple: a young fellow discovers from his grandfather that he too is a traveler, someone who treats Time as an open doorway to the past. But these travelers have a mission: to venture back in Time and save stolen art masterpieces for the edification of the masses. Without further ado, young Wen is sent back to save the Mona Lisa. Of course, he has an irreplaceably important partner: Minty the dog.

In The Case of the Mona Lisa, Yvonne Jones puts her readers immediately into the mystery and the action, not to mention the appealing and exotic locations of historical events. The storyline is fully engaging by itself, but Ms. Jones also adorns her fast-paced story with gorgeous (black and white) illustrations, fine artwork with an intensely edgy and dramatic look that is sure to grab the reader’s pliable imagination and rapt attention. The writing is concise, and yet it never talks down to the youthful reader, remaining challenging enough in vocabulary and references to keep him/her curious with wonder. This first in what promises to be a series (The Amulet of Amser) portends a great future collection for the young literary adventurer. And don’t forget: there’s also a dog!