ARC REVIEW: Agent Zaiba Investigates The Poison Plot

Since getting into book blogging I have noticed that middle grade books seem to be looked over, and there is NO NEED FOR THIS TRAVESTY! I am going to be honest though, I am about as guilty as anyone else who didnt think about picking up middle grade books. However!! After being recommended Agent Zaiba Investigate The Missing Diamonds by a school pupil, I was so happy to see another Agent Zaiba book being added to the series.

A huge thank you to Little Tiger London for providing me with an ARC of this book to review.

What is it about?

She’s back with her friend (insert name) and brother Ali to investigate what odd happenings have been occuring at the school fair. Zaiba is a young girl who just loves investigating odd occurrences and with the support of the best detective in Pakistan (her aunt) she uses skills learned in book 1 to find out who exactly has poisoned one of the teachers during the very competitive cake competition!

What I loved…

This book has all the comforts of a middle grade book (ages 7-11) with a little nostalgia thorwn in for good measure! I LOVE this book for so many reasons:

It has a young Pakistani protagonist who is quick witted and is just lovable!

It has such great rep for separated families – Zaiba has a step mum who is shown in such a positive light! I’m so pleased that writers have moved away from the ‘evil step parent’ trope… it’s boring, it’s out dated and quite frankly there are many step parents who love all their children equally regardless of if they are biologically theirs or not.

There is a feeling of reading Tintin style mysteries when I read this – there are clues all the way through which keep the reader interested and can also play the role of trying to solve the mystery them selves!

I especially love the exclusive extract based on the book Zaiba reads in the story – The Flower Show Felony By Eden Lockett. This along with Ammi’s advice on how to be a great detective, code breakers and a cake recipe make this book not just a book for younger readers but helps to bring the story alive!

Things I want more of…

This book was a great read and filled with fantastic vocabulary which will expand on children’s learning. However I did find at times the pacing for me was a little slow. I was hoping to have gotten straight into the poison plot and looking for clues. With this in mind, I must reiterate that this is a middle grade book and it is aimed at children – taking this into consideration I could see how each of the characters is introduced and how they move the plot along. Its just as an adult reading this I found it a little slow in the beginning.