Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking: A 14 Day Mystery

How I loved this book, and I'm a grown-up! A captivating and fresh take on the most well-known art heist of them all, and such a fun way to tell a story for a younger audience. I keep recommending it to tweens, teens, and adults!

Finished MOXIE AND THE ART OF RULE BREAKING by Erin Dionne today. Totally loved it! It's a wonderful race-against-time mystery that focuses on the big Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum theft of millions of dollars of art in Boston. Erin Dionne has done a masterful job of using this heist as the basis for a fictionalized account of how two friends--Moxie and Ollie-work to solve the mystery. Loved the book--well paced, funny, and also has some really touching parts, too. Well done!

Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking was a very fun and exciting book. It reminding me of Nancy Drew only moved up into the 21st Century with using technology! I recommend this book to anyone who loves mysteries and adventure. Great character development, loved that there were multi-generations involved in the mystery. I also loved the red-headed antagonist, as well. Definitely a good book read for the summer!

Now that I've read Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking, I can fully appreciate this adorable cover, because it fully captures this book. The only inaccurate part is that Moxie's best friend Ollie is Asian (though I guess this guy could be) and overweight, which I definitely do not think he is. However, the items in purple are part of the plot and that is exactly how Moxie dresses, crazy tights and all. If you could see her from the front, she'd be wearing a concert shirt for sure. Like the cover suggests, Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking is a fun, action-packed middle grade novel with plenty of hijinks. As her name suggests, Moxie has a lot of spirit, courageous and determined. The novel opens with the doorbell ringing. Though she's not supposed to open the door to strangers, she does without thinking. A redheaded woman stands on the doorstep, asking after her grandfather, who now lives in an old folks' home, as Alzheimer's slowly takes his memories. Because this woman is dressed in weather-inappropriate clothing and because of her grandpa's past, Moxie sends the woman away, nervous about the woman's declaration that Sully Cupcakes, notorious mobster wants his stuff back. Moxie's grandfather, affectionally known as Grumps, had a bit of a shady history. He had ties with the mob and worked with the criminal underbelly of the city. His job as a carpenter gave him access to a lot of places and made him a good way to launder money. Up til now, Grumps' criminal past has been just stories, but now Moxie really has to confront who he was and the impact of his shady dealings. The relationship between Grumps and Moxie is touching, especially the way she visits him every week, even though it's painful the way he sometimes isn't there mentally. Together with her allergy-prone friend Ollie, Moxie has to solve the mystery of an art heist that took place over 20 years ago in 1990 (wow, does that make me feel old) in two weeks. Along the way, there's some fun with geocaching, daring stunts, and parental disapproval. There are themes of family and friendship making up the backdrop, but the mystery and adventure elements take a front seat. Though a fun read, I did have some concerns with Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking. Mainly, the fact that it was Moxie caught up in the middle of this felt contrived. Why on earth would the redhead go to Moxie, an eighth grader, rather than her mother or grandmother, who are much more likely to know where the art is hidden? A grown woman threatening an eighth grader in this way was awkward. I could see an evildoer threatening someone so young, but more as motivation for an adult to do something, not to get the young teen to solve the decades old mystery. Plus, the redhead didn't even warn Moxie not to tell anyone, so it's not like she went to the kid because the adults would call the authorities. That just didn't make sense to me. Those who enjoy light-hearted, action-heavy mysteries will likely enjoy Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking, particularly if they can avoid getting caught up in some of the smaller plot details. Also of note is that there is a lot of exploration of Boston, so it'll be a great read for anyone really familiar with the city.

I loved this book and thought it was cool to use an cutlass mystery from real life and write about two kids trying to solve it in only 14 days!

I bought 30 copies of this book for a reading competition in which my students were involved. Of the six novels they read, this was their favorite.

To begin with, I love the cover. It's very attractive and makes you want to read the book! I had a few other problems, though. Maybe I'm too picky, but (1) Moxie makes a lot of assumptions that magically are right. They easily find the art pieces once they know what building they are in. In the church, she quickly notices that benches are higher/lower than each other and so she realizes that that is where the piece was hidden. There was no mistake, few--or no--times that she and Ollie look all over a building and can't find the painting anywhere...They find it right away. (2) Moxie is also disrespectful at times, calling her mother's friend "Putrid Richard" (until she accepts him) and acting like a typical bratty teen to her mother. (3)I thought the redheaded lady was a bit overdone, too witch-y, always appearing, always somehow there. (4)There are plenty of unnecessary words, if you count HELL, crap, damn, heck, oh my god. I like the story, but I think I could find better!

I loved this book. It was very cool and interesting. It always kept you on the edge of your seat.

Great story. Purchased as a gift and went over well.