The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour Curious Mystery
By Graeme Base
Publisher/Year: Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York (1988)
Reading Level: 5+
Pages: 30
Genre: Children's Mystery

Summary:

Horace the elephant is turning eleven. He decides to invite his eleven friends to come to a party at his house. Horace makes a fantastic feast for his guests to eat at the party. The guests arrive in various costumes ready for the fun activities Horace has planned. They all see the magnificent feast that Horace has set out for them. However, Horace tells them to wait to eat the feast until the eleventh hour. Then Horace and his guests proceed to play eleven different party games including: a sack race, musical chairs, cards, snakes and ladders, cricket, pool, blind man's buff, tennis, hid and seek, chess, and tug o' war. When their activities are finished, and it is finally the eleventh hour, they proceed to the dining room only to find that someone has eaten all the food! All the guests are upset and give their alibis for why they didn't eat the feast. Nobody admits to the crime, but Horace saves the day by making some delicious sandwiches for everyone to eat. They all have a picnic of sandwiches and birthday cake, and the reader is left to figure out the mystery of who stole the feast.

Who would benefit from reading this book?

I would recommend this book to anyone. I think it is a fun book for people of all ages. The mystery is not only for children, but for adults as well. I myself spent about two hours with this book looking for all the different clues and finding the hidden mice within the beautiful illustrations. I would recommend parents reading it with their children. It is a good book that they can interact and figure out the mystery together.

What problems/conflicts would this book potentially cause?

I couldn't find any problems with this book. It is a fun children's mystery book that has beautiful illustrations to explore.

My reaction:

I had a really enjoyable time with this book. I was able to spend a couple hours trying to figure out the mystery. I did have to cheat however and look in the back at the "inside story" to find all the clues included in each page. I loved the way it was written in rhyme, and I loved the detail of the illustrations. I read it to my 4-year-old nephew, and we had a good time together looking at all the pictures and trying to solve the mystery.