Thank you to little tiger books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
When a new family moves to the village, Zaiba is intrigued to hear about the strange happenings in their home. Things go missing, objects are smashed and unfriendly messages are painted on the walls. There have always been rumours that the house is haunted, but is a ghost really causing all this trouble? Zaiba and her team are convinced that the culprit is very much alive – and won’t stop until they get what they want…
This is the third book in the series and I just love them so much! The stories are fun and exciting and also have such wonderful Pakistani culture rep. I love seeing a young Pakistani girl aspire to be a detective and follow in her mums and aunts footsteps.
This story had some new characters and I really loved seeing Zaiba’s detective agency grow. Honestly we don’t give kids enough credit they are smart and resourceful and can achieve so much more than we believe they can. They also know how to have fun as evidenced by the fact that they have so much fun at the party while investigating the haunted house!
This book introduced new kids and we see how some of them get a long immediately and some take time to learn to work together and it was great to see both sides and show how kids are different. We also get a bit of discussion about jinns and Islamic folklore so that was so great to see because I grew up with jinn stories as opposed to ghost stories and honestly this is why we need representation. So many of us grew up with jinn stories but it’s never in spooky kids books.
The story and how the kids have to catch who is haunting the house was so much fun and how they discovered the history and secret passages in the house. Zaiba is such an observant child and she picks up on so much and it’s so much fun to see them working out what’s happening. Ali is another character I love because for someone so young he picks up so many facts about all different things that end up being useful in catching the person. I love how they kids support each other and work off each others strengths and weaknesses. How Zaiba knows which of them is best for the each job.
This story like the first two is so much fun to read and I love the illustrations too. I love that we get to see Zaiba in Pakistani clothes and that she is told she looks beautiful and not made to feel as though she doesn’t fit in because she lives in the west. Everyone needs a friend like Poppy! I love Poppy because she loves make up and accessories and getting dressed up and she isn’t looked down for it. Contrasting with Zaiba who prefers to wear what’s comfortable and somehow always gets her clothes dirty. Neither is looked down on and it will be so important for kids to see that whatever they enjoy it is accepted.
I just need you all to go read these wonderful books and to give them to all the kids you know!
The Tsundoku Chronicles 