Pierdomenico Baccalario

In the Lublin ghetto, in an attic, there is the kingdom of Henio, a Jewish child. He has a secret and he also shares it with his best friend who is not Jewish. Behind the dusty glass of one of the dormer windows a wonder is hidden: a different world, perhaps a place of peace, different from the horror of war that can be seen from the other window. For those who are Jews the time has come to escape. So on the night of March 16th Henio runs to his friend to convince him to run away together, but he is afraid and stays. On the morning of the roundup Henio disappeared. His friend looks for him everywhere, even in the attic, where a big surprise awaits him: children's footprints on the window glass and a name that is a greeting. Pierdomenico Baccalario and Alice Barberini give us a moving story to remove the dust from the history of the Lublin ghetto and imagine a different epilogue, also for Henio Zytomirsk.… (mehr)

To be perfectly fair--as a child I read a lot of books from the 40's/50's that were about 12-13yr olds solving mysteries. Not just Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children and the Hardy Boys, but random titles I found in my elementary school's library of books no one probably has heard of. For me, Ring of Fire felt like those. A 'feel good' story that has a little bit of drama, a little sadness, a little violence...but overall is meant to encourage and reassure. Not scare and worry a kid.

As a twenty-something now, reading stories like that, I can definitely feel a lack of 'pull' for me to finish the book (or series) because I kept thinking 'This needs more excitement' and 'That puzzle was too easy'. The idea was interesting for me, four children from all walks of life and all over, meet each century to save the world. It would have been a dream come true for me when I was in late elementary/early middle school. Which is the age group best suited for this series. The 9-12 year olds who want a little more seriousness, a little more mystery and a storyline about kids like them who could be so special.

Other reviewers have noted that the four main characters--Elettra, Mistral, Harvey and Sheng--are flat, but it seemed less like they were flat and more as if the author wanted to spread the characterization out over the four books of the series. Elettra arguably gets the most exposure, as this first book is set in her home turf of Italy, but each successive book is set in another country that relates to the four main.

I found the use of present tense jarring, but I don't read a lot of books in the present tense. It did give me a better idea of how things were playing out, as we followed the four and the 'killer' around Italy's famous spots. The illustrations included were wonderful bonuses, but I didn't refer to them that often. For kids who like series like the 39 Clues books series or Clue the board game, I think they'll enjoy these extras as some of them do help a great deal with the 'mystery' of the book.… (mehr)