Math Inspectors Book 1: The Case of the Claymore Diamond by Samuel Kenney & Emily Boever

Rating: Needs Minor Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Early Elementary, Mid Elementary, Late Elementary.

Four kids use math to solve crimes. Feels sort of like a modern-day Encyclopedia Brown with three friends and a brown-skinned Encyclopedia.

• Peril. A phone call in a dark room, a scary voice makes threats to expose someone to the police if the recipient doesn’t make the Boss happy by providing a bunch of money.
• Obesity. A girl points to her chubby cheeks. She says, “I hate you” to a boy who orders a 2nd milkshake and says he’s trying to gain weight.
• Punching/beating people up. One of the girls is a bit of a tomboy and threatens to punch people/beat others up. Another girl actually does slug a boy in the arm.
• Mention of “not wanting to jinx” something.
• A statement that numbers don’t lie. I appreciate the enthusiasm for math, but as a data scientist I recognize numbers can very much be manipulated. We need to hold numerical conclusions humbly.
• A kid ignores school lessons because he’s trying to solve a crime.

Overall, very mild parent supervision is needed for Book 1. The villain remains in the end “credits,” and I’m interested to see if it stays rated PG for Book 2. A photo of the inside is included to help you discern the reading level.