Poppy Pym and the Double Jinx

Laura Wood

From the Winner of the Scholastic Montegrappa Prize for New Children’s Writing It’s Halloween at Saint Smithen’s. When the Brimwell town hall burns down, the amateur production of Macbeth is moved to the school and it’s all hands on deck. But when the play is struck by a series of mysterious attacks, it’s up to Poppy, her friends and her circus family to save the play and unmask the culprit.
Five Reasons to Read this Series
Poppy Pym
All I can really say about Poppy is that she is an incredible character that I really love. She’s got an amazing spirit, she’s quirky and interesting and the kind of girl that I would have loved to have been friends with at eleven. She is a brilliant character to read about and definitely makes the series great fun to read!
Ingrid & Kip
Poppy’s new-found friends at boarding school, these two characters help form a strong trio in the books that is wonderful to read about. It helps show how amazing and powerful friendship can be and also how important it is too. I love Ingrid’s dreamy personality and Kip’s love of adventure. They definitely make this series more interesting.
The Circus Family
One of the main things I absolutely loved about Poppy Pym was the circus family. They all have unique personalities and as a whole make a very dysfunctional family unit but their love for Poppy is incredibly strong. I also love that this book shows adoption in a positive light whereas Poppy is very fortunate with all the love she gets from her adoptive circus family.
The Mystery
In both books in this series there is a mystery to be solved and I loved reading it through with Poppy as we try to work out what is going on. I’m a sucker for mystery books anyway but in Poppy Pym, the mysterious are so intriguing and really keep you glued to the page from beginning to end. I also love that there was also so much more to these stories than just the mysteries to be solved too!
The Writing Style
Lastly, but certainly not least, I absolutely fell in love with the writing style of these books. It was addictive and fun all at the same time. I devoured the words on the page quickly and fiercely. The writing really pulls you into Poppy’s world and is full of quirky and interesting descriptions of the world as Poppy sees it. It’s fun for both adults and children and I can really see children falling head over heels for these books!
Posted by Faye