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Max and Maddy Twist leave the hot weather of their hometown and the bustle of the family’s ice cream parlor for the chance to solve another crime, this time to catch a hot air balloon saboteur in New York.
Six teams are vying for a one-million-and-one-dollar first prize. All they have to do is be the first to fly from New York to Vancouver in their hot air balloon. With a prize so grand, competition will be fierce. But before it even officially starts, this international hot air balloon race for charity turns into a nightmare for race planner Harry Helium. Panic-stricken, Mr. Helium turns to Max and Maddy Twist for assistance (his request for help message comes to them via balloon). With permission from their ex- private detective parents, Max and Maddy head to New York.
Max and Maddy believe the best way to catch the cheat is to be up in a balloon themselves. With the help of their co-balloonist pilot, Harry Helium, Max and Maddy soon learn the ups and downs of ballooning. They join the airborne journey to Vancouver in order to monitor the race, keep the contestants safe and, hopefully, catch the evildoer. Max and Maddy use their many different skills throughout the race to save themselves and the other contestants from the villainous hot air balloon attacker. Max’s quick thinking brings a foamy, stinky end to the saboteur- and it’s someone the Twist family thinks deserves to be tricked.
Although Max and Maddy probably don’t want to see another grizzly bear again in their lives, this brother-and-sister private detective team proves once again that they can work well together under any circumstances. I’m sure their memory of New York will include seeing the famous New York sights from Mr. Helium’s high-rise apartment, and getting the opportunity to eat a piece of floating cake.
Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe and is well-known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency mysteries. Max & Maddy and the Bursting Balloons Mystery was illustrated in black and white by Macky Pamintuan. As young readers turn each page of adventure, they will anticipate the illustrations long before they see them. You have never seen grumpier-looking pigs then those Pamintuan draws for this book!
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Max & Maddy and the Bursting Balloons Mystery