The Harlem Charade

Jin's grandparents own a bodega in Harlem, and she likes to watch people from her out-of-the-way quiet nook and write her observations in a special notebook. Alex spends as much time as she can helping the needy in the neighborhood as she tries to hide the fact that her parents are ridiculously wealthy. Elvin was recently sent from California to New York to stay with the grandfather he didn't even know existed, and now his grandfather has been attacked and seriously injured, and Elvin is living on the streets to avoid Child Protective Services.

These three very different kids team up in THE HARLEM CHARADE first for a history project, and then to solve the mystery of Elvin's grandfather's attack and the disappearance of paintings that are a part of Harlem's history.

THE HARLEM CHARADE by Natasha Tarpley explores the rich history of the Harlem neighborhood, and it weaves an interesting mystery into that. Jin, Alex, and Elvin are great characters with intriguing backstories, and Halmoni, Jin's grandmother, is wonderful, too. I really enjoyed the emphasis on community and the importance of art and history. Tarpley did a nice job tying those themes to the book's plot, and the pacing is such that my interest was held page after page.

Harlem is as much a character in the book as any of the people portrayed, and I enjoyed traveling the streets of it with Jin, Alex, and Elvin as they worked through the twists and turns of the mystery in which they found themselves. There are some Scooby-Doo elements to the book, and I kept expecting the adults to call Jin, Alex, and Elvin "meddling kids" (which thankfully didn't happen), and this is a fun read with some truly insightful moments. The

My thanks to the publisher and YA Books Central for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.