Sinbad and Me By Kin Platt

Hi, my name is Deven, and this is my fifth article that I am posting on the illiterete blog site. During middle school, my 4th period teacher would have DEAR (Drop Everything And Read). However, instead of the teachers letting us read our own books, they often read a book to us of their choice. Some of the books were interesting while others weren't. One of the books that I remember and reread recently was Sinbad and Me. This article, like my previous ones, will describe the plot, what I enjoyed and what I didn't like about the book.

Plot

Sinbad and Me takes place in a fictional land and is about a twelve year old kid named Steve and his English bulldog named Sinbad. The town that Steve lives in is uneventful in terms of the town's dynamics but intriguing when looking at the old architecture featured in the buildings of the town. As a result, Steve takes pride in memorizing all the different types and styles of architecture to classify all the structures. Sinbad, on the other hand, is caring, protective, and very wise at certain times. Together, they dig up a 150-year-old treasure through a series of puzzles and realizations.

It all started with Steve going to Mrs. Teska's shop. When he arrived, he overheard some strangers shout and threaten Mrs. Teska and then they quickly left. Mrs. Teska is an elderly friend of Steve and Sinbad’s, and Steve works at her store during the summer. When Steve checked if the store was robbed, he found a note saying, " I O U FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS" and signed underneath was "Frank Teska". Later in the day, Steve realized that Mrs. Teska needed to pay Frank Teska five thousand dollars. Knowing that Mrs. Teska did nothing to deserve this, Steve and Sinbad decided to try and find a way to help her pay this note.

The next day Steve and Sinbad found Mrs. Teska's shop completely ransacked. While Steve was helping clean up, Mrs. Teska showed him a picture of her younger self, a very young and pretty lady. Steve noticed that Mrs. Teska was wearing a nice silk dress and standing next to a rich looking man. This confused him because Mrs. Teska always claimed to be and acted poor, however, this picture implied that she was rich; so, what happened? With Sinbad's unique detective skills to help, Steve starts to unbury back stories, long kept secrets, and a lingering unsolved mystery that will make this town famous.

What I Like About the Book

I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoy reading mystery and adventure novels and, as a result, I never put the book down. I also like that the narrator, Steve, would talk about the different types of architecture and how they are expressed on the buildings. Not only were the types of architecture intriguing, but the book also did a good job at including the dog and creating an ironically major role for him which added to the interesting factor of the book.

 What I Didn't Like About the Book

As mentioned above, the narrator is deeply passionate and often talks about architecture; as a result, he tends to ramble throughout the story. Therefore, unless you are also very passionate or interested in architecture like I was when reading this book, you will get bored quickly and may lose interest. My advice, if you ever read this book and don’t find architecture interesting, is to just skip these parts because they don't add to the plot in a monumental way. Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery, adventure, puzzles, architecture, and dogs.