The Door in the Alley

This was such a fun middle grade book, until the ending! **Spoiler: the last two pages of the book, the main character gets kidnapped/taken away by the villains in the story. I couldn't believe the story ended like that (though it did make me want to read the next book). This book has a fun vocabulary, a lot of adventure and action, and a great mystery. The villains, however, are a tad scary. One has his jaw wired shut, the other looks like half of his face is "melting off." They have guns, and shoot them various times, though no one actually gets hit by them. I wouldn't recommend this for younger kids, though older kids will enjoy the humor and footnotes along with the story of bravery among the newly made friends--just make sure to have the next book on hand so you can hopefully get a little resolution.