Trashed!

Review by Booklist Review

Arthur is good at customer service and not much else, but he loves the mystery books that he reads with his free-spirited, motorcycle-riding grandmother and longs to be adventurous like her. When one day a mysterious teacup and the ghost of his little sister's deceased mouse appear, Arthur is thrilled to have a mystery to solve. The book does its best to show characters as fully human and complex by having Arthur learn that people are more than just the one thing he sees them as, like the employee at his family's store who experienced homelessness and jail time, making Arthur rethink his previous feelings on unhoused individuals. The conversations on race are not quite as successful, though Arthur's best friend, Veda (a Mexican American girl), does provide good pushback in certain scenes. A subplot touching on Arthur's relationship with his male friends brings up the topics of teasing, gender roles, and masculinity, though it may have benefited from a deeper exploration. Still, a fast, fun read with a great setting, recommended for young mystery readers.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Eleven-year-old Arthur Popper likes his comfortable, familiar life living above his family's thrift store, Universal Trash, in Boulder, Colo. But his quotidian existence is derailed when a funeral for the pet mouse of younger sister Ramona brings about an accidental rodent haunting. Supernatural conundrums deepen when a chipped teacup with a puzzling past, previously thought stolen, suddenly resurfaces in the shop. The ghost mouse, named Watson, takes up residence inside the teacup and persuades Arthur to unravel the mystery behind the item's appearance. Doing so uncovers an even larger enigma at the store, with far-reaching consequences that prompt him to begin seeing his neighbors, friends, and family in a new light. A subplot tackling issues of prejudice and racism raises vital questions about but fails to explore the societal forces that perpetuate systemic racism. Freeman (Noah McNichol and the Backstage Ghost) uses pastoral, omniscient third-person narration to drive the overarching mystery. Nestled between hunting for clues and interviewing witnesses is a portrait of a busy, lovingly rambunctious family trying to run a beloved thrift store while navigating myriad internal conflicts and engaging in thought-provoking personal growth. Arthur reads as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Jennifer Mattson. Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 3--7--Eleven-year-old Arthur, is named after King Arthur, lives in Colorado, and helps his family by working at their junk store, Universal Trash. He is not seen as brave and sometimes gets made fun of at school. One day he stumbles upon a broken teacup that was stolen in the past but could help him solve a crime. Arthur has help from a group made up of his sister, best friend, the ghost of his sister's pet mouse, and a police officer. Can Arthur become brave and solve the mystery with his group of companions? Kids will enjoy reading about Arthur because he is a very relatable character and visibly grows through the novel. The relationship Arthur has with his younger sister seems very real--they bicker like siblings but play together as well. The book could also be a source of a classroom or family discussion: Arthur's grandfather is portrayed as racist and classist when he looks down on Juan, Veda's mother's boyfriend, applies to work at Universal Trash. Some readers may recognize their own family members in this exchange, prompting useful conversation around pushing back against outdated viewpoints. VERDICT A fun mystery adventure with small openings for important conversations about racism and more.--Maeve Dodds

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

Arthur Popper is a diffident, slightly anxious eleven-year-old who lives with his parents and younger sister above the family business, a thriving, capacious secondhand store in Boulder, Colorado. He works shifts in the store and is valued for being "good at customer service" but longs for another area where he can truly shine. When some family members' and friends' jewelry starts disappearing, he takes on the mystery-solving challenge. He receives advice from a ghost mouse who lives in a teacup on his bookshelf, the single touch of fantasy in an otherwise naturalistic novel. The detective narrative, which is tidily composed and plausible, provides the scaffolding for a story of family and community relationships that is a tour de force of small, beautifully calibrated effects. Arthur's best friend is Veda, who is Latinx, but things go sideways for them when Arthur's grandfather expresses a prejudice against "certain kinds of people." Freeman doesn't provide easy answers to the problem of a bigoted family member, nor does she give Grandpa an easy epiphany. Instead she portrays a realistic, flawed family with all its tensions. She allows Arthur to encounter and grapple with the concept of white privilege on his own, in age-appropriate terms, keeping the focus firmly on the child characters and their strengths. Sarah EllisJanuary/February 2023 p.80 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Readers have more than a ghost of a chance of solving this mystery. Arthur has...problems. The first one starts when his younger sister, Ramona, announces that her mouse has died. After a glittery funeral in the backyard--Ramona was in charge of decorating the coffin--Arthur's life seems to get back to normal. Until that evening, when he realizes that he's being haunted by the mouse's ghost. Thankfully, the rodent afterlife allows for better communicative skills, and Arthur and newly christened ghost Watson (after Sherlock's sidekick) can easily converse. Watson's timing is impeccable, as a mystery is afoot: A special teacup from the past appears in Universal Trash, the consignment shop that Arthur's family runs, and soon other things--like important paperwork and jewelry--go missing. Freeman plays more than fair with the clues, interspersed among a few red herrings, allowing savvy readers to solve the mystery ahead of Arthur and Watson. Impressively, Freeman also interweaves a subplot concerning prejudice that feels as real as the characters who work and shop at Universal Trash. As the story progresses, Watson's presence may feel out of place in the otherwise normal world, but that quibble aside, the story will be a welcome addition to any mystery lover's bookshelf. Hints of a sequel (and more ghosts) will leave readers excited for more. Arthur's family is coded White. A delightful mystery that will lure in young sleuths. (Mystery. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter One CHAPTER ONE Ramona's mouse died suddenly. Friday night it had been scrabbling around the sawdust in its cage, whiskers twitching, eyes bright. Saturday morning it was paws-up, eyes shut. "Rigor mortis," said Arthur. He had heard those words in a movie and wanted to test them out. "Okay, and it's a girl, and why did she die?" Ramona Popper was six. She didn't know what "rigor mortis" meant, but she would never ask her brother. She figured he was showing off, which he was. Arthur Popper was eleven. He and his sister mostly ignored each other. But Ramona had gone to him when she'd found her mouse. Now they were standing in Ramona's bedroom, which was in the back of the family's apartment. Through the window was a view of hills, the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Arthur's room was on the other side and looked out on the street, cars going by. "Do you know if the mouse was old?" Arthur asked. Ramona wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffled. They were standing by the mouse's cage, which rested on a table by the window. The mouse didn't look peaceful exactly. The poor thing looked uncomfortable. Ramona and Arthur were still wearing their pajamas, Ramona's blue with tiny red triangle trees, Arthur's red with a big green Grinch on the shirt--Christmas pajamas in April. Like a lot of Arthur's and Ramona's clothes, the pajamas had come from the store, which always had a good supply of kids' Christmas pajamas--worn once, outgrown by the next year. Ramona didn't know if her mouse had been old. Arthur could think of things besides old age that might kill a mouse. Things like germs and viruses and cancer. But Ramona was only in first grade. She didn't need to hear such bad stuff yet. Arthur was not the best big brother, but he wasn't totally heartless. "Should we bury her?" Ramona asked. "Yes," Arthur said. "For a fact, I think we should have a funeral." Ramona widened her eyes. "I've never been to a funeral before," she said. Arthur hadn't either, but he'd seen them in movies. Organizing a funeral couldn't be that hard. Besides, Ramona wouldn't know if he got it wrong. "The service will be at one o'clock," he announced. "After breakfast you can find a coffin--a box to bury the mouse in." "I know what a coffin is, Arthur," Ramona said. Arthur didn't have to say where Ramona would find a coffin. They both knew there would be a box in the store. That was a good thing about having the store downstairs. When you needed something, you could usually find it. Arthur and Ramona ate cereal for breakfast at the big table in the kitchen. Even though it was Saturday, their mom, a lawyer, had gone to work to catch up. She had to do that a lot. Arthur pictured being a lawyer as one big race, with their mom a few steps behind. As for Dad, the store didn't open till ten, but some rich Boulder citizen had died the week before, and Dad was downstairs sorting possessions the man's family didn't want. The next day, Sunday, Arthur and his best friend, Veda Lopez, would probably be assigned to help. After she ate, Ramona went downstairs to find something she could use for a mouse coffin, and Arthur went back to his bedroom, where the cars outside-- swoosh, swoosh, swoosh --made a soothing soundtrack. Excerpted from Trashed! by Martha Freeman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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