The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery - Graeme Base
Penguin Books Australia Ltd. 1988
Reading Level: 6+ Number of Pages: 16 Genre: Children. Detective
CBC Book of the Year, Picture Book, Joint Winner 1989
Kids Own Aust Literature Award, Winner 1989
Young Aust Best Book Award, Picture Book Winner 1989
COOL Award, Miscellaneous, Runner Up 1992
Kids Own Aust Literature Award, Shortlisted 1994
New York Times bestseller
Summary: The Eleventh Hour is a story of Horace the elephant and his invited guests to his eleventh birthday party. Horace prepares a fantastic feast for his friends, yet plans the party to last until the eleventh hour by playing several party games. The guests happily engage until the appointed time, where they enter the dining hall and find that the food has all been eaten. Embedded in the book are clues which the reader is left to solve in order to identify the culprit!
A book is read, a story ends, a telling tale is told.
But who can say what mysteries a single page may hold?
A maze of hidden codes and clues, a clock at every turn,
And only time will tell what other secrets you may learn. . .
My Reaction: The illustrations are incredible and stunningly beautiful, yet they mask deeper secrets within. The true beauty of this simple childrens' book is found it the many beautifully hidden puzzles and ciphers throughout the story, adding an extra depth (and reading level) to the secrets of the book. A reader could easily spend ten minutes or six hours poring over this book with all it has to hold. The book also holds a "Where's Waldo" appeal, as the illustrations conceal many secrets to tease out. It fascinated me because I did not initially observe that there were puzzles to solve--only intricate illustrations, yet the puzzles became more noticeable before the end, leaving me to want to scour the book again, in trying to solve them!
Parent's Guide: Parents should have little to fear when choosing this book for their children. One of the guests at the party, a zebra, is dressed as a punk and has pierced his nose with a safety-pin, but all the guests are dressed in various elaborate costumes. Understandably, the puzzles and ciphers may be a bit difficult for younger children, and some may even provide a difficult challenge for adults. (there is a key at the end, but of course it is fun to try to solve the puzzles without it!)
Recommendations: I would recommend this book to inquisitive people of all ages--including those a bit longer in the tooth--who enjoy elaborate illustrations and puzzles of any variety, particularly brain-teasers or substitution ciphers. Younger children will appreciate the book's beauty, even if they do not grasp its subtlety.
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