Field Tripped by Allan Woodrow (review)

On a fifth-grade field trip to the old Edward Minks Mystery Mansion, many of the kids have their own plans. Eddie hopes to fix his family’s financial woes by claiming his birthright as the great-great-great-grandson of Minks, the eccentric inventor who founded the town, conceived various wacky, ill-conceived contraptions, and may have hidden something lucrative in the mansion. Aaron, who admires his father’s military background but hasn’t quite figured out what being all you can be looks like for a fifth-grader, just wants to make friends as a new kid in town. Jessie is inspired by her love of cats to be stealthy and independent, and when she discovers that the mansion’s tour guides may be secretly stealing inventions for their own gain, she plans to pounce into action. The narrative shifts among the kids’ view points with a concise and earnest tone, and each unique personality stands out as the story moves swiftly through the quirky rooms and strange—mostly pickle-related—inventions of the mansion. The novel concludes with Aaron’s leading everyone to the long-lost secret room of Edward Minks, saving the mansion and Eddie’s family in a neat resolution to a delightfully strange mystery.