Masterpiece, Elise Broach
Masterpiece, Elise Broach
4 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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Masterpiece

Author: Elise Broach

Narrator: Jeremy Davidson

Unabridged: 5 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/30/2008

Synopsis

Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays' apartment. He is very much a beetle. James Pompaday lives with his family in New York City. He is very much an eleven-year-old boy.After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture and before these unlikely friends know it they are caught up in a staged art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that could help recover a famous drawing by Albrecht Dürer. But James can't go through with the plan without Marvin's help. And that's where things get really complicated (and interesting!). This fast-paced mystery will have young readers on the edge of their seats as they root for boy and beetle.

In Shakespeare's Secret Elise Broach showed her keen ability to weave storytelling with history and suspense, and Masterpiece is yet another example of her talent. This time around it's an irresistible miniature world, fascinating art history, all wrapped up in a special friendship— something for everyone to enjoy.

About Elise Broach

Elise Broach is the New York Times bestselling author of Masterpiece, Shakespeare’s Secret and Desert Crossing, Missing on Superstition Mountain, the first book in the Superstition Mountain Trilogy, as well as several picture books. Her books have been selected as ALA notable books, Junior Library Guild selections, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book, a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teenage, an IRA Teacher’s Choice, an E.B. White Read Aloud Award, and nominated for an Edgar Award, among other distinctions. Ms. Broach holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Yale University. She was born in Georgia and lives in the woods of rural Connecticut, walking distance from three farms, a library, a post office and two country stores.

About Jeremy Davidson

Jeremy Davidson won an AudioFile Earphones Award for Allan Folsom's The Machiavelli Covenant. He has also narrated books including Elise Broach's critically-acclaimed children's book Masterpiece, as well as titles by Robert Edsel, Eric Van Lustbader, and Ray Lemoine.  Davidson has appeared extensively on stage, appearing on Broadway in Epic Proportions, Kennedy Center’s production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof On Broadway, and Off-Broadway in Manhattan Theater Club’s La Terasse. On screen, Davidson has appeared in films including Salt, Little Chenier, Deprivation, and Skeletons in the Closet, and he wrote and directed the film Tickling Leo. He has appeared on numerous television shows, including Army Wives, Law & Order, Brothers & Sisters, The Kill Point, Cold Case, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, and Ally McBeal.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kathi on February 16, 2009

I read this book out loud in the car while my friend, and fellow author, Kathy Whitehead and I drove across the Texas plains from Abilene to College Station. The rhythm of the prose, the pacing, the language all come together to create the perfect read-aloud. I also want to add that there are some s......more

Goodreads review by Rick on November 08, 2013

While in Wichita Falls, I finished reading Masterpiece, by Elise Broach. A really fun read. Boy meets beetle. Beetle turns out to be a gifted artist. Boy and beetle help foil a major art heist. It's like a combination of Chasing Vermeer and Cricket in Times Square. Check it out.......more

Goodreads review by Roxanne Hsu on October 10, 2008

The central story of Marvin and Jame's friendship and the art heist are tender/thrilling in turns. There is a problem with the pacing when too much time is spent on tangential details (too many lists of things that the beetles do or eat) or the beetle's lifestyle, for example, that turtle in the tan......more

Goodreads review by Lars on December 10, 2010

E.B. White, George Selden. Sophisticated little animals. Manhattanites of yesteryear, with their glib savoir faire and urban obtuseness. Witty, well-chosen language. It’s counterintuitive that it still sells. ‘Stuart Little’ and ‘The Cricket in Times Square’ still do, thankfully. People just won’t g......more

Goodreads review by John on March 23, 2021

I read this to my son at bedtime and we both really enjoyed it. It had a great plot - I honestly wasn't expecting a book about a bug with art talent who gets caught up in the high stakes world of art forgery through contacts at the Met, but there you go. This just feels a bit more ambitious than som......more

Awards

  • Florida Sunshine State YR Award ML
  • Illinois Bluestem Book Award
  • Nebraska Golden Sower Award Master List
  • Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
  • CCBC Choice (Univ. of WI)
  • Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award ML
  • ABC E.B. White Read Aloud Award
  • Illinois Rebecca Caudill YR Choice Award ML
  • Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award ML
  • CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
  • Indiana Read Alouds Too Good to Miss Master List
  • Iowa Children's Choice Award Master List
  • Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens
  • Kansas State Reading Circle
  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
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