My Favorite Reads - June 18

This weekly event is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books.

This idea is to feature a favorite book from your past. For me, many of these will be juvenile and young adult books, but there should be some interesting adults reads as well.

This week's pick was our first selection for my face-to-face book club, and a stretch of my own personal tastes. But, I must say I was happy I did read it...in the end.

The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues by Ellen Raskin (published 1979)

From Goodreads: Answering an advertisement for an artist's assistant involves seventeen-year-old Dickory Dock in several mysteries and their ultimate solutions.

From me: The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues isn't what I would consider a great book, but definitely fun, funny, and original. The most intriguing thing about it was the author's (Ellen Raskin) ability to keep you guessing and having fun at the same time. It's not necessarily a fast-paced book, but it tugs you along like a long-legged friend holding your hand on a walk, begging you to hurry along to the next page to get another clue.

What I appreciated most, probably, was that The Tattooed Potato is not just a mystery. It really is a character story, where you learn more about Dickory and Uncle Garson themselves even as they're focusing on other mysteries around them. I found myself really caring about Uncle Garson, even if he did leave me stratching my head at his eccentricity.

It's a short, witty children's book that adults would get a kick out of too. And with names like Dickory Dock, George Washington III, and a great, hulking giant that shuffles around the house all day, the characters quickly become your friends as you all try to figure out the next clue, and solve the ultimate mystery: who is Uncle Garson? and why does he like playing...dressup?