4th in series

Oooooops. I guess I should have looked before I leaped...

Just in case you are like me, don't assume that this is the second book in the series. Because it isn't. I still enjoyed it, but the ending was predictable. I did enjoy the growth of the characters---visible from the reader's perspective if not theirs.

I would recommend it to a middle-grade reader. But I wasn't as charmed as I was during the first book. ( )

With their older siblings away at boarding school, Randy and Oliver Melendy anticipate a dull and dreary school year. But then, a mysterious letter arrives, leading them on a quest from clue to clue. Who created this mystery hunt, and what prize awaits them at the end?

This is nearly as delightful as the other Melendy books, though I chuckled at another review that said it was like when a TV show starts a new season, but half the cast haven’t renewed their contracts! I also marveled at the freedom these kids have, though that’s been true for the entire series. And I think that this book stands pretty well on its own — for readers who enjoy old-fashioned stories, I’d say start at the beginning of the series, but young readers who love a good puzzle mystery could start here. ( )

Here were are, back with the Melendy family. Only in Spiderweb for Two they are less than half the family they are used to being. Father is still traveling the university circuit as a guest lecturer and Mark, Mona and Rush are away at various schools. Left behind are Randy and her brother, Oliver, with the help, Cuffy and Willy. The rest of the family hasn't been gone a day before Randy is beside herself with boredom. She doesn't want to play with Oliver. He's always been the baby of the family and therefore not worth her time...until she discovers a mystery. It starts with a message in the mailbox that takes them on a winter adventure. Each message is a clue to finding another message until they have received fourteen messages and all and it is summer once again.
It's a cute story. Oliver getting stuck in the chimney was one of my favorite parts. ( )

This is the last book in the Melendy Quartet, and it might be my favorite. As it follows Randy and Oliver Melendy on a mysterious scavenger hunt, this book shows well how the dynamics between younger siblings change as the older siblings go off and do their own things. I love watching the relationship between Randy and Oliver blossom as they work together to solve each clue. They each do things on their own, but still hold a strong loyalty to one another. I hope that my children do the same as they get older.

Speaking of my children, they love the scavenger hunt at the center of this book. All the while we were listening to this, they took turns making one another scavenger hunts and working together to make scavenger hunts for their dad.

They've not made any scavenger hunts for me. I'm not sure, but I suspect it's because I am, in general, less fun than their dad. Not that I'm not fun, I just am less obviously and sillily fun than Dad. For example, I like the scavenger hunt in the story, but my favorite parts are the rambles Randy and Oliver take to try and figure out the clues. Graveyards, pokeberry groves, abandoned houses: the youngest Melendys find magic everywhere, and Elizabeth Enright does a brilliant job of sharing this magic with the reader (or at least with me).

I also love that Oliver and Randy make friends with cool adults. Mrs. Bishop pretty much rocks, with her crocheted doilies and her knowledge of wildcraft.

One star off because the ending was a little anticlimactic and because I'm going to have to be on the lookout for the next few months to make sure my kids don't try to climb up the chimney. ( )