Such a brilliantly crafted Young Adult/Satire Novel by Kersti Niebruegge ! For a first novel, this is impressive. Extra +++ bonus points for the use of the word Nimrod and Poubelle !!
So, what is Mistake Wisconsin about ? Well, it’s the story of a small town called Mistake, that’s right you guessed it, in Wisconsin and the mystery of stolen musky mailboxes. Without giving too much away, Megan Svenson, a fifteen year old is on a mission to find the true culprit of all the town’s shenanigans. This book also includes, teenagers, custard, fishing, football and a Troll.
Mistake is a town wholly crafted by Niebruegge, it’s a fictional town but in so many ways it is completely believable and well thought out. The way in which she presents the town in the first chapter is kinda genius too. Nope, not telling you how she does it, you’ll have to read that for yourself.
I loved the characters, she gives us just enough information about them to make us either like, dislike, roll our eyes at them or shake our heads. The book had me smiling and chuckling throughout. I even had to look up if lutefisk really existed because she’s that good at creating this town with all it’s details, shop names, people names, events… like I said, brilliant.
We don’t necessarily follow Megan through the whole story, we are privileged to see what is happening throughout the town and we see first hand how this mystery evolves. You know, I’d really love a series of books on this town, it’s so unique and I’m sure there are many crazy adventures to be told from the town of Mistake, Wisconsin.
I come from a small town myself, in the middle of nowhere, where the population of mosquitoes was denser than morning fog, and everyone knew everyone, so this read really appealed to me. (I’m sorry that was a long sentence and probably isn’t a real sentence anyway)
Mistake Wisconsin would make a great light summer read for the cottage, with the sound of water hitting the boat dock on a slightly overcast day. It reads fairly fast, but I took a few sittings due to well, kids. I’ll be looking out for anything Kersti Niebruegge in the future, she hooked me. 😉
Mistake Wisconsin by Kersti Niebruegge
published by KN, New York
pages : 147
web : official website