By Chas Pangburn Kim Shearer and Nic Touris
A cruise ship mystery told from two different sides, where siblings must team up to stop a supernatural threat.
Chas! Pangburn and Kim Shearer, a real-life brother-sister duo, bring a fresh perspective to middle-grade mysteries with this series. In the first installment, siblings Otto and Nan head out on a vacation with their father, only to find themselves hunting a mysterious werewolf terrorizing the ship. The story uses a unique flip-book format: one side follows Otto’s detective-style hunt for clues, while the other side reveals Nan’s perspective on the same events. This creates a converging narrative where their individual efforts eventually meet to solve the mystery. There are currently two books in the series, providing a follow on for students to continue their reading journey.
This series is a fantastic tool for the classroom because it uses visual storytelling to make suspenseful themes accessible. The layout features full-page color art and distinct panel designs that help students follow the action even if they struggle with dense text. Because the vocabulary focuses on simple and compound sentences, English language learners can pick up tier-two words like “menace” or “supernatural” through the context of Nic Touris’s vibrant illustrations. For reluctant readers, the flip-book gimmick turns reading into an interactive game, encouraging them to see how the two narratives interlock. Using a series like this helps build confidence because students become familiar with Otto and Nan’s distinct personalities and the illustrators’ style, making the second book feel much more approachable.
Total Books in Series: 2 Best Starting Point: Double Booking Vol. 1
