Masterpiece (The Masterpiece Adventures) (Paperback)

Fall 2008 Kids' List


“A marvelous story about a boy who doesn't fit in, a beetle who longs for adventure, and how they find each other. The interaction between the two rings true even as they become involved in an art heist at the Museum of Modern Art.”
— Trish Brown, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, VA

A New York Times bestselling middle grade mystery novel full of adventure, friendship, and stolen art.

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.

Masterpiece is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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.



Kelly Murphy has illustrated many books for children including Masterpiece, Alex and the Amazing Time Machine, and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist books. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Product Details ISBN: 9780312608705
ISBN-10: 0312608705
Publisher: Square Fish
Publication Date: March 30th, 2010
Pages: 320
Language: English
Series: The Masterpiece Adventures

“Inventive ... Broach ... packs this fast-moving story with perennially seductive themes: hidden lives and secret friendships, miniature worlds lost to disbelievers ... Broach and Kelly show readers something new.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Delightful intricacies of beetle life ... blend seamlessly with the suspenseful caper as well as the sentimental story of a complicated-but-rewarding friendship ... Murphy's charming pen-and-ink drawings populate the short chapters of this funny, winsome novel.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This marvelous story is sure to be a hit.” —School Library Journal