posted on 16 Sep 2021

The Puffin Portal by Vashti Hardy

Back in November of last year we were introduced for the first time to the Griffin family, custodians of a unique teleportation device and map that they use to keep an eye open for any incidents of crime in Moreland. The Griffin family, Grace, her older brother and her mom, are able to use the teleportation machine invented by Grandmother Griffin to jump quickly to locations that report crimes and get investigations underway with speed. Grace, as the youngest family member, gets to investigate the less serious, petty crimes along with her mechanical bird companion, Watson.

In this second outing, again brought to us in the Barrington Stoke ‘super readable’ series, we discover that the Griffin family are having to deal with a lot more calls on their time – and its taking its toll because they are exhausted by the end of the day. Grace is especially puzzled by an outbreak of very minor thefts – a tin here, a bottle there. And, most oddly, the only clue seems to be the presence of a bird or at least the evidence of a bird in the form of feathers – but how could this be related to the thefts?

Grace and Watson decide the time has come to crack this case and set up a watch to catch the criminal in the act and what they discover comes as something of a shock – the thief turns out to be a Puffin that seems to take its ill-gotten gains and disappear down a hole in the ground. To the surprise of the two investigators the hole turns out to be another, alternative portal that transports them to Eely Isle and a big house that has seen better times.

Here they discover a young boy called Tom who tries to get rid of them as soon as possible and tells them that his parents are not at home but don’t like visitors.

But where are they? And what does young Tom know about the mysterious thieving Puffin?

Well, I’m not going to tell you the rest of the story because you’ll want to find out the mysteries of Eely Isle for yourself. But I can say that you will be surprised to discover the final outcome of the story – I’m not giving too much away to say that when we next meet the Griffin family we’ll be seeing more of Tom too.

As with the first book in the series we also have the bonus of full and part-page illustrations from Natalie Smillie who helps bring the Griffin family and their adventures to life.

There is already another adventure, The Raven Riddle, planned for future release.

 

Terry Potter

September 2021