I received an electronic ARC from Random House Children's | Random House Books for Young Readers through NetGalley.
Delightful new book from Grabenstein. Readers get to travel along Route 66 and solve puzzles along with the seven teams to win the million dollar prize. We meet two brothers who don't have much of a relationship as they have different interests. Benjamin loves solving puzzles and gaming; his older brother, Ethan, is an athlete and leaving for college in the fall. Their parents offer them the opportunity to take a trip over the summer to spend time together camping and seeing part of the country. This changes when Benji earns a coupon for two free breakfasts. This is the first step in the competition to figure out the puzzles and take a road trip to find the prize. Along the way, teams are eliminated but the brothers manage to stay in the game. They even learn to work with each other along the way. The ending is a bit of a surprise but works well to wrap up the storylines.
I'm looking forward to sharing this one with my upper elem students.

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Benji Broderick lives with his family in Naperville, Illinois. His father, along with his two brothers, run a sporting goods store that they were inspired to start after a road trip the three took when they were in their late teens and early twenties. Benji and his brother, Evan, don't get along all that well. Evan is a football player who has just graduated from high school, and Benji prefers playing video games and working on puzzles. Hoping to encourage the same sort of camraderie that he had with his brothers, Evan and Benji's father make Evan an offer: if he will go on a road trip with Benji, he and Evan's mother will give Evan a truck that he can take to college. This still isn't enough, but once Aunt Caroline offers unlimited gas for four years, Evan is on board. While Benji would like to visit some Lincoln sites in Springfield, the two don't really have much of a plan, so decide to head to the Pancake Palace, where Benji has won a free meal after playing a video game at the movie theater. At the restaurant, Benji does well on a menu maze, and gets an invitation to a competition at Ms. Pennypickle's Emporium. Evan is reluctant until he finds that there is a huge prize. At the emporium, the brothers meet the other contestants, which include an older couple, an aunt and her niece, a boy their age and his father, and sisters Kaitlyn and Lily, who are roughly the boys' ages. The game calls for a lot of travel (with trackers on the cars so no one exceeds the speed limit), various competitions, and elimation of contestants. This is Benji's dream, and the fact that Ms. Pennypickle is footing the bill for meals and lodging doesn't hurt Evan's feelings. There's a pop drinking challenge at Pop's Soda Ranch, a visit to the Cadillac Ranch in Texas, and diving at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Along the way, alliances are formed, puzzles are solved, and there's even a bit of criminal mischief. When things go wrong, Benji and Evan have to decide how to wrap up their trip, but manage to pull together to make their time together worthwhile.
Strengths: When you, as an adult, pick up a book to read for fun (after a long day of work and being bludgeoned over the head with the horrible news of the world), do you pick up a book where the main character is struggling with the death of a loved one? I don't. I want something to take my mind off of things, not teach me Life Lessons. Evan and Benji DO learn some life lessons, but they also get to chug disgusting flavors of sodas, flirt with some girls, and travel across the US without their parents! This is the sort of book that would make an excellent gift and can be reread many times. Benji is a goofy Every Kid who is a bit jealous of his older brother but genuinely loves him and wants to spend time with him. Their parents and extended family are supportive; I LOVED the idea of the family sporting goods store and think there could have been an entire novel set THERE. Grabenstein's writing is always clear and concise, and he has some great moments of slapstick along with the bonding of the brothers. I am a fan of stand alones, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if there were another book about Benji.
Weaknesses: Since I am always a planner, it was hard to believe that Evan and Benji would hit the road with no clearer plan than heading to the Grand Canyon, but that approach worked in their favor once Mrs. Picklepenny got involved. Also, I wish that Ms. Picklepenny's name (and also the title) wouldn't have been so goofy. This is an excellent middle grade road trip adventure, but the name makes it sound a bit twee.
What I really think: Even though Kaitlyn and Lily's mother had died and their father wasn't doing well, that does not figure largely in the story at all. Given the huge number of books I read over the summer that were about processing grief, Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest was a huge relief, and a rare, fun read. Fans of Grabenstein's 2013 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library will definitely pick this one up, but readers who enjoyed the puzzles in newer titles like Currie's The Mystery of the Locked Rooms and Guterson's The World-Famous Nine or who want vicarious road trips like the ones in Reardon's Dad Rock Dragon Quest or Cartaya's A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation will be pleased with this as well.

First, I'd liket to thank NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I went into this having read all of the Lemoncello series and loved them! And loved recommending them to elementary school readers.
Excited to read this new adventure, I was sadly disappointed.

The basic premise of the story is great. 2 brothers, 1 having just graduated high school, are sent on a road trip to tighten their bond. On the way, they get brought in to a puzzle race, think Amazing Race. We meet the other players and they seem like a nice enough crew. But, as the puzzles and race go on, things are a little too simplistic, a little too orchestrated.

While the outcome is what the family wanted, I just didn't buy it. Perhaps the book is aimed at children before they get to Mr. Lemoncello. If that is the case, then it's simplicity is probably fine. But for me, it just didn't do it. I'm probably not going to recommend this to my Lemoncello readers, but maybe to younger puzzle readers.

What an amazing story! As Grabenstein moves away from the Mr. Lemoncello franchise, this book is sure to delight fans! Another puzzle quest but with a Route 66 twist, Benjamin and Ethan set off just like their father did with his brothers before heading off to college and they stumble upon a puzzle filled quest for a million dollars. Battling cheaters and wiz kids, the brothers grow a bond that had been questionable.

Such a great story for puzzlers and siblings alike!

This book has an engaging, fast moving plot; it is also a good mental challenge for middle school readers. Recommended!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

Another fun read by Chris Grabenstein. It is always more fun to read a story that you can interact with rather than just being an observer. I enjoyed reading this story and seeing the two brothers find a connection before the older one leaves for college.. I enjoyed how the story was able to incorporate geography and famous landmarks along Route 66.

I will probably re read, I'm curious to see if there are any more hidden puzzles in the book like in the Lemoncello series. Excited to see what the next adventure will be!

As a big fan of Mr. Lemoncello’s puzzles and stories, I was so excited to see a new puzzle quest from Chris Grabenstein! As in Mr. Lemoncello’s library, Ms. Pennypickle has plenty of puzzles and problems to solve. The reader can try to solve these as they read, or wait for the characters to solve them. But even more lovable than the puzzles are the characters. Ethan and Benji are typical brothers - the little brother is no longer “cool” enough for the big brother, though he desperately wants to be. They find themselves on Ms. Pennypickle’s quest, and have to lean on each other to make it through each challenge. Other lovable characters are also along for the ride, along with a couple dimwits too. This was a book that was hard to put down, and I think the combination of the puzzles and the fun characters will keep kids reading as well!

I absolutely loved this book! I enjoyed all of the characters and their personalities and I really appreciated the variety of puzzles throughout. If you enjoyed the Mr. Lemoncello books, you are sure to love this one as well. Now I want to drive down the Old Route 66 to see all of the places that were mentioned in the book!

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for honest feedback. I can’t wait to let my Lemoncello loving students know that this book will be published in the Fall!

-5 stars

This was another hit from Chris Grabenstein! I loved the Mr. Lemoncello series (and so did my students!) and was ready for another puzzling adventure. Enter Ms. Pennypickle! There were lots of fun puzzles to solve while also learning more about the interesting geography of Route 66. This is sure to be another standout Grabenstein read, and I can't wait to introduce it to my kiddos. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

I am a Chris Grabenstein super-fan, so I was eager to read his newest adventure. In this one, twelve-year-old Benjamin's brother Ethan has just graduated from high school and is very ready to move on to college, not really noticing how sad Benjamin is about his brother leaving. His parents offer Ethan a sweet ride for college on one condition: he must take his younger brother on a road trip much like his father and his brothers did when they were teens. Ethan balks at first, but the lure of a new truck for college is more than he can pass up. Much like the reality game show "The Amazing Race," Ethan and Benjamin were sucked into an orchestrated cross-country scavenger hunt. As the boys gather clues (riddles the reader can help solve!) they work on finding their way to back to each other and strengthen their sibling bond.

As marketed, this one had similarities to the Lemoncello series. The puzzles were very fun (and easier for me to solve than the Lemoncello ones!). This one will likely land on state reading award lists and is a great mystery or action/adventure title to add to elementary school libraries.

Such a fun book. I loved Mr Lemoncello and was worried about a new puzzle book. I might love this more. Great puzzles, great characters great story. This would be a fun class read aloud. Can the students solve the puzzles?