Rico Doretti lives at 93 Dieffe Street in Berlin. He knows
everyone in his apartment building and their peculiar ways.
They all think his ways are peculiar. Rico says that his
"lottery machine" gets scrambled up and he just can't
think like a normal kid. Rico is autistic.
It's just him and his mom, since his dad passed away. She
works in a night club and sleeps a lot during the day. Rico
is left alone to entertain himself quit often. At the start
of summer vacation, he meets Oscar, a younger kid who wears
a bright blue crash helmet. Oscar is different too; he's a
genius. He knows all sorts of useless information that Rico
could care less about. Rico says he couldn't remember all
that information even if he tried.
Recently there have been a series of kidnappings around
Berlin, and the kidnapper only asks 2000 Euros for each
ransom. That's how he has come to be known as Mr. 2000. One day
when Oscar was supposed to visit Rico at his apartment
building, Oscar did not show up. Rico waited around a while
and then began to look around the area. He found the little
pair of red wings which Oscar always wore lying on the
ground behind the building.
Something clicks in Rico's head that makes him think Oscar
has been kidnapped. He starts out to find the first girl who
was kidnapped to see if she can give him any information she
did not give the police. His journey is a tough one, since
he is directionally challenged. Eventually he takes a taxi
to get there. He doesn't learn much from Sophia except that
she calls the kidnapper Mr. Jingle-Jangle man.
Back at home he spends time in the thinking chair, moving
the "balls" around in his "lottery machine" and
putting the
clues together. When he can't sleep at night, he sits and
stares out the window. Tonight he sees shadowy shadows in
the condemned building behind him. A plan begins to emerge.
Rico thinks he knows where Oscar is, but can he get to him
in time?
THE SPAGHETTI DETECTIVES is a delightful children's story
that is the first story by German author Andreas Steinhofel
to be translated into English. It's a unique approach to
explaining how an autistic child thinks. This amusing
mystery is filled with lots of humor and funny definitions
that children will surely enjoy.
1 String of Spaghetti + 2 Friends = A Noodle-Cooking,
Crime-Solving Adventure!Sometimes Rico acts a bit odd -- his
mom calls him a "proddity" -- but he's GENIUS at noticing
little things nobody else does. Like a string of spaghetti
stuck to the sidewalk. Or the big buckteeth of that boy in
the blue motorcycle helmet. Or the strange behavior of the
neighbors in his apartment building. Oscar is a true
prodigy, with a high IQ and high anxieties to match. He's
the one who wears the blue helmet -- to protect his precious
brain! Oscar may have a lot of book smarts, but he needs
Rico's help to face his biggest fears. And when other kids
mysteriously start going missing, it's up to the two friends
to use their noodles, keep track of the clues, and crack the
case! Funny, sweet, and just the right amount of scary, THE
SPAGHETTI DETECTIVES shows how two opposite, seemingly
mismatched kids can put their heads together and be better
as a pair.
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