This series came out when I was in 6th grade and I read them all. They were cute, about the kindergarteners at Polk St School. However these characters are not very well established. For instance, it was supposed to be a new year at Polk St, but Emily and Richard and the older kids were still in Ms. Rooney's 2nd grade class. If you have read any of the original Polk St books about Emily, you will notice that Stacy, Emily's little sister, wasn't in school then, when Emily was in Ms. Rooney's room. I found this inconsistant, but the story is well written.

"Snagle Doodles," what a weired title. This book is NOT written well. The sentences are way too short. Some sentences only have one word! The characters are very dumb. In the story, kids had to envent something( I mean to make something out of boxes, gloves, paper, and all kinds of stuff in groups). And two gruops made trees, but they were supposed to envent somethig. Dumb, isnt it? So don't read it.

I honestly have no idea how I stumbled upon this book now, so many years after reading it. I'll be twenty years old this year and am attending college with the intent of becoming a writer/teacher myself. Miraculously, despite not having seen or read these books in many years, I am able to remember this entire series and its characters perfectly: The realistic and relatable heroine of most tales, Emily Arrow; her younger sister Stacy (star of the New Polk Street School kids series), who 'smiled like Elwood, the dog down the street'; Beast (aka Matthew Best), the considerable leader of the class and a star of the series in his own right; his best friend, the smelly Matthew Jackson; the beautiful, prim and proper, "perfect" Dawn Tiffani Bosco (whom you later learned wasn't so bad, thanks to her own series, the Polka Dot Private Eye); Ms. Rooney, the pure embodiment of a stereo-typical perfect teacher; and, of course, the other classmates who frequent the adventures (like Sherri Dent)... I could go on and on.
I've always been somewhat of a.. OK, somewhat of a dork, to be completely honest. I learned to read when I was 3 years old, and haven't been able to put a book down ever since. I delved into this series when I was about six years old and fell in love with it. The characters always managed to entertain me, but still taught lessons of great moral values without making them too obvious or preachy. The oft-outrageous and hilarious predicaments the children get themselves into time and time again keep its readers from losing interest, a problem that frequently occurs to its target age group. The books also depicted scenes and situations most children have found themselves in at some point in time, providing an outlet for alliance.
Overall, having experienced the pleasure of reading this series at the age it was intended for and seeing that I still remember specific details from it almost 14 years later, I think it is safe to say that these are fabulous books for children. In a day and age where simplicity and innocence is becoming harder and harder to come by, these timeless books provide a fantastic escape for kids. I am thankful that I still own my collection so many years later; perhaps one day I will have the pleasure of sharing them with my future children.
Kudos and hats off to the author for creating such a wonderfully relatable and captivating assortment of characters and antics still cherished today!

I liked THE CASE OF THE COOL-ITCH KID very much. It was a mystery but it was funny in the end because it turned out there was not a thief (but I won't give away the ending).

i read this book for a child lit class. It was a poorly written book. The plot of this story should be suspenseful because it is a mystery. Unfortunately I found this story too confusing and poorly worded to be suspenseful. The plot line makes little sense. Children readers especially will have a hard time following the illogical story line and the many characters. There are many turns of plot in the story that are explained very poorly. For example, Minnie is at one point pushed into a shack by a small boy. Then an off duty police officer falls into the shack as well. Later this situation is quickly explained, but the situation still makes no logical sense. I liked the idea the seaside setting of this book, but it was explained in so little detail that it was not interesting. The characters should be interesting, but it seems that the author was trying to hard to make the characters quirky. For example, the main character's brother owns a restaurant where he serves peaches and walnut shells as his main ingredients. The author includes many of these types of off the wall descriptions, but not of them seems believable. These sorts of details may work in a book that is better written. Riff is not able to pull this off. I think Riff also was trying to make this book funny, but it was not.

this book is a desperate one. made for children maybe up to 6 yrs. old this book was boring and not planned out.

Kidnap at the Catfish Cafe is a must read for those who like cliffhangers. Minnie, a soon to be ten girl has a new detective agency.Her first case is find a home for a cat and stop a thief that will steel anything. Minnie with the help of her two friends will try to stop the thief. When Minnie's boat and cat get stolen, Minnie follows to find out who it is or will she get cought in the act? Find out when you read this book.