Series Books for 3rd Grade: Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford

I read a review of a Violet Mackerel book and added it to my list of series books that I have somehow missed. Well, I read Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot and I am so glad I discovered this series! Violet Mackerel is for sure one of my new favorite characters. I just called Cover to Cover to order the rest of the series.

I fell in love with the book on the very first page.  There were many times in the book when the writing reminded me of Cynthia Rylant, one of my favorite authors of all time.  The story begins like this:

Violet Mackerel is quite a small girl, but she has a theory.

Her theory is that when you are having a very important and brilliant idea, what generally happens is that you find something small and special on the ground.  So whenever you spy a sequin, or a stray bead, or a bit of ribbon, or a button, you should always pick it up and try very hard to remember what you were thinking about at the precise moment when you spied it, and then think about that thing a lot more.  That is Violet's theory, which she calls the Theory of Finding Small Things.

Violet Mackerel is the kind of girl who has lots of important ideas. She is the kind of girl who wears her pajama bottoms under her skirt. She is the kind of girl who creates brilliant plots!

I love Violet Mackerel and can't wait to read more about this great character!