Riz Chester: The Counterfeit Bust
R.A Stephens
Series: Riz Chester Book
Publication Date:
3 May 2023
Format:
Paperback / softback
ISBN 9781761111181
Riz Chester is an average 10-year-old girl. She can't do anything special and is average at school. But Riz is particularly picky, she notices when the teacher is 2 minutes late, or when the food brand used in the cheese sandwiches changes. She also notices when money doesn't feel quite right.
Spotted by a police officer, Riz gets called in for questioning. She demonstrates she does notice the difference between the normal notes and the counterfeit ones, even though before
her interaction with the officer she had never heard of counterfeiting. The officer explains that there is a ring of counterfeiting occurring locally but they haven't been able to pinpoint the criminal source. Mum cannot remember where the notes came from, but something sticks out to Riz when she thinks about it later. She recruits her friends to help her help investigate, carefully planning a course of action to track down the counterfeit notes. With the help of Riz and her friends, the police uncover the counterfeit operation.
Information
Book Type: Early ReadersAge Group: 8 to 11 years
Traffic Lights: Green
Class Novel: Yes
Good Reads Rating: 4.5/5
Literary Rating: 4/5
Review
Riz may not think she has any special skills, but she's very observant. When shopping with her mother, she notices something off about the cash her mum hands her to pay for the groceries. After the police question her, she discovers that identifying the counterfeit money is just another aspect of her attention to detail.
Riz wants to use her newfound detective skills to discover where the counterfeit money is coming from at the shopping centre. She gathers her friends Lachie A and Lochie C—both very computer savvy—and twins Sabrina and Jenny. They formulate a plan to go in teams into the three shops Riz attended the previous day with her mother. They will each pay for things in cash to see who receives the counterfeit money in change.
Together they find out where the most counterfeit money has been coming from and turn the information in to the police. Later, the man responsible is taken down—thanks to Riz and her forensics research. The police thank her and her friends and give her some fingerprint forensics books so she can keep learning about forensics—and maybe one day she'll use her special skills in her career!
A cheerful chapter book for young readers which discusses finance, the law, and forensics in a friendly and approachable way. Riz and her friends set up a useful experiment to test their theory and gather more information, demonstrating problem-solving skills useful in STEM. Riz's internal journey from believing that she's not special to discovering her individual strengths is heartwarming and sends a good message to young readers. Though it is not made explicit, Riz shows traits that will make her especially relatable to neurodivergent readers. Overall, this is a highly enjoyable and educational read!
Themes
friendship, problem solving, confidence, mystery, science, money, counterfeiting, police, neurodivergence
Content Notes
Not applicable.
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