Student Review: "Serafina and the Black Cloak," by Robert Beatty

Serafina, the Chief Rat Catcher of the Biltmore Estate, is our protagonist with a strange physical appearance and a house in the secret basement of Biltmore castle with her adoptive father. Nobody in the whole wide world knows about her existence except her father who works at the Biltmore Estate and refuses to tell Serafina anything about her past. One night, as she was out at night to catch rats, she saw a scary man in a black cloak chasing a little girl in the corridors of the Estate. The man catches the girl, his cloak engulfs her, and she disappears. More children start to disappear and nobody knows who is behind all this. Serafina sneaks into the Biltmore Castle to tell the owners of the Estate about what she witnessed at night but only succeeds in sharing the information with their nephew, Braeden. Serafina and Braeden become friends and together start the adventure to catch the mystery man in the cloak. Serafina and her friend fight many fights with mysterious man in the cloak which is very, very scary. At the end, Serafina not only solves the mystery of the cloak but defeats the man in the cloak and the cloak itself too. She also learns about her true identity, makes her first friend, and also meets her biological mother who is half human half mountain lion. I loved the book and enjoyed reading it. The parts about “man in the cloak” are very scary but interesting. I was very happy when Serafina made her first ever friend and when she finally met her mother. I definitely recommend the book for anybody who is interested in adventurous and magic stories.

Mohid Ali's Rating: ****

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