One of the most amazing illustrations I've ever seen in children's books. Can't believe I've never heard of Base before now. The pictures are so detailed and there are hundreds of things going on in them, you could just look for hours. In this case, there's a mystery to be solved and some really fun clues to be looking for in the pictures. Not easy enough of a mystery for a small child, but just tough enough for my 1st grader, and it kept me interested too! The clues are hidden in the pictures and many deal with letters and words. Lots of fun and a book we'll go back to over and over again.

Such a fun read with my boys! The illustrations are so rich and detailed.

Stunning artwork! I think I'll have to work on the mystery for a bit...

I usually don't review picture books, but this is the most author-indulgent thing I've ever read.

Every page is indeed covered with challenging codes and clues, but 98% of them are either useless or actively misleading. Some of them are just inside jokes the author wanted to include. A lot of them literally say "red herring." That doesn't motivate me to find more clues.

Finding the clues is seriously the least efficient way you can solve this mystery. I did figure out who did it, but I didn't use the clues once, and I regretted bothering with them at all. It feels like I'm supposed to admire the sheer amount of clues there were instead of considering their actual (lack of) utility.

Plus, I was really bored the whole time. It's hard to make a picture book so boring with so few pages, but this one managed. There is no story. It's just about this elephant's party, which is as needlessly elaborate as this book; and the stakes for the mystery for ridiculously low. You're not even helping the innocent animals solve the little mystery because the clues aren't part of the plot.

Finding the culprit doesn't impact the story in any way. Your only reward is pages upon pages of pictureless explanation of every one of the dozens of pointless clues hidden in the book. It was so incredibly pedantic, I wanted to stop reading. It would spend an entire paragraph proudly explaining how, if you look closely, the wall says "tick tock." :O

How does that help me??? It doesn't!!! I'm just supposed to marvel at the fact that it's there.

There are other interactive mystery books for kids. Read one of them instead.

In this "curious mystery" by Graeme Base, author of Animalia,
Horace Elephant invites 11 friends to his eleventh birthday party. After a great deal of elaborate preparation, games, and sport, the awesome feast prepared by Horace is stolen! Which guest was responsible for this heinous crime? The brilliantly embedded clues and breathtaking illustrations contribute to the clever rhyming tale in this modern masterpiece.

No elementary school classroom or personal library is complete without The Eleventh Hour. This intricately constructed mystery is supported by magnificent illustrations, clues in borders, and gratefully, by detailed author's notes in the back of the book that help young sleuths (and adults) locate the brilliantly conceived clues. The whimsical illustrations are so impeccably detailed that even young primary students may be able to infer the storyline of the mystery, but the sophisticated vocabulary and invitation to engage in "observation and deduction" will prove challenging for older students and adults as well. The various explanations of the clues and solution to the mystery are contained in a sealed section at the end of the book called "The Inside Story" so the urge to cheat is foiled by the clever "packaging." There is also a cryptic section entitled "Notes for Detectives" that invites the reader to crack a code. This book would be an outstanding addition to a mystery genre unit in elementary grades or middle school. It is to the I Spy books what Caviar is to Cheetoes.

A family favorite for many years.

Wow! This was an amazing book and the illustrations were outstanding. It kept my daughter and I busy for a few days working out the clues but I think she did a better job than I did.

"The Eleventh Hour" by Graeme Base is about an elephant named Horace. Horace is having an extravagant birthday party. He invites all of his friends and each one comes in a costume. Throughout the story they play games. There's a feast, but towards the end the food disappears! Horace isn't saddened though because he reappears with sandwiches and his humungo surprise birthday cake.
The genre of this text is mystery. The lexile number is 1070. The author has won numerous awards: Children's Book Council of Australia Award for Picture Book of the Year--Joint Winner (1989), Canberra's Own Outstanding List (COOL) Awards for Section 2 Fiction for Younger Readers (1994), Young Australians' Best Book Award (YABBA) for Section1-Picture Storybook (1989).
"The Eleventh Hour" is a great companion to "Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer" by John Grisham. Both books are mysteries. The reader has to look between the lines at the evidence and clues that are strewn throughout the text. Both mysteries occur when the characters least expect it. Both are great reads!

My kids love "The Eleventh Hour" as much as I did when I was a kid.

This picture book is unmatched as a mystery solved by hidden codes and riddles. Its forty-or-so hidden codes keep kids occupied for hours, even if they cheat and read the solutions in the back. It also has top-notch illustration, incredible settings, and really very impressive rhyming verse.

My eight-year-old wanted hints, so I gave her a basic approach to deducing the whodunnit (try to figure out when the crime happened, and only then who did it), and she was able to figure it out. Now she's poring over the book for hours trying to find and understand all the hidden codes, and memorize all the verses. And she wants to know where all the architecture and furniture (which span from Renaissance to Baroque to Art Nouveau to Medieval to Egyptian to Turkish to Indian) came from!

And we never did figure out the Swan's name.

This is basically in the all-time list of best kids' books ever, in my opinion.

My husband grew up with this book and, although I loved Animalia as a kid, this book was not in my collection. The two of us spent a couple of nights over the Thanksgiving break working out this mystery--what a fun way to pass an evening! The mystery here is simple enough for an older child to figure out with a little parental guidance, but the clues in code are quite difficult. There are so many beautiful and funny details hidden in the illustrations, and the whole concept is extremely well carried out.

While I'm constantly blown away by Base's artwork (your eyes don't know where to look), I have to say this book was a letdown on several levels. The biggest is that it's this mystery you have to solve, but you aren't told it's a mystery until the crime happens. So you are never really aware of things you should have been on the lookout for. I'd get it if the crime had been committed early on. But it just fell flat for me, and then when I read about the clues I laughed because I don't think they were excellent. Kids and adults might love this book, but I didn't enjoy it much. Base hasn't been one of my favorites while reading hundreds of picture books this year. He's unique, but not memorable in a positive way for me. My rating - 2/5

Absolutely brilliant. Using the messages and codes hidden in the illustrations, can you solve which of the guests stole the feast? Some puzzles are simple, some are quite challenging. Some may even require you to do a bit of research (although you don't need to in order to solve the mystery).

Great fun to read, and one I'm looking forward to sharing with others. I wish I had several copies to hand out!