October 1, 2018
When Geronimo Stilton must go undercover in a figure-skating competition to stop a thief, there's just one little problem: He doesn't know how to skate.Everyone's trying to guess who will win a special prize in the couples category of the Mouse Island Ice Skating Championships: Will it be Lobelia Tutu, or perhaps the mysterious Masked Skaters, or maybe Anastasia Goudanov, the great-great-great-niece of Olga Goudanov, whose legendary ice skates, gifted to her by Czar Mousoloff of Mousekow, are the contest's prize? Amping the excitement is the possibility that the prize skates hold a clue to a hidden treasure. After Geronimo accidentally uncovers the identities of the Masked Skaters, they reveal they're plants protecting the skates from a would-be thief. With their identities compromised, they need another investigator to step in and protect the prize--and they recruit Geronimo, despite his inability to skate. To get him ready, his friends and family recruit Lobelia to teach him so he'll no longer be a "mozzarella" (rodent slang for rookie), and his love interest, Creepella von Cacklefur, steps in as his partner. Light, informational bits about skating bolster the plot until the competition, which is almost disastrous for Geronimo, though the resolution brings no surprises. With the hero's distinctive personality and brightly colored text and illustrations, this book's standard Stilton fare. Inconsistencies within the text do the series' young enthusiasts a disservice.Skates by without landing any impressive tricks. (Adventure. 6-10)
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