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Category Archives: Mystery and Suspense

The Secret Box by Whitaker Ringwald

11 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, Mystery and Suspense

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This is a cute story about a girl named Jax Malone who received a package on her twelfth birthday from a person she had never heard of.  Her mother snatches the package before she can open it and attempts to return it. Of course, Jax’s curiosity is piqued and she MUST find out what is in the box.

She needs the help of her two cousins, Ethan and Tyler. Ethan is not very excited about helping Jax, but he goes along with her ideas in order to keep Jax from trouble.  Tyler is a typical teenager who thinks his twelve-year-old brother and cousin are little pests.  Ethan and Jax manage to grab the package before it is returned.  After they find that the package contains a strange looking box, they try to open it only to discover that they have only ten tries to get in it. They waste three tries before they realize that they have to quit trying until they figured out a strategy. The box tells them how far away they are from the spot they must be in to open it, but nothing else.

Ethan and Jax then enlist Tyler to help them figure out where to go.  Tyler is none to happy about his little cousin and brother bothering him while he is trying to develop a video game. But, in order to get rid of them, he tells them what to do.

Tyler explains that the kids must use geometry to figure out where the secret place is in relation to where they are. They know that they need to travel 193 miles to the correct place.  Tyler shows them how to calculate where that might be drawing an arc of a circle on a map that equals 193 miles.

They start by guessing the direction to begin and going to the place where the package originated to see if they are closer. When they get there they discover that they are now 206 miles further away. Again using geometry, they draw another circle and notice that the two intersecting points meet in the middle of a lake and in Washington D.C.

The kids trick Tyler into taking them – with their parent’s approval – in his car to Washington. D.C. On the way there, the box is stolen by two elderly people, and all three children embark on an ever-escalating adventure. On their trip, Tyler tells them the legend of Pandora’s box, and they begin to wonder if this box contains trouble.  They discover a great-aunt that the two younger children didn’t know they had, and Jax finds out more about her father, whom she had never met. Ethan finds out that he is braver than he had believed himself to be, and Tyler discovers that there is life beyond computer games.

This fast-paced tale will satisfy those readers of adventure and mystery stories.  There are no scenes of drinking, smoking or of sex.  No unacceptable words appear on the pages. Although the kids do things they shouldn’t (such as breaking into a motel room), they are ever mindful of the consequences of their actions and of their parents’ reactions to those behaviors.  I especially liked the fact that they had to use math in order to solve the mystery, and that mythology was introduced to the reader.

I recommend this book for upper elementary and middle school readers. I believe that there may be more stories of Jax, Ethan, and Tyler yet to come.  Stay tuned!

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Cinderella Smith: The Super Secret Mystery

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, Mystery and Suspense, Uncategorized

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Stephanie Barden has written a cute little story about a young girl named Ella who needs to do a research report of endangered species, but all the books she needs to use have been checked out from her school library.  Although she can find material on her subject, she is required to use print materials in her report (I love that teacher). She goes back for them the day they are due, but finds out that the books were renewed. So, she must come back, AGAIN.  However, the librarian tells her that she will now put a hold on the books; so that when they are returned, they will be kept at her desk for Ella (Cinderella). When she gets a message from the librarian that the books are in, she goes to the library to pick them up only to discover that someone has stolen them from the librarian’s desk.

She begins to try to figure out who would want to sabotage her report, and several classmates pop to mind. But her immediate concern in not finding the culprit, but finishing her report. After a trip to the public library where she finds the books she needs, she gets a mysterious note saying, “Look behind J.” She tries to figure out the message, but no ideas come to mind. The due date for the report is looming, but she still wants to figure out what happened to the books and why her former best friend is acting so strangely.

This is a cute little mystery book and will serve to introduce young readers to the genre. This appears to be part of a series, although I am not familiar with it.  I do recommend this book for readers in third through fifth grade,

I love the library references and the way the story is used to teach students what librarians, both school and public, can do for them. The series has the possibility to become like the Nancy Drew mysteries for younger readers..

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