Synopses & Reviews
The third in a contemporary series just like Encyclopedia Brown, but with a little more brawn, and a lot more brainteasers! Super-sleuth Charlie Collier is thinking about taking a hiatus from his detective agency to play a private eye in a school playbut when some real robberies stump the police, Charlie realizes that detective work really is his true calling.
He and his sidekicks Henry and Scarlett team up with Charlies grandma and her old buddy Eugene to set a trap for the robberone theyre sure will catch him. But the trap doesnt work out quite the way they thought it would, leaving Charlie, Henry and Scarlett in grave danger.
This high-stakes adventure is filled to the brim with brainteasers. Charlie can solve them allcan you?
What people are saying about Charlie Collier's first caper:
I loved reading The Homemade Stuffing Caper. The mystery is challenging. The many characters in the book are great fun. I look forward to reading the next Charlie Collier story, and the next, and the next, and the . . .”David A. Adler, author of the Cam Jansen mysteries
The Homemade Stuffing Caper is an exciting mystery, full of jokes and puns, as well as brainteasers and lots of detective work. This may be the first mystery you dont want the detective to solve, because you wont want it to end!”Bookpage
Brisk and absorbing, author John Madormos debut tips its fedora to hard-boiled classics with its sixth-grader meets Sam Spade narration.”FamilyFun Magazine
With mysteries to solve, codes to decrypt, and an extended cast of colorful characters in tow, this first in a new series offers lots of mystery fans to chew on and will leave them hungry for the next installment.”Booklist
A Bookpage Top Ten Summer Reading Selection for 2012
Review
"Illustrator Mack’s first foray into the cartoon-driven chapter book will be well received by the clueless and the clue-full alike."
Review
"Hilarious . . . Wimpy Kid fans will be thrilled to find this book on the shelf."
Review
"PJ's goofy, good-natured personality shines throughout the book. "Wimpy Kid" fans will be thrilled to find this book on the shelf." —School Library Journal
Review
"PJ is charmingly out of touch with reality...His supporting cast adds to the laughs."—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Sammy Keyes must be a magnet for trouble...
I mean it's bad enough that she has to live illegally in a seniors-only building with her grandmother while her mother tries to make it as a move star. And worse that she witnessed a burglary in progress--and that the theif saw her. And worse still that nosy neighbor Mrs. Graybill is onto her, and that the thief is after her. But on top of all that, she also manages to make an enemy of the queen of mean at her new school and get suspended on the first day.
Welcome to the wild world of Sammy Keyes
Praise for the Sammy Keyes series:
"Sammy Keyes is feisty, fearless, and funny. A top-notch investigator " --New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton
"The sleuth delights from start to finish. Keep your binoculars trained on Sammy Keyes." --Publishers Weekly
"Sammy Keyes is the hottest sleuth to appear in children's books since Nancy Drew."--The Boston Globe
Synopsis
Sammy Keyes is perusing the neighborhood through binoculars when she spots something fishy at the Heavenly Hotel. She's sure she's just seen a robbery, now she just has to prove it. Now in Knopf Paperback, is the first book in the exciting new series of middle-grade mysteries starring the smart and spunky seventh-grade ace detective. "This girl sleuth is no well-mannered Nancy Drew. She's hot-tempered, nosy and not always obedient. In short, she's someone I want to read about again. A winning debut!" (Margaret Maron, author of The Bootlegger's Daughter and One Coffee With).
Synopsis
Sammy Keyes is perusing the neighborhood through binoculars when she spots something fishy at the Heavenly Hotel. She's sure she's just seen a robbery, now she just has to prove it. Now in Knopf Paperback, is the first book in the exciting new series of middle-grade mysteries starring the smart and spunky seventh-grade ace detective. "This girl sleuth is no well-mannered Nancy Drew. She's hot-tempered, nosy and not always obedient. In short, she's someone I want to read about again. A winning debut!" (Margaret Maron,
Synopsis
While scanning the neighborhood with binoculars, Sammy spots something strange at the Heavenly Hotel. A man in one room is wearing gloves and rummaging through a purse.
Synopsis
Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets
Encyclopedia Brown!
Clueless McGee is just your average fifth-grader: snarky, awkward, and a magnet for trouble. The only difference: he's also an amateur detective. Determined to make his absent father proud, he uses the skills he's learned playing video games to solve mysteries. Only he's no Sherlock Holmes. Or Encyclopedia Brown. Or even Scooby-Doo. When the school bully is framed for filling the orchestra teacher's tuba with macaroni and cheese, Clueless is on the case. But can he catch the culprit before he strikes again? His only obstacle, as Jeff Mack shows us in his hilarious new illustrated series, is his own ineptitude . . . questionable talent . . . and limited intelligence. No problem!
Synopsis
Charlie Collier is back solving mysteries out of his parents' garage, and this one's a doozey!
Actually, there may be more than just one mystery out there to solve. There's Charlie's friend Sherman's brother, who is missing. And then there's a series of robberies in town involving masked teenagers. Could they be related? Charlie has to get himself in a heap of trouble--like getting thrown in juvie!--to figure out what's going on.
Filled with action, adventure, humor and brain teasers, this is perfect for an older elementary school or young junior high school mystery fan.
Synopsis
What do you mean they don't give trophies for playing video games? It’s only fair, isn’t it? Clueless McGee has mastered his Ninja Warz video game and he’d like a trophy. It seems like a lot of extra work to have to win the science fair to get one. . . . Yet that trophy is REALLY nice. And Clueless does have an idea for a magnetic pickle that seems like an obvious winner. So okay, he’s in. Until someone steals the trophy—and then he’s on the case! Clueless will have to call on his finest ninja skills —not to mention some luck and a lot of help from people more competent than he is—in order to solve the mystery. . . .
Jeff Mack continues to hit every note just right in this hilarious series that young middle-graders will be reading, rereading, and exchanging with their friends until (and even after) the next installment lands on the shelves. With comic-style art throughout, this book is perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, Dork Diaries and for any kid who likes mysteries, likes to laugh, and is a video game master!
Synopsis
For fifty years, Encyclopedia Brown has been the best boy detective on the block and a favorite character for generations of middle-grade readers. Following the classic formula, this installment presents ten mysteries, complete with answers at the end of the book that allow the reader to solve the cases, too. Join Encyclopedia as he takes on the cases of an African killfish, a library book vandal, and a nail-biting soccer game.
I loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid.”Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Synopsis
Hes got a talent for unraveling the most tangled mysteries
Charlie Collier is back solving mysteries out of his parents' garage, and this one's a doozy! Charlies friend Shermans brother is missing and its up to Charlie to track him down. And then there's a series of robberies in town involving masked teenagers. Could they be related? Charlie has to get himself in a heap of troublelike getting thrown in juvie! to figure out what's going on.
Synopsis
Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets
Encyclopedia Brown!
Clueless McGee is just your average fifth-grader: snarky, awkward, and a magnet for trouble. The only difference: he's also an amateur detective. Determined to make his absent father proud, he uses the skills he's learned playing video games to solve mysteries. Only he's no Sherlock Holmes. Or Encyclopedia Brown. Or even Scooby-Doo. When the school bully is framed for filling the orchestra teacher's tuba with macaroni and cheese, Clueless is on the case. But can he catch the culprit before he strikes again? His only obstacle, as Jeff Mack shows us in his hilarious new illustrated series, is his own ineptitude . . . questionable talent . . . and limited intelligence. No problem!
Synopsis
"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book ReviewWhat Sammy should have done was put the binoculars down and call 911. What she does instead is tighten up the focus on her right eye to get a better look. There's something very familiar about this thief.
But when Sammy eventually spills her story to Officer Borsch, he doesn't believe her. He treats her like some snot-nosed little kid. Well, Sammy's not going to stand for that. She's a snot-nosed seventh grader now, and she knows what she saw. And somehow she's going to prove it.
The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.
Synopsis
The treacherous, hormone-soaked hallways of Franklin Middle School are the setting for this sharp, funny noir novel about tough guys and even tougher girls. "The Frank"is in the clutches of a crime syndicate run by seventh-grader Vinny "Mr. Biggs" Biggio, who deals in forged hall passes and blackmarket candy. Double-cross him and your number is punched by one of his deadly water gun-toting assassins. One hit in the pants and you are in "the Outs" forever. Matt Stevens is a proud loner with his own code of justice. He's avoided being pulled into Vinny's organization until now: Mr. Biggs has offered him a job he can't resist, even if it means bringing down one of his oldest friends.
Nominated for an Edgar Award in 2009, The Big Splash revitalizes the noir novel while delivering a terrific, addictive mystery that crackles with wit and excitement.
Awards and praise for The Big Splash
2009 Edgar Award nomination
"Jack Ferraiolo shines a light on middle school and reveals what we've always suspected: It's a sinister place ruled by crime bosses and thugs. The Big Splash will make you laugh out loud."
--Jeff Kinney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
"Entertaining and thrilling."
--New York Times Book Review
"An ingenious premise: junior high noir. . . . Twists and curve balls keep readers guessing; extended jokes will keep them laughing."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Well paced, funny, and suspenseful, with some real commentary on bullying and mob mentality."
--School Library Journal
"If middle school has an 'underworld,' this book is The Godfather and The Maltese Falcon all rolled into one. Better still, it's funny, and not just a little."
--Gordon Korman, author of Born to Rock
About the Author
Books have always been a part of
Wendelin Van Draanen’s life. Her mother taught her to read at an early age, and she has fond memories of story time with her father, when she and her brothers would cuddle up around him and listen to him read stories.
Growing up, Van Draanen was a tomboy who loved to be outside chasing down adventure. She did not decide that she wanted to be an author until she was an adult. When she tried her hand at writing a screenplay about a family tragedy, she found the process quite cathartic and from that experience, turned to writing novels for adults. She soon stumbled upon the joys of writing for children.
Feedback from her readers is Van Draanen’s greatest reward for writing. “One girl came up to me and told me I changed her life. It doesn’t get any better than that,” she said. Van Draanen hopes to leave her readers with a sense that they have the ability to steer their own destiny—that individuality is a strength, and that where there’s a will, there’s most certainly a way.
Wendelin Van Draanen is the winner of the 1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children’s Mystery Book for Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief and lives with her husband and two sons in California.
From the Hardcover edition.