Nancy Drew Mysteries and Files

Nancy Drew Mysteries
   written by Carolyn Keene

REVIEW.
Nancy Drew mysteries have been around since 1930...that's 80 years ago!
In our library as you can see in these photos, the Nancy Drew series is alive, well, and flourishing in our reading community at Bay Farm School.

We have an entire bookcase dedicated to mysteries with each side containing our favorites, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, A-Z Mysteries, and Bailey School Kids to name a few.  One and a half sides are filled with Nancy Drew alone!    Many of our copies have been lovingly donated from parent/children collections...second or third generations down! And our students love them!

The series has managed to remain current with each generation. The series has been modified, updated, and re-created over time which has kept the series current. On our shelves we not only have the original series, but also Nancy Drew Notebooks, Nancy Drew Files, Pocketbooks, and now, even graphic novels!    

Over time, Nancy Drew has aged from 16 to 18 years old and has solved well over 350 mysteries. Her favorite color is blue, she is wealthy; but doesn't hesitate to roll up her sleeves and is not afraid to get her hands dirty or take risks to solve a crime.

When first written, Nancy Drew challenged the stereotypes of the day regarding young girls' gender roles. But in many ways, she represents what everyone can be, boy or girl...curious, thoughtful, independent, polite, justice-seeker, sensitive, adventurous, brave, trustworthy, and a critical thinker/problem-solver.

Nancy Drew Notebooks were first published in 1994 to give our youngest readers a glimpse into Nancy when she was eight years old.

The first book in the series " The Secret of the Old Clock" is now 80 years old and our copies are still checked out on a regular basis in our library.

In addition to the original series, there are combined collections with the Hardy Boys, a TV series, many movies, and Nancy Drew Mystery games. There is even a website dedicated to the series and her author Carolyn Keene. Check out the website to find out about the real author of the series and many other trivia facts you may not have known about the classic series!

Nancy Drew Website: http://nancy-drew.mysterynet.com

Two Minute Mysteries Collection

Two Minute Mysteries Collection
           written by Donald Sobol

If you enjoyed the classic series "Encyclopedia Brown" and enjoy solving mysteries then this book is for you! More than 200 mini mysteries (hence the name 2 Minute Mysteries) packed into this book. Each mystery has the solution at the end of the mystery with a simple flip of the book so the suspence won't go on forever or stop you from going on to the next exciting mystery! Interpret the clues shared by the narrator and inspector and see if you can solve each mystery as Haledjian does throughout the book. What's your success average at solving the Two-Minute Mysteries?

The Collection includes all three or you can purchase them separately
Two Minute Mysteries Collection ISBN: 0-439-70991-1

Two Minute Mysteries ISBN: 978-0590447874
More Two-Minute Mysteries ISBN: 978-0590447881
Still More Two-Minute Mysteries ISBN: 978-0590447867

Encyclopedia Brown

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective
           written by Donald Sobol

My students have re-discovered a classic mystery series,  Encyclopedia Brown by Donald Sobol circa late 1980's. One of my teachers started reading them out loud, one story a day, and the class has now emptied out the entire shelf of these mini mysteries. The series is about a boy, Encyclopedia Brown age 10, whose father is the chief of police. Encyclopedia Brown has the gift of a memory that remembers literally anything and everything. He helps his father solve all the crimes in his town, although quietly behind the scenes. In each book there are up to ten mini mysteries to solve, with the actual solutions in the back of the book so the series lends itself to table talk discussions within the classroom or book clubs reading the series. Oldies but goodies!

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective  ISBN: 978-1417786220

The Missing: Books 1,2,3

"The Missing"  series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
(also the author of Book 10 of 39 Clues!)

In Book One: Found, we meet Jonah, his sister Katherine, and Chip, who have received mysterious letters telling them they are each one of the missing, and that someone is coming to get them.  Together they face the dangers of a smuggling operation, the FBI, and time travel. In Book Two: Sent, the friends  find out that they were kidnapped from different historical periods and experience time travel and the dangers of fifteenth century English royal intrigue. In Book Three: Sabotaged, the adventurers find themselves involved in another historical mystery; this time in the sixteenth century. Book Three was chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection and the author has won numerous awards for her other adventure and mystery series. Can't keep this series on my shelf!

The Missing
Book One: Found.   978-0-545-11645-9
Book Two: Sent.   978-1-4424-0767-1        
Book Three: Sabotaged.     978-0-545-29007-4

It's a Mystery Wiki

It's a Mystery Wiki

REVIEW
Click Here to go to our "It's a Mystery Wiki" where you will find all the listings of books we recommend and reviewed for a core collection of mystery titles. The wiki has 20 titles listed.

Major categories of the wiki include:
What is a Mystery?
Why are these for tweens?
Elements of a good collection
Classics
Award winners
Hot New Titles
Transition Books
Interactivity
Tools

Be sure to check out our Voicethread about these exciting Mystery titles!

Mystery Anyone?

It's a Mystery Voicethread project

Here's our Voicethread of Mysteries we recommend to tweens and teens. The biggest challenge we had was limiting the number of great mystery books to include in the presentation! It was a collaborative project and we enjoyed working together!

Edgar Allen Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness

Four classic tales, "The Black Cat," "The Masque of the Red Death," "Hop Frog," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" by the master of classic horror and mystery Edgar Allen Poe, are retold for the younger set and accompanied by the spidery inked drawings of illustrator Gris Grimly. 

Throughout the telling of each tale, the myriad of drawings lend a graphic novel feel to this delightfully wicked horror collection. Warning! Not for flashlight readers! Be sure to keep your lights on :)

Poe, Edgar Allan. Tales of Mystery and Madness. Revised ed. Simon & Schuster Children's, 2004. 

ISBN 978-0689848377

Swindle

A card collector "swindles" Griffin Bing out of a valuable Babe Ruth baseball card. Known by his friends as "The Man with the Plan," Griffin puts together a team of amateur sleuths to get the card back no matter the risk, high tech security, guard dog, or danger.

This is the first of a trio series by best selling author Gordon Korman, who has written over 60 novels for middle grades to young adults including the New York Times best selling book, second in the popular series 39 Clues: One False Note.

Korman, Gordon. Swindle. New York: Scholastic, 2009. ISBN 978-0439903448.

The Composer is Dead

REVIEW

"The Composer is Dead" by Lemony Snicket, is a picture book for all ages but I think especially appreciated by older readers. The book includes a CD with the San Francisco symphony playing the accompanying music and narration of the story. This is a murder mystery with all the suspects within the orchestra itself. As we try to determine who the murderer is, we learn all about the sections of the orchestra, instruments of the symphony, and listen to some terrific music.

Mr. Snicket actually performed his murder "symphony" live at the San Francisco Symphony. I wish I could have attended; there were great reviews of the live performance, but the book and CD are terrific so you almost feel like you are in the presence of the masterful storyteller himself! Since its debut in San Francisco, it has been performed by the Toronto Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philarmonic, and others.

I created the slide show trailer you see below in iMovie, using scanned pictures from portions of the book and edited audio clips in Garage Band from the full length CD. You really have to experience the book with the accompanying CD to fully enjoy the creative genius of Lemony Snicket!

Additional books by Lemony Snicket to enjoy:
The Series of Unfortunate Events (F Sni)
The Beatrice Letters (F Sni)
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (F Sni)


Where can I find it in our library?
E Sni

Did you know that Lemony Snicket has his own website?
On the web: http://www.lemonysnicket.com




Snicket, Lemony, Carson Ellis, and Nathaniel Stookey. The Composer Is Dead. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
ISBN: 978-0-06-123627-3