Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Nate, who has found lost balloons, books, slippers, chickens-even goldfish-proclaims that he will find the missing picture. She's just painted a picture and can't find it anywhere. (historical notes) (Mystery.About the Book After a generous breakfast of pancakes, Nate the Great gets an urgent call from Annie. On deck? The Pinstripe Ghost, also out on Feb. Not a homerun, but certainly a double for the young enthusiast. This slight adventure is more baseball-park travel pamphlet than mystery, a vehicle for providing interesting details about one of the hallowed halls of baseball. Writing mysteries for very young readers is a challenge-the puzzle has to be easy enough to solve while sustaining readers' interest. Historical details about Fenway Park, including the secret code found on the manual scoreboard, a look at Wally the mascot and a peek into the gift shop, will keep the young baseball fan reading, even when the actual mystery of the missing bat falls a little flat. The pass comes in handy when it's reported that star player Big D's lucky bat has been stolen, as it allows them to help find the thief. Mike and Kate have tickets to a Red Sox game and an all-access pass to the park, courtesy of Kate's mom, a sportswriter. Nicely paced, with just the right number of red herrings to keep readers thinking they will hope the number 1 on the spine indicates that this is the first of many Maya and Jerry mysteries.Ī new series for emerging chapter-book readers combines the allure of baseball parks with the challenge of solving a mystery. A map of Pleasant Valley and an illustrated cast of characters are provided in the early pages, allowing new readers an excellent reference tool to keep the many characters straight. Full-color cartoon illustrations add much to the story, helping readers to see what the young gumshoes do. Young mystery aficionados will enjoy solving the puzzle along with Maya and Jerry and will admire their observational powers. Jerry and Maya are hired to help out around the shop-washing windows, taking out the trash and so forth-but really they are there to watch the employees, both from inside the shop and from the church tower next door.

Each employee is a suspect: Vivian is in money trouble, former owner Danny wants his store back, and Luke’s flashy spending is suspicious. His world-famous jewelry store is losing money apparently, one of his employees is stealing valuable diamonds and gems. Things are not so pleasant for Mohammed Carat, the richest man in Pleasant Valley. Jerry and Maya, classmates and friends, spend their spare time solving mysteries in their hometown of Pleasant Valley in this Swedish import.

Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat