This one was a great little mystery! My 9 year old and I are listening to them as audio books

This story was the first one that had the whole family in the car. First, my 9 year old had to ask everyone if we could listen to it. THEN, she spent the following 10 minutes explaining the kids, the adventure so far so they could begin talking about the mystery as well.

It's become a family series and we are all really enjoying them! ( )

The circus is in town, pets are missing, and burglaries are taking place in sleepy Green Lawn.

Who's to blame?

Another good mystery that Josh, Ruth Rose, and Dink have to solve.

My daughter always enjoys these mysteries. I didn't care for this one as much as I did some of the others. There weren't as many twists and turns. ( )

00000839

This is a realistic fiction novel/short chapter book about three friends, Dink, Josh and Ruth who become very suspicious when Ruth's cat and Mrs. Davis' (their neighbor) bird go missing around the town's circus season. As they work with a police detective the kids begin to discover that two other neighborhood animals went missing. Overtime the kids connect the returning of the pets to robberies that occur right after, all to discover that they are connected. In the end the police catch the circus clown who was responsible for the missing pets and robberies. ( )

Two ratings for early chapter books, I think. Around a three for me; and these, I think, are a definite four for what they are and who their audience is. I really did some smiling through these and I was pretty impressed with several things (read the first three and will copy this to the others). They seemed to me like they would be really challenging and I liked the addition of the map of the neighborhood in the front. ( )

In this, the third book, I'm really digging into the series, and I can say that I still enjoy these mysteries for beginning chapter books. In The Canary Caper, the three friends are on the trail of kidnappers - or petnappers, to be exact. Four pets disappear in one day in Green Lawn, their quiet little town, and Ruth Rose is convinced this is no coincidence. Part of her determination stems from the fact that her own pet, her cat Tiger, is also missing. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose visit each of the other three owners and hear their stories, and try to infer from the clues why someone would want to steal four animals. Their theories are dashed, though, when a slight young man returns Mrs. Davis's canary to her, and refuses to take the reward. The children soon discover that the other two pet owners also had their beloved animals returned, and also had their rewards refused. In fact, every one except Ruth Rose is reunited with their furry or feathered friends. What can it all mean? The three sleuths know that something fishy is going on, even after the animals are returned, and they are determined to find the solution.

As with previous books, the mystery is original, interesting, and moves at a brisk pace; and while older readers will be able to solve it rather early on in the story, the young _target audience should find it just challenging enough. Actually, I had to read several chapters before I was able to put the pieces together, which is a little longer than in the previous books (first chapter). Also, the subject matter is dear to a child's heart, involving pets and the circus. The illustrations continue to be a fun support to the story, and the world of Green Lawn is expanding and developing with more layers. I am quite fond of the characters, and enjoy these reads as quick breaks; I think my girls will like them when they are older. I hope that the stories continue to be fun and fresh, because I know that with mysteries it is hard to always have new clever puzzles. If the books continue in the same vein as this story, I will enjoy reading through the rest of this alphabet series. ( )

Age: Intermediate
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Media: Pencil & Black Ink
Review: This book is realistic fiction because it contains events and people that could be real, but are not. The children in the story are normal children who live in a small town. This town is not a real place, but it is contemporary. The events that occur in this book, people's pets getting stolen, going to the circus, people's houses getting broken into and so on, are events that could happen in real life.
Character: The protagonist, Dink, is a round character. We know about his personality, his family and his friends. We know that he is a curious boy and likes to solve mysteries. He is a static character because although he learns about the mystery he, as a character, does not change. Interacts with support characters to show more about himself.
Use: Read to enjoy, introducing early chapter books, learning about genres (mystery) ( )

This is a good example of realistic fiction because it is a story that could be true. Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose go to the circus and help gather information so that the police could solve a crime.

Age Appropriateness: Intermediate ( )

Genre: realistic fiction

I thought that it was a good realistic fiction because the story could actually happen although the characters are fictional. The story involved three friends trying to find missing household pets from around the town. The kidnappers could have actually accomplished the crime and it was a fun story to read.

Plot: I thought the plot was clever and I was unable to guess the ending until pretty close to the end of the book. It is a struggles plot because the story is trying to solve the mystery of missing pets.

Age Appropriate: intermediate