A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Invisible Island, The Jaguar's Jewel, The Kidnapped King, The Lucky Lottery, The Missing Mummy, The Ninth Nugget, The Orange Outlaw, The Panda Puzzle, The Quicksand Question, The Runaway Racehorse, The School Skeleton, The Talking T. Rex, The Unwilling Umpire, The Vampire's Vacation, The White Wolf, The X'ed-Out X-Ray, The Yellow Yacht, and The Zombie Zone) [Paperback]

Ron Roy (Author), John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2006

Includes all 26 books in the series from A to Z: The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Invisible Island, The Jaguar's Jewel, The Kidnapped King, The Lucky Lottery, The Missing Mummy, The Ninth Nugget, The Orange Outlaw, The Panda Puzzle, The Quicksand Question, The Runaway Racehorse, The School Skeleton, The Talking T. Rex, The Unwilling Umpire, The Vampire's Vacation, The White Wolf, The X'ed-Out X-Ray, The Yellow Yacht, and The Zombie Zone.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Clubs (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439867789
• ISBN-13: 978-0439867788
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.9 x 5.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging series for young minds..., February 17, 2010

By 

Cannon (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Invisible Island, The Jaguar's Jewel, The Kidnapped King, The Lucky Lottery, The Missing Mummy, The Ninth Nugget, The Orange Outlaw, The Panda Puzzle, The Quicksand Question, The Runaway Racehorse, The School Skeleton, The Talking T. Rex, The Unwilling Umpire, The Vampire's Vacation, The White Wolf, The X'ed-Out X-Ray, The Yellow Yacht, and The Zombie Zone) (Paperback)

What a rewarding series of books! We have the entire series, and several of the other series by the same author, and we've found that the A to Z Mysteries thoroughly engage our first grade daughter.

The books are quite readable for young readers. Our first grader reads and understands what is taking place. There's not a lot of difficult language or concepts, and the author quite often takes the time to describe or define a term that might not be all that familar to a youngster. Our daughter as learned a bit of patience in this regard. She's eager to ask if there's a work she doesn't understand, but she now trusts the author to explain things in the very next sentence.

The mysteries are usually well crafted and interesting. They challenge readers to try to figure out "who did it" and often offer a twist or surprise in the end. The author never cheats - the clues are all there. And when kids figure out who did it before the end, the books remain engaging and fun as an explanation is offered as to why the deed was done.

A word of caution for parents - the children in these books are sometimes in precarious predicaments, but they always end up safe and sound. Nevertheless, if you're looking for a conversation starter, you'll find some within the pages of these books. Do the young detectives (there are three, two boys and a girl) always make the wisest choices while investigating an event? No, they do not. But there are consequences for those choices. The young detectives are never left in harms way for very long, but the author does make use of the "cliffhanger" at chapters' ends. These young detectives are quite self aware, and they are open and honest. They know that a worried mother might disapprove of their efforts to track down the teenager who videotaped a bank robbery, and they talk about it in the book. But the group always travels together, and they usually know when to get an adult involved on their behalf.

You will find the mysteries much easier to solve than those presented in Encyclopedia Brown books, although for older readers of mysteries, the Brown books are very good, too. Younger readers get frustrated with Brown as the solutions to myteries are often over their heads. Not so in the A to Z mysteries.

The author also takes time to develop characters. Several books into the series (if you start with A, which is really the best place to start) you will have gotten to know the personality of each young detective, and other characters recur from book to book.

The writing is as tight as appropriate for young readers, and there's plenty of description to absorb a young mind. The series has some special editions that are available for purchase separately. Those editions are longer, but well worth the read.

This is a fine series and if you can find the complete set, you'll often get a real price break per book. I highly recommend the books, as well as the author's other series (The Capital Mysteries, for example, with different young detectives, all of which take place in Washington D.C.).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting books to engage your child., April 5, 2010

By 

Nana (Colorado) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Invisible Island, The Jaguar's Jewel, The Kidnapped King, The Lucky Lottery, The Missing Mummy, The Ninth Nugget, The Orange Outlaw, The Panda Puzzle, The Quicksand Question, The Runaway Racehorse, The School Skeleton, The Talking T. Rex, The Unwilling Umpire, The Vampire's Vacation, The White Wolf, The X'ed-Out X-Ray, The Yellow Yacht, and The Zombie Zone) (Paperback)

I have a grandchild who just turned 8 yrs old. She pours over these books. I couldn't get them quick enough to satisfy her reading so I bought the set. My 8 yr old grandson who doesn't like to read also loves these stories. I highly recommend these books.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny, April 5, 2010

By 

Nikki D. Curl "Welchnik" (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A to Z Mysteries Complete 26-Book Set (The Absent Author, The Bald Bandit, The Canary Caper, The Deadly Dungeon, The Empty Envelope, The Falcon's Feathers, The Goose's Gold, The Haunted Hotel, The Invisible Island, The Jaguar's Jewel, The Kidnapped King, The Lucky Lottery, The Missing Mummy, The Ninth Nugget, The Orange Outlaw, The Panda Puzzle, The Quicksand Question, The Runaway Racehorse, The School Skeleton, The Talking T. Rex, The Unwilling Umpire, The Vampire's Vacation, The White Wolf, The X'ed-Out X-Ray, The Yellow Yacht, and The Zombie Zone) (Paperback)

My son had been reading a few of these books in his class at school. I decided to surprise him and buy the entire series. He absolutely loves these books. His is constantly reading a different one everyday!