Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

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When her eighteen-year-old mute brother is accused of murdering Coach Johnson, sixteen-year-old Hope works to find the real killer with the help of her two friends, T.J. and Chase.

This is a complex story with many suspects, interwoven subplots, and even a love triangle. While there is no swearing or explicit sexual content, still the story is serious and for older readers because of Hope’s mother who is abusive, promiscuous, and alcoholic. Hope talks about attending church, and in one scene, a church member that meets Hope is public tells her that people at church are praying for her.

Dandi Daley Mackall writes prolifically for readers ranging from elementary level through adult. A variety of Christian publishers have put out her books including Tyndale, Zonderkidz, Standard, Concordia, David C. Cook and Thomas Nelson among others. She has also worked with such notable publishers as Harcourt and Bloomsbury.

One of her books, Eva Underground, is very popular with our high school students and is included on our  9th-10th grade suggested reading list at Webster Christian School. I will recommend this book to high school students who enjoy a good mystery.

Awards/Lists: Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel, 2012.

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15-year-old Callum Ormond is a hunted fugitive.

When Callum’s father, an Australian photo-journalist, went to Ireland to gather footage for a documentary,  he stumbled upon a secret that could make their family insanely rich.

Unfortunately, Callum’s Dad contracted a fatal disease and could not communicate verbally with his family before he died. While he was still able to draw, Callum’s Dad made a collection of pictures that hold clues to the “Ormond Singularity.”

Ruthless, powerful people are after the secret to the Ormond Singularity, and they know about the drawings. A stranger warns Callum that he must elude capture for 365 days.

January is the first in a series of 12 (one for each month of the year) called “Conspiracy 365.”

Complete with fast-paced action, mystery, a male protagonist, and a tantalizing cover, this book will strongly appeal to middle school boys.  With a 4.6 reading level, it’s a good suggestion for reluctant readers.

In fact, I got on the trail of this book series from reading a School Library Journal online article entitled “What Teens are Really Reading:  A librarian’s informaral survey uncovers the hottest YA fiction.”
Happily, there is no swearing and Callum is a respectful, responsible kid that cares about his family. 

While perhaps not as well written as books by Roland Smith and Gordon Korman, these books should appeal to fans of those authors.

Have you read other books in the series? If so, how do they compare to this first book?

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Merganzer D. Whippet, eccentric creator and owner of the Whippet Hotel, went missing 100 days ago. Ten-year-old Leo Fillmore, the son of the hotel’s maintenance man, receives a secret message with directions for saving the hotel.

Leo has two days to complete his mission. He must find 4 boxes and may enlist the help of a duck and one young friend.

So begins a wild adventure where Leo and Remi (with the help of a duck) explore wacky rooms and secret floors in search for the boxes and their next clues.

A fun mystery with lots of action. Includes a haunted floor, but all the items are mechanical and not really scarey.

Apparently book 1 of a planned series. Definitely hints at a sequel.

Recommended for grades 4-6.

Ben’s school is scheduled to be demolished in 4 weeks so that a theme park can be built on the cleared land.  The school was begun in 1783, and it’s founder planned ahead for just such a turn of events.

Since the start of the school,  the  janitor has carried a large gold coin inscribed with a special message–always passing it on to each successive janitor for safe-keeping.

Until now, that is.  Mr. Keane, the janitor, presses the coin into Ben’s hand.  Ben and his sixth-grade classmate, Jill, scramble to decipher the message on the coin and figure out how to save the school.

The plot to this series is a little far-fetched, but Clements balances that with the real-life issue of Ben’s parents separating and how that affects him.

Ben belongs to a sailing club, so the reader learns some sailing jargon and technique along the way, too.

It’s a quick read with a touch of boy-girl friendship, a sailboat race and a mystery tossed in for excitement.

The retro illustrations in black and white with blue remind me of pictures in books from my elementary years.  They seem to fit well with a series about preserving an historic school.

Andrew Clements is a perennial favorite in our school library with 3rd-6th graders.  Just last week, one girl exclaimed about his The Last Holiday Concert, “This is the best book I’ve ever read!”

Clements draws upon his 7 years of school teaching experience to create stories with school settings that resonate with the students. He communicates good values and practical insights along the way.  For instance, at one point Ben exhibits proper assertive behavior in dealing with a problematic adult (pp.34-35).

A Week in the Woods is my favorite Clements book to date, but all of his books are highly recommended.

Grades 3-6.

“The Timberline family makes a weekend getaway for a visit to a gold exhibit but it leads to a search for a stolen gold nugget and danger for the entire family.” (CIP)

Thirteen-year-old twins, Bryce and Ashley, take turns telling this story in alternating short chapters.  Lots of action, a modern family/school setting, a multi-layered plot, mystery and intrigue as well as doozie of a cliffhanger at the end add up to an exciting read!

Book 1 in the Red Rock Mysteries series.

Written by the authors of the “Left Behind: the Kids” series,  these books are very popular with the 5th-8th graders at our school–especially the boys.  Readers who like the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew gravitate to this series.

Highly recommended for grades 5-8.

“Adam, Finn, Lewis, and Emily use their computer coding skills and high-tech equipment to catch criminals, but when they begin to track Shantorian, a dangerous hacker, things do not play out as easily as the four Trackers predict. Includes passwords for Web content.”(CIP)

This unique book grabbed me from the beginning, and I got excited thinking about putting it into the hands of boys who enjoy technology and computers.  Towards the middle of the book the tech talk got a little heavy for me.  However, the book includes an interactive web site with videos and codes that may excite the intended reader.

I’m guessing that this book will be popular with readers who enjoy the 39 Clues series.

Absolutely clean–no swearing or violence.

Book 1 in the Trackers series.

Grades 5-8.

“The Third-Grade Detectives try to prove that a grocery store owner is innocent of selling stolen oysters.”(CIP)

This is book #5 in the Third-Grade Detectives series, a “Ready-for-Chapters” series from Aladdin paperbacks.  I chose to read this book because the Third-Grade Detectives series was recommended in an elementary literacy textbook that I read recently.

As it turns out, this group of third-graders has a former spy for a teacher and a police scientist for a friend who help them solve the mystery.  This adds some nice elements such as secret codes, learning facts about oysters in the classroom, and using real scientific methods for solving a crime. 

The short paragraphs and chapters along with frequent full-page black-and-white illustrations make this series a perfect fit for third-graders. 

Kids who like mysteries such as the A to Z mysteries  by Ron Roy or the Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol will dive into these books with relish.  I plan to load up on them for our school library.

Highly recommended for grades 2-4.

Thirteen-year-old Theo Boone, only child of two lawyers, aspires to be a great judge or lawyer some day.  He is comfortable moving around the courthouse and is on friendly terms with many of the people there.

Because of his interest in law,  Theo is able to help a handful of his classmates by giving them free advice and counsel in difficult situations–a house foreclosure for one classmate, a custody issue in family court for another, an unleashed dog caught by animal control, etc.  All this is overshadowed, however,  by a murder trial and the secret witness that contacts Theo.

This legal thriller with a young lawyer wannabe is a nice change of pace from  teenager super-sleuth mysteries.  However, it will appeal to that same reader audience. 

Theo is a nice kid who respects the adults in his life and gets along well with people.  “Clean” and “wholesome” are words that come to my mind when describing this book.

John Grisham’s brisk writing combined with a comfortable amount of dark-print words on each page makes this a quick, pleasant read.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

Thirteen-year-old Logan and his parents have barely unloaded their moving boxes when their next-door neighbor, Arthur,  tells them that the former home owner was found murdered in the basement.  Looking for clues to the unsolved mystery, Logan and Arthur investigate the creepy remains of an old amusement park nearby–putting themselves squarely in danger.

Do you have any scarey books? 

I hear that question a lot as a school librarian.  Since we don’t have a lot of the popular “scarey” books in our collection because of their inclusion of magic or the occult, I’m always looking for a good, clean “scarey” book.  This book fits the bill.

The cover looks creepy and there is an old murder to solve that leads to danger and suspense, but basically it’s just a good, clean enjoyable mystery.

Recommended for grades 5-8.