The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries Book Series)

Roy, R. (1997). The absent author. New York, NY: Random House.

Interest Level: Ages 9 to 12
Genre: Mystery
Subjects/Themes: Third Graders, Child Detectives, Authors, Pseudonyms

Plot: Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are all set to meet their favorite mystery author, Wallis Wallace, and have him sign their books.  Dink even got a personal letter from Wallace saying "short of being kidnapped" nothing would stop the author from attending the book signing.  When Wallace doesn't show, the kids fear the worst and go off in search of clues to find out what happened.  Ms. Mavis was suppose to meet the author for lunch and joins the children in their search.  We follow the children and Ms. Mavis as they track Wallace's movements from the airport, onto a taxi, and to the Shangri-la Hotel in an attempt to find the missing author. 

Personal Thoughts: This series is constantly circulating at the library where I work.  The story is easy to read with vocabulary appropriate to for 3rd and 4th graders.  A good choice to introduce reluctant or struggling older readers to mystery titles.  The pencil illustrations of scenes scattered throughout the book are well done and will draw the interest of the reader.  The story ends with the children discovering that they have been tricked into thinking the author was kidnapped by who else but the author! We find out that the author was really Ms. Mavis instead of a man like they thought.  This twist at the end provides a great opportunity for a discussion about pseudonyms and gender assumptions.  As an extra activity, a teacher or book club monitor might want to make a list of different authors names and have the children guess if their female or male.  

Series Info: Book One of the A to Z Mysteries Series.

Sequel: The Bald Bandit (1997)

Author's Website: Contains book quizzes and character coloring pages.  http://www.ronroy.com/atoz/

Similar materials: Jigsaw Jones Mystery Series by James Preller (New York, NY: Scholastic)