Rating: Not for me

Reading level: Early Elementary

This was probably a bit scarier than the Boxcar Children and Encyclopedia Brown. The crook is sneaky and at one point grabs a girl to kidnap her, so its a little bit scary for the target age.

Possible Concerns:

  • Halloween. The story takes place during Halloween so there are some jack-o’-lanterns and some costumes and some trick-or-treating. The three main kids dress up as a vampire a swamp master and Elvis.
  • Kidnapping & Peril. The story is about a bank robber who (spoiler alert!) wears a disguise to trick the children. In the slightly scary climax he picks up one of the children and plans to use her to get away.
  • Strangers. I don’t like how the kids open the doors to strangers
  • Deceit; denying Parental support. I don’t like how the kids don’t tell their parents what they’re up to because they know the parents wouldn’t approve.
  • Disrespect. I don’t like how one of the characters yells rudely to her mother. For example one time she yells, “Mom I’m leaving! Watch Nate!” I just think she should ask her mother if she can leave and could she please watch for a little brother instead of just yelling it with 1 foot out the door.

I don’t know about the rest of the series, but there was less quality than books one and three in the series, The Absent Author and The Canary Caper.

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