The April Fool's Day Mystery - Hardcover

Markham, Marion M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039556235X ISBN 13: 9780395562352

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1991

Synopsis

The Dixon twins try to discover who put the snake in the school cafeteria flour bin on April Fool's Day, clearing an unjustly suspected classmate in the process

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-4-- The Dixon twins return for their fifth seasonal mystery. This time, Mickey, the detective, and Kate, the scientist, must find the perpetrator of an April Fool's joke that backfired: who put the snake in Mrs. Gateley's flour bin? The solution is slowly and logically developed, so much so that the writing is occasionally choppy. Characterization is shallow, but motive is strong. Unfortunately, the mystery lacks a sense of "Aha!": there is little excitement in the discovery of the guilty party. None of the chapters is more than five pages long and margins are wide. The illustrations are mediocre, doing nothing to enhance the text, and are at times even at variance with it. Drawings of teachers and Mrs. Gateley, the school cook, are especially offensive: the three women all look like grumpy battleaxes. Young mystery aficionados may overlook these flaws, but they do nothing to endear the story to most beginning chapter-book readers. --Ruth Smith, formerly at Chicago Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

"Large-size print and frequent illustrations help to make this an attractive and inviting first chapter book." (Booklist, ALA)

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 039556235X
• ISBN 13: 9780395562352
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 42
• Illustrator: Estrada Pau