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My seven-year-old granddaughter is eagerly reading her way through the A to Z Mysteries and I found an old copy laying around the house. Although typically I would not read a book intended for such a young reader, I was interested to see what appealed to her. I won’t attempt to evaluate the book from the perspective of an adult reader as that is not the intended audience.

I can see the appeal to young readers. The primary characters are three youngsters, two boys and a girl, who mirror the age of the intended readers. Dink, Ruth Rose, and Josh are active youngsters who, when they confront a problem or puzzle, immediately set to work to find a solution. Adults respect and defer to them as if they were of equal maturity and problems solving ability. The youngsters show initiative, sensitivity, and positive community spirit.

The short books tell an interesting story that espouses pro-social values and uses a suitable vocabulary. At only 84 pages, with numerous pictures and a large font, the book is easy for an adult to read in 2-3 hours. It would interesting but challenging for most readers at the second grade level.

I hardly know what numeric rating to give this but settled on “very good.” ( )

This was a little *too* simple and silly for my taste, but the kiddo sure enjoyed it. I'm sure I would have given it more stars if I were ten years old too. I'm just glad it was so short, and now we can move on to something a little more stimulating for the entire family. ( )

In The Haunted House, three friends decide to become detectives to figure out the mystery of where the strange noises are coming from in the hotel. They ask the guests questions about where the noises are coming from and why they think this could be happening. With the help of Mrs. Jeffers they all solved the mystery of the haunted ghost in their hotel! These three friends realized that with hard work and friendship they could do just about anything. ( )

Another fun episode in the A to Z series.  I enjoy the banter between the juvenile characters and enjoy hearing them puzzle the mysteries out".  I also appreciated how the grown ups in the stories interacted with the kids.  Most of the adults took them seriously and didn't treat them as inferior minds just because they are children. My favorite story in this set is "Haunted Hotel" where the kids take on a ghost in their hometown." ( )