Librarians are notorious for reading lots of mystery and detective novels. Eoin Colfer’s, Half-Moon Investigations, is the perfect kid version of a hard-boiled detective novel. We listened to the audiobook version of Half-Moon Investigations, while on a car trip to visit the grandparents.

Fletcher Moon is a twelve year-old licensed private investigator. Fletcher is respected among his schoolmates for his ability to solve mysteries, but he is an outsider. He has a sharp, sarcastic sense of humor that keeps the other students and adults on their toes.

Fletcher takes on a case offered to him by a fellow student to find a missing organizer. Doesn’t sound so exciting? Just wait. When Fletcher decides to investigate a family in his Irish town well known for their extensive criminal activities, he finds himself framed for a crime and on the run. Fletcher must clear his name and solve the crime before it’s too late.

Sean Patrick Reilly lends his voice to Fletcher and the other numerous characters in Colfer’s book.

Go into the kitchen advises Sophie Benini Pietromarchi’s book, The Book Book. The Book Book offers a collage of ideas for creating books and inspiring art projects. Pietromarchi’s book explores different types of paper, art and drawing techniques, and guidance on starting a story. The Book Book seems written for older children and adults, but the projects could easily be adapted for younger children. The “TV Book”, a scroll book in a box, made to look like a TV, is of interest to my kids. We did not do a whole book project, but instead took her idea for using dried beans and peas to make a picture. I photocopied and enlarged her flamingo outline. The kids glued different types of dried beans onto the paper outline. We used regular, white school glue. These turned out beautifully. The texture of the beans and glue is really pretty, and it was simple enough for both C. and H. to do together. The Book Book is great for flipping through to get ideas for your next project.

Hey, I didn’t even have to make up an attention grabbing title for this post-who doesn’t want to know what a Grumbling Splunk is?
In Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk , by Laura Espinosa and Leo Espinosa, friends Otis and Rae set out on a camping trip. Rae wants to tell scary stories and track wild beasts. Otis just wants to eat his peanut butter and banana sandwiches (PB & B) and go to sleep. After Otis accidentally encounters and runs from a Grumbling Splunk in the middle of the night, Rae insists they go back out in search of the beast. On their adventure they discover Grumbling Splunks aren’t actually scary, and they find out what they have in common with the strange sounding beasts.

When H. was little he did not like to be scared at all. This is a great book about monsters for those who do not want to be scared. Other non-scary monster books we like include the following:

Jitterbug Jam, by Barbara Jean Hicks – A monster is scared of a boy under is bed.

Scared Stiff, by Katie Davis – Objects that appear scary turn out to be ordinary.

The Monster at the End of this Book, by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin – Grover imagines he is getting closer to the monster at the end of the book with each page you turn.