The Cobalt Mask

By Sesame Workshop and Kwame Alexander

Incredible stories. Award-winning storytellers. Epic adventure, mystery, and fun? We've got it all in Ghostwriter—the extraordinary new series from the hit Emmy-award winning Apple TV+ show, created by your friends at Sesame Workshop.

Masterfully adapted from the original novels and short stories, this diverse and playful retelling of The Cobalt Mask is sure to delight today's readers for years to come. Featuring an introduction by Newbery and Coretta Scott King Award winning poet and writer Kwame Alexander.

The book also includes bonus activities:

Games

Quizzes

Puzzles

Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension

and Crafts!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: May 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781728241517

Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind the world-renowned children's program Sesame Street. With the mission of helping kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder, Sesame Workshop has worked with educators to develop programs tailored to the unique needs of children all over the world. Sesame Workshop works to teach the whole child, providing lessons on topics from ABCs and 123s to health, emotional well-being, and respect.

Book preview

© 2021 Sesame Workshop. Ghostwriter, and associated characters, trademarks, and design elements are owned and licensed by Sesame Workshop. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Published by Sourcebooks Wonderland, an Imprint of Sourcebooks Kids.

Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks. All Rights Reserved.

P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

[phone]

Fax: [phone]

sourcebooks.com

sesameworkshop.org

Design by Whitney Manger

Cover illustration by David Curtis

Donna’s Journal illustrations by Jenny Bee

Library of Congress data is on file with the publisher.

Dear Rock Star Reader,

Books are like amusement parks, and this one here is a roller coaster. As you begin your reading adventure, I just want to chime in and say get ready for an incredibly amazing experience. That’s right: between the pages of this book, Ghostwriter is bringing your favorite characters to life to help solve a mystery. How cool is that?

I bet you think that because I’m an author, I love to read. Well, you’re right! In order to become a good writer, you gotta be a great reader. Every time you read a meaningful or magical poem or story or really clever post, you’re instantly transformed and sometimes transported to new ideas and worlds: sports arenas, foreign lands, outer space, other times in history, and even other kids’ lives. But I wasn’t always that way.

When I was twelve, I thought reading was uncool. Why? Because my dad chose huge, boring books he thought I should read. After a few years of that torture, my mom encouraged me to pick out my own books at our local library, and I found my way back to finding reading cool. (I guess you could say I started choosing my own rides at the amusement park.) Then I started reading everything—chapter books, short stories, comic books, biographies, and, of course, poetry. Ghostwriter, like my mom, believes that there’s a perfect book for every kid out there. And the one you’re reading could be yours.

I love getting lost in a good story, and there are so, so many great stories out there just waiting for you. Our friend Ghostwriter is gonna help you find them—and then rock your world one page at a time.

I thank you for your attention, and I’m outta here!

Poet, Educator, and Newbery Medal–winning author of The Crossover

Contents

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

A Note from Donna

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

About the Author

Back Cover

A Note from Donna

Can you keep a secret? Seriously, it’s huge.

This book you’re holding: it’s the newest book by famed mystery author Sarah Weaver. You may not recognize her name, because she used to write under the pseudonym, or fake name, Mason Briggs. Mason Briggs’ noir mystery stories were set in the 1950s and featured a tough-guy private eye named Owen Quinn. Then Mason (well, really, Sarah) died, and there were no more books. At least that’s what everyone thought.

That’s where we come in. Me, Curtis (my brother), and our friends Ruben and Chevon. Well, us…and a ghost.

Let me explain. There was this ghost haunting Ruben’s grandpa’s bookstore, and it communicated with only us. We didn’t know why we’d been chosen, but we decided to call the ghost Ghostwriter, or GW for short. It took us a while to figure out, but GW turned out to be the ghost of Sarah Weaver. And she had some unfinished business: a lost manuscript. It was up to the four of us to track it down. GW released all these amazing characters from books to give us clues, which was super helpful and—spoiler alert—we found her manuscript…but it was unfinished. She wanted us to write the ending!

Why us? Well, in the part of the manuscript Sarah finished before dying, she'd created four kid detective characters named Doris, Ben, Yvonne, and Charles, who were eerily similar to the four of us (me, Ruben, Chevon, and Curtis). With Sarah’s guidance, we had to solve the book’s mystery while also writing it. Talk about tricky. Working together, we tracked the clues and suspects, and figured out whodunit!

When we published the book, we used Sarah’s real name instead of Mason Briggs so she’d finally get the credit she deserved. To read the long-lost mystery of The Cobalt Mask, just turn the page!

—Donna (Ruben, Chevon, and Curtis too)

Chapter 1

Like most twelve-year-olds, Ben Harris loved nothing more than being in the middle of the action.

And here he was. At what was sure to be the event of 1955, if not the biggest event his town had ever seen: the unveiling of the Springfield History Museum’s latest acquisition, the priceless Cobalt Mask.

The entire room buzzed in anticipation. Everyone who was anyone was there. The rich and famous, the movers and shakers, and perhaps the most infamous of them all: Owen Quinn, the private eye who hadn’t met a case he couldn’t solve.

Thanks again for bringing me, Uncle Owen, Ben said as he tugged on his bow tie. He’d never worn a tie before, let alone a whole tuxedo. He even borrowed some of his best friend’s hair grease to smooth back his dark brown hair. This is really neat.

Ben had been to the museum plenty of times on field trips. He and his classmates would be crammed into exhibits. But this time was different. The entire area was cordoned off with a velvet rope. Most of the dressed-up crowd was gathered by the ancient mask. But Ben was excited to get up close to his favorite exhibits: the stone tablets that were centuries old and the shiny suits of armor.

Glad you’re enjoying yourself, kid, Owen said as his piercing blue eyes focused on a waiter nearby. You’ll liven up the place. These events can be pretty boring. Although it’s always good for me to make an appearance—maybe rustle up a few clients. The Springfield elite never seem to behave, which is very good for my business.

No kidding, Ben thought. His private investigator uncle was more in demand than the Springfield police. Owen Quinn always got results. Practically every week his picture was on the front page of the Springfield Gazette. Last year, he was even named Springfield’s Man of 1954.

Which was exactly why Ben wanted to follow in Owen’s mighty footsteps. He and his friends had recently formed their very own Mystery Club. For the first few weeks, they had read detective novels and listened to Ben’s favorite show on the radio, The Adventures of Detective Grant. Until, finally, a classmate needed their help. Her dog had gone missing.

We solved our first case! Ben had been waiting all day to share the details with his uncle. I’m happy to report that Pickles the cocker spaniel was found safe and sound at the tennis court.

That’s great! Owen leaned in. Tell me, how did you crack it? Maybe I can pick up some pointers.

Ben couldn’t help but laugh. His dream was to work alongside his uncle one day. Maybe they’d even be partners. He could see the sign on their office door now: owen quinn & nephew.

It was a team effort, Ben stated proudly. Doris created a timeline of the disappearance. Charles discovered the doggy door was broken. Yvonne pointed out that the fine red dust on Pickles’s favorite ball came from the red clay on the town tennis court. And I pieced it all together. Ben puffed out his chest with pride.

"Look at you!