Word Travelers and the Taj Mahal Mystery

By Raj Haldar and Neha Rawat

Are you ready for adventure? The first book in a new action-packed series from bestselling author Raj Haldar follows two best friends as they race to different parts of the world to solve mysteries and uncover lost treasures!

It's a Super Saturday sleepover! That means best friends Eddie and Molly-Jean (who prefers to be called MJ) are going to play outside, create obstacle courses for MJ's newts, and watch their favorite movies—and then they'll travel to India to solve a mystery and help save a school—all before bedtime!

This action-packed mystery story is perfect for anyone looking for:

• A wild adventure around the world that middle school kids will love!
• A story of two best friends solving mysteries with a little magic!
• Cool, new knowledge tucked inside an epic chapter book!
• A journey to India to learn the Hindi roots of the English language

Magically travel around the world along with two best friends who decipher clues and uncover mysterious secrets. Can you help them find the golden key?

"Reminiscent of Mary Pope Osborne's "Magic Tree House" series…contains the same mix of fantasy, adventure, and cultural discovery. Etymology is the distinctive feature here, and its importance is reflected in every part of the text."—School Library Journal, starred review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Oct 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781728222066

Raj Haldar

Raj Haldar is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling picture book, P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever. But, for close to a decade, he has been better known as Lushlife, the rapper, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. In that time, he's amassed a fervent global fanbase and released award-winning viral music videos that highlight his erudite lyrics. The Sunday New York Times describes his work as “an intoxicating mix of captivating rhymes with audacious, gorgeous production.” So it should come as no surprise that Haldar has made the leap into the world of children’s literature. His latest book entitled, This Book is Banned gives young readers a lighthearted entrypoint to begin understanding the dangers of book banning and censorship. His work has been featured by The Washington Post, Interview Magazine, VICE, Pitchfork, Village Voice, Mental Floss, BBC, SPIN and more! Raj currently lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife and two young daughters. Raj Haldar social media, music, books + more!

Book preview

Front CoverTitle Page

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Text and art © 2021 by Raj Haldar

Cover and internal design © 2021 by Sourcebooks

Cover and internal illustrations by Neha Rawat

Cover design by Maryn Arreguín/Sourcebooks

Internal design by Jillian Rahn/Sourcebooks

Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Published by Sourcebooks eXplore, an imprint of Sourcebooks Kids

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

[phone]

sourcebookskids.com

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

Contents

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

1: Super Saturday

2: The Awesome Enchanted Book

3: Where in the World?

4: The Secret Key

5: X Marks the Spot

6: An Ancient Game

7: The Vanishing Villain

8: A Trip to the Tea Garden

9: Follow That Man!

10: Inside the Taj Mahal

11: A Secret Passageway

12: The Sparkling New School

13: Our Little Secret

Glossary of Word Origins

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Back Cover

Have you ever wondered where the words we use every day came from? In the Word Travelers series, discover the fascinating origins of the words in bold using the glossary at the end of this book.

1

Super Saturday

Eddie jumped out of bed as soon as the sun came up. He ran to the bedroom window and grabbed his end of the tin-can telephone, connected by string all the way to his best friend Molly-Jean’s house next door. He shouted into the empty soup can, Are you there? Do you read me, MJ? Eddie put the can up to his ear and waited for a response.

Finally, MJ’s crackly voice came through from the other end

Reviews for Word Travelers and the Taj Mahal Mystery

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cute, silly -- great for kids who love language and word origins. A dash of magic, travel, mystery -- feels a lot like magic treehouse in a good way. I hope this isn't unfair, because I love that the 3 kids who are mystery solving are a diverse crew, but I kind of wish the main character wasn't yet another white boy.