A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit

By Ron Roy

Help Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solve mysteries from A to Z!
 
Kids love collecting the entire alphabet and super editions! With over 8 million copies in print, the A to Z Mysteries® have been hooking chapter book readers on mysteries and reading for years. Now this classic kid favorite is back with a bright new look!
 
B is for Bandit . . . There’s a bank robber in Green Lawn! A red-haired kid took a video of the crime, but nobody can find him. Without the video, will the robber go free? Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose must track down that kid—before the bandit does!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Children's Books
• Release date: Sep 9, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307513731

Book preview

is for Big Bucks …

The detective looked at the three friends.

Tell you what, he said. If you find the kid who filmed the robber, get the video. There’ll be a nice reward if you hand it over.

How much? Josh asked.

How about one hundred dollars for each of you?

A HUNDRED BUCKS? screamed Ruth Rose.

The detective pulled out a small pad and a pencil. He wrote something and ripped off the page.

Here’s my phone number. Call me if you get that video.

Dink closed the door behind Detective Reddy. He grinned at Josh and Ruth Rose. A hundred bucks each! We’re rich!

This is for my mother, Marie Jeanne Roy.

—R.R.

To Christopher, for being a great Dink

—J.S.G.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 1997 by Ron Roy

Cover art copyright © 2015 by Stephen Gilpin

Interior illustrations copyright © 1997 by John Steven Gurney

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

Originally published in paperback by Random House Children’s Books, New York, in 1997.

Random House and the colophon and A to Z Mysteries are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roy, Ron.

The bald bandit / by Ron Roy; illustrated by John Steven Gurney.

p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries)

A Stepping Stone book.

Summary: Third-grader Dink and his detective friends hope to receive a big reward by finding the person whose video recorder picked up a picture of the local bank robber.

ISBN 978-0-679-88449-1 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-679-98449-8 (lib. bdg.) —

ISBN 978-0-307-51373-1 (ebook)

[1. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Roy, Ron. A to Z mysteries.

PZ7.R8139 Bal 1997 [Fic]—dc21 96-40473

Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v3.1_r1

Contents

Cover

Copyright

Title Page

Map

Chapter 1

Reviews for A to Z Mysteries

[jfranklin592262 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a super cute mystery series...it's perfect for beginner sleuths! It's sort of a modern day Nancy Drew meets Goosebumps...... but, unlike Goosebumps, the possible monsters never turn out to be real.... the jr detectives always figure out the logical truth...like the Scooby Doo gang.... so, it's a good option for children who find real monsters too scary.

There are some highly unrealistic elements, and inaccurate info in some of them.... so, I'd recommend parents read through first and make sure there's nothing thats important enough to them personally to correct. There's also some odd carelessness from the adults in the series....ie; allowing the children to go off with strangers, etc......so, parents may want to reiterate stranger danger.

Overall, the series is cute, entertaining, and should keep kiddos interested.

[yona-414000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two ratings for early chapter books, I think. Around a three for me; and these, I think, are a definite four for what they are and who their audience is. I really did some smiling through these and I was pretty impressed with several things (read the first three and will copy this to the others). They seemed to me like they would be really challenging and I liked the addition of the map of the neighborhood in the front.

[nmhale_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am still enjoying this beginning chapter book series about amateur sleuths. In the current story, three friends become involved in a bank robbery case when a detective asks them to help him find a red-headed boy. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose don't have to find the case this time, it comes to them: Detective Reddy is looking for the teenager who accidentally caught the thief on tape just as the man was leaving the bank. The detective tells the kids that he can use help canvassing the town, and offers them a reward for finding the boy - one hundred dollars each! The trio are thrilled with their future prospects, and quickly set out a plan.

They start by hanging around the high school, each one taking a large area to scan. After that plan fails, Dink has a brainstorm. Ask the barber! They live in a small town, and the idea is sound, because Dink finds the information he needs. He manages to secure the videotape, but just when the three friends thought they had the case all wrapped up, a new twist unfolds. They discover that their investigating is more dangerous than they realized.

Children will like this book. The mystery is interesting, and they will love the fact that the kids solve everything on their own, and even come out as heroes in the end. I did know the solution right away; just from the first chapter and the cover picture I had things sorted in my mind. Yet when I consider that the intended audience is first or second graders, I know that this is not only acceptable, but appropriate. They need clues that they can understand, and a mystery that is just complicated enough to be puzzling but not too confusing. Also, the main characters are appealing, and act like real children and therefore will allow young readers to identify with them. The illustrations are detailed and cartoony black-and-white drawings. This is another enjoyable read, and keeps my interest in the series sustained.

[kayceel_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

S says: this book was a great story because the three kids found the bandit and called the police. The police called the bank to give Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose a bunch of money as a reward.

This story made me want to form a club where you could capture lots of bandits. I think my friends in first grade should read this book. It was exciting!