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A to Z Mysteries #19
The School Skeleton
S is for Skeleton. . . .
It’s a bone-afide mystery at Dink’s school. Some sneaky soul has stolen the skeleton from the nurse’s
office! The principal promises free aquarium tickets to the savvy sleuths who can track down poor Mr. Bones. Soon mysterious clues are showing up all over the school. It’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to follow the clues and put those old bones to rest.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
It’s a bone-afide mystery at Dink’s school. Some sneaky soul has stolen the skeleton from the nurse’s
office! The principal promises free aquarium tickets to the savvy sleuths who can track down poor Mr. Bones. Soon mysterious clues are showing up all over the school. It’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to follow the clues and put those old bones to rest.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Ron Roy
216 books375 followersRon Roy has been writing books for children since 1974. He is the author of dozens of books, including the popular A to Z Mysteries®, Calendar Mysteries, and Capital Mysteries. When not working on a new book, Ron likes to teach tricks to his dog Pal, play poker with friends, travel, and read thrilling mystery books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
April 5, 2018
The conclusion was cute, although there were some strange choice made by the children; for example, they traced the shoes of teachers and measured the drawing instead of just measuring the shoes, and they did so during class time - skipping their own lessons and interrupting others, instead of doing it on recess. I think this book placed the trio in 4th grade, but if the series is linear (and given repeat characters it seems to be) then book A would have taken place in no older than 2nd grade which seems off. I think the author has seasons for lazy writing and forgot that having those out of order would necessitate the passing of time.
August 22, 2020
Collectively this has been my children’s top choice for most entertaining installment of the series. Good pacing, some nice misleading clues, satisfying conclusion: the roving gang of ginger readers approves!
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April 16, 2020This was a fun one!
January 18, 2023
A to Z Mysteries is perfect for a read aloud selection! School kids dealing with a little mystery.
October 22, 2011
The kids liked The School Skeleton, but I really got the sense that we were plodding through this one with some difficulty. The kids have seemed eager to read some of the other books in this A to Z Mysteries series, in particular The Haunted Hotel, but none of us were really jumping up and down to get through this one. I hate to say it, but I think that we all thought this one was a little boring. I think that it might be time to try a new series.
August 4, 2009
This is a clever book in the A to Z Mysteries series. It's not as dramatic or suspenseful as some of the other stories. And in fact, it feels more like a "Cam Jansen" book than a typical book in this series. But it's a fun story to read aloud with children and the clues are all there to help them solve the mystery. We are thoroughly enjoying Mr Roy's books and look forward to the next one!
June 23, 2009
this was not my favorite but it was good. I like this as much as a different A to Z mystery book
August 8, 2014
I liked it. They had a skeleton an it was april fool's day and the principal played a joke.
June 18, 2015
Thought I should read one of this series of books. A good example of a beginning chapter book that I can recommend to kids.
December 3, 2024
I thought that someone stole the school skeleton but it was really the principal playing an April Fools joke on everyone! It was funny that I read this book in April and it was about April Fools Day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2020
This book comes from a series of A-Z kid mysteries written by Ron Roy. This book takes on the letter "s" in a fun and clever way.
Mr. Dillon calls a school assembly at the Elementary school where clever kids, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose go to school. He announces that the school nurse skeleton is missing. The class that finds it will win a trip to the local aquarium. What a deal!
These clever young sleuths use simple math skills, deduction, and reasoning to look for the missing skeleton. When other classes start finding clues as well, the three have to step up their game or become at risk for losing the coveted prize.
But who could it possibly be and why take it to begin with? Ah, see now, my dear readers to read the book you will indeed find out.
I enjoyed taking on this little mystery and even though I thought I knew, I wasn't anymore sure than the characters in the book. What fun little twists to be had!
This book is aimed at third graders but younger and even a little older would enjoy this mystery too. All genders of children would love this as well.
If you have a little detective running around then this is surely the book for them.
NOTE: An extension to this book is set up your own mystery to be solved complete with clues. You could even copy the mystery here and follow the book to help find and figure out clues. Another idea: after reading the book, engage in playing the clue game.
This book is getting 5 pumpkins from me.
Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle
Mr. Dillon calls a school assembly at the Elementary school where clever kids, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose go to school. He announces that the school nurse skeleton is missing. The class that finds it will win a trip to the local aquarium. What a deal!
These clever young sleuths use simple math skills, deduction, and reasoning to look for the missing skeleton. When other classes start finding clues as well, the three have to step up their game or become at risk for losing the coveted prize.
But who could it possibly be and why take it to begin with? Ah, see now, my dear readers to read the book you will indeed find out.
I enjoyed taking on this little mystery and even though I thought I knew, I wasn't anymore sure than the characters in the book. What fun little twists to be had!
This book is aimed at third graders but younger and even a little older would enjoy this mystery too. All genders of children would love this as well.
If you have a little detective running around then this is surely the book for them.
NOTE: An extension to this book is set up your own mystery to be solved complete with clues. You could even copy the mystery here and follow the book to help find and figure out clues. Another idea: after reading the book, engage in playing the clue game.
This book is getting 5 pumpkins from me.
Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle
August 6, 2021
Josh, Dink, and Ruth Rose help solve the mystery of the missing school skeleton. Mr. Bones has gone missing and a lone left sneaker print was left at the scene. The trio use this print to track down the thief, they check it against all the adults at the school.
Soon it becomes a race as all the classes become involved with finding Mr. Bones. Who will find him first? Who is leaving prints behind? Who stole Mrs. Waters' powder? Who left the skeleton keys behind in the lockers?
This mystery was fun to read and to figure out the clues.
Soon it becomes a race as all the classes become involved with finding Mr. Bones. Who will find him first? Who is leaving prints behind? Who stole Mrs. Waters' powder? Who left the skeleton keys behind in the lockers?
This mystery was fun to read and to figure out the clues.
May 7, 2019
Read these books when I was a kid and greatly enjoyed them, figured I'd give them a second read for kicks.
I certainly recommend any young mysteries fan devote time to this series, it's certainly a grand adventure for a young mind, the imagery of Ron Roy's words and his settings and unique character descriptions and personalities really help kids imagine a whole movie in their heads as they read each exciting page.
I certainly recommend any young mysteries fan devote time to this series, it's certainly a grand adventure for a young mind, the imagery of Ron Roy's words and his settings and unique character descriptions and personalities really help kids imagine a whole movie in their heads as they read each exciting page.
December 3, 2019
This fun chapter book is a part of the A to Z Mysteries series, this certain book being S. In this book we follow a group of friends as they try to find out who stole the school skeleton, and why? I would recommend this mysterious book to a reluctant reader who enjoys mysteries, since it is not inappropriate for school and involves teamwork. The best grade levels to read this book would be 1-4 and possibly 4-6, depending on the childs' reading level.
December 5, 2019
Surprisingly I was a little disappointed with this book. The mystery wasn't really there and the solution felt too much like "everyone is a winner" making everyone's efforts absolutely worthless. Not what I've come to expect from Ron Roy in this series.
Still, fans of the book might enjoy the hijinks all the same. I'd say read this one if you're committed to doing the whole series. If you miss it though, it's not a great loss.
Still, fans of the book might enjoy the hijinks all the same. I'd say read this one if you're committed to doing the whole series. If you miss it though, it's not a great loss.
August 13, 2020
Someone has stolen the school nurse's skeleton, Mr. Bones, from her office. The only clue is a footprint of a left shoe with a zigzig on the sole of the shoe. The school's principal Mr. Dillon has said the first class to find out who took Mr. Bones will be rewarded with free tickets to the new aquarium in Hartford. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are out to find Mr. Bones before anyone else does and win those free tickets.
May 21, 2021
I have been casually listening to this series in audio book form with the kids I watch and this was the first one I read aloud. I appreciate the lack of formula to the A to Z series in general and found this one particularly fun as even I didn’t know for sure who the “perp” was. These books are great for getting kids to think and we enjoy discussing who we think the bad guy is in the middle of each book!
August 17, 2021
Thank you, Dink Duncan, Josh Pinto, Ruth Rose Hathaway, and Ron Roy, for the childhood memories. These books helped me to become a lifelong reader and lover of mysteries. Thank you, John Steven Gurney, for putting a fairly realistic-looking human skeleton on the cover of a children's book. I still remember the good ol' days when you could do that. I wonder what shameful, infantilized, Flanderized cover the new editions of this book will have.
December 1, 2022
Both boys read this one together, it was a good age level for age 5 and 7 readers. I felt like this mystery was tough to solve at first until around chapter 7 then it became easy. That's better than some of the other books in this series which us grownups could solve from the get go. On a side note, our boys have been disappointed when we read these when there aren't hidden letters in the pictures like there were in the detective camp book.
Read
September 2, 2021It was interesting, in fact I sat all night reading the book. I got inspired by the story very much. the book is all about 3 characters; Ruth Rose, Josh, Dink & how they find the lost skeleton. The climax was a total jaw drop for me. I though that Mr . Neater one of the characters did it… I dont want to give any more spoilers !
But happy reading
hope you all enjoy
By ARSHIYA BILAL
But happy reading
hope you all enjoy
By ARSHIYA BILAL
November 7, 2018
As always, the mystery was good. The interactions between the kids and their teachers, administration, and custodian were great! I hope every kid has as good a school experience as Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose.
August 5, 2022
Cool
Good luck to you and your family and friends don't know how you do it! The book was really interesting and I loved every character. Also the other b
ooks in the series are very good! Thank you for making these books.
Good luck to you and your family and friends don't know how you do it! The book was really interesting and I loved every character. Also the other b
ooks in the series are very good! Thank you for making these books.
September 29, 2022
As I continue to reread through this series, I am reminded of how much I enjoyed this particular story. These stories really fill me with nostalgia and still keep me as interested as they did the first day I read them.
June 20, 2023
Heeheeheehee. This one was hilarious because there wasn't a thief or an actual criminal involved. It turned out to be an April fools joke. And I actually liked all of the teachers and adults involved for once.
November 5, 2023
-- This is a series review. --
I love this series. The kids are solving real mysteries around their neighborhood (as opposed to their siblings), and they find out things that the adults couldn't.
-- End series review --
I love this series. The kids are solving real mysteries around their neighborhood (as opposed to their siblings), and they find out things that the adults couldn't.
-- End series review --
November 16, 2023
cover is misleading
Fun little story that had a happy ending for all the kids who wanted to win aquarium tickets.
The dhole school was searching and it was right in front of their faces the whole time
Fun little story that had a happy ending for all the kids who wanted to win aquarium tickets.
The dhole school was searching and it was right in front of their faces the whole time
September 28, 2017
Luke review:
My favorite part is the very end - when a lady saw the skeleton in the closet. It was a fun part.
My favorite part is the very end - when a lady saw the skeleton in the closet. It was a fun part.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2017
I liked this book because this book was funny!
December 13, 2017
I liked the change of scenery.
December 18, 2017
The school skeleton is missing and the kids have to find it. I like all the clues and comparisons that the kids find so they can solve the mystery. Good fun as always.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews