Undercover Bookworms (16)

by Franklin W. Dixon

Detective brothers Frank and Joe catch a book crook to save their library in the sixteenth book in the interactive Hardy Boys Clue Book series.

One of Frank and Joe Hardy’s favorite places to hang out is the Bayport Junior Public Library. Having a library just for kids is the best, and they love the real-life bookworm mascots, a whole farm of them! But the town council is facing budget cuts and will vote soon on whether to shut down the BJPL and combine locations with the adult library. Just when the boys’ librarian is starting to sway the council in her favor, a valuable book goes missing from the Rare Reads Room!

The Hardy brothers are determined to find the missing book and save the library. Joe pulls out a rare book of his own—the clue book! There are plenty of suspects, from the councilwoman who’s in favor of folding the junior library to their classmate Jeffrey Le Guin who was temporarily suspended from the library for making too much noise. But the more they investigate, the more they realize that you can’t judge a crook by their cover.

112 pages, Paperback

Published June 27, 2023

About the author

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.

Reviews

[Eliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank and Joe are volunteering for the library but the most valuable book goes missing. I liked this book.