The Mystery on the California Mission Trail (Real Kids! Real Places!

Carole Marsh Mysteries: Real Kids, Real Places #5

by Carole Marsh

A series of clues in Spanish lead four real kids down California's famous Old Mission Trail in search of a solution to a mystery of history and hilarity!

LOOK what's in this mystery - people, places, history, and more!
Definition of missions, and their functions in the past and present • Mission architecture and design • Missions and the California Gold Rush • Why missions were founded, and the hardships involved • Indians• reactions to the missions, and the effects of the missions on the Indians • Father Junipero Serra's work with the missions and his burial • Important facts about each mission the group visits, including information on architecture, present-day status of the mission, the bells in each mission, circumstances surrounding the missions • foundings, and other distinctive trivia • foundings, and other distinctive trivia • Po Rico, a Spanish governor in America • Secularization • El Camino Real • Ojo de Dios craft • Mission La Pur • sima • Concepci-n, Lompoc • Mission Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara • Mission Santa Solvang • Mission Snaventura, San Buenaventura • Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano • Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, San Gabriel • Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa-a, Mission Hills • Mission San Antonio de Padua, Jolon • Mission Nuestra Se-ora de la Soledad, Soledad • Mission San Francisco de As's (or Mission Dolores), San Francisco.

This book was nominated for the prestigious 2004 Beatty Award! Like all of Carole Marsh Mysteries, this mystery incorporates history, geography, culture and cliffhanger chapters that will keep kids begging for more! This mystery includes SAT words, educational facts, fun and humor, built-in book club and activities.

Below is the Reading Levels Guide for this
Grade 3-6
Accelerated Reader Reading 5.7
Accelerated Reader 3
Accelerated Reader Quiz 74565
Lexile 870
Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Q
Developmental Assessment 40

Get your FREE Resources!



1. Download the Carole Marsh Mysteries Real Kids! Real Places! Correlations to Common Core/State Standards .



2. Download the Where Have You Been map .



3. Utilize the Real Kids! Real Places! Common Core State Standards Teacher Resource for classroom discussion questions and activities for ELA grades 2-6. This can be used for all 50 mysteries .

4. Download additional activities including Fact or Fiction, Fascinating Facts, Book Club Discussions and Book Club Activities .

5. Want a sneak peak? Read the first three chapters .

Genres: Mystery

147 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

About the author

Carole Marsh is a children's author and the founder of Gallopade International, a children’s book publishing company headquartered in Peachtree City, GA. Marsh writes mystery fiction in addition to works of non-fiction for children. Initially she self-published under the imprint Gallopade Publishing Group, which she founded in 1979; today Gallopade International is a major small publisher based in Peachtree City, Georgia.

In 2007 Marsh received the Georgia Author of the Year award for her contributions to children's literature and to the state of Georgia over the past twenty-seven years.

Reviews

[Dayna Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another in the Real Kids, Real Places series. Grant & Christina head west with their grandparents to visit the California missions. When they arrive they discover that the bells from the missions are being stolen. They find themselves in a race against time to find the bells and catch the thief. This series is a great way to introduce young readers to mysteries. They are as predictable as Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, but more modern, and this series includes a great introduction to historical events as well.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of educational mysteries to teach children both the love one can have for language as well as for one's history. Still, the execution could have been much better. The style is awkward and the characters can and should be more rounded. However, I can see why kids like to read these books.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for a friend whose grandson is in fourth grade , studying missions. I taught fourth grade for years. The book does have some accurate information, but some of it does not agree with what learned from visiting most of the missions. It’s an okay book, but rather silly.

[Leah Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, fictional, quick-read about kids visiting the CA missions with their grandparents. They learn that the mission bells are missing, and the mystery ensues! It's a good book to accompany learning about the missions of CA. It has a little mystery to it, but the kids enjoyed hearing about the mission details even more than trying to solve the mystery. It is fun to incorporate historical fiction into science and social studies topics. It helps bring more life to the subject. This series is cute, and the kids enjoy it. (less)

[AS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite four stars for me, maybe 3.7, lol.

It’s a cute idea to have a mystery with real kids in the story. Kids will probably enjoy it, and there is a lot of great background information about the missions in it. The writing style is not the greatest, but it was a fun read.
I think it’d be great to share with kids who are learning about the missions, and I could see it being very engaging for a fourth grade California history class. Much more fun than the usual dry stuff from textbooks.

One thing that was a bit much for me was that the characters jump around from one mission to the next as if they were all just down the block from each other! If you were to really go from San Diego to Sonoma by car, stopping at all the missions along the way, that’d be a fairly big road trip, not just a quick afternoon jaunt, like the book makes it sound 😄 I can tell they were trying to include as many missions as possible, and I did enjoy reading the parts about the missions I’ve had the chance to visit myself, but I think it would have worked better if they’d focused on a few, rather than so many. Plus they could have given some indication to the reader of the distances involved. It’s a bit silly when they jump from San Luis Obispo to Mission Dolores, or from Santa Cruz to Sonoma as if these were all short trips!
Overall, though, probably a fun read for kids and they will learn some things along the way.

[DULCE MARIA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children who love a good mystery will enjoy reading this book. This would also make an awesome read-aloud book to accompany social studies lessons on the CA Missions. As an adult, I enjoyed reading this book, and I am sure my students would love to listen to it, or even read it on their own. I believe it is important to give students access to both non-fiction and fiction books.

[Jess Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Students love the idea of getting to solve a mystery and this book offers them the opportunity to do just that while also learning about the mission system. This book is the perfect book to have on the shelf of any classroom.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mystery book for children. The mystery element is a little fun but the real treat is the descriptions of the missions themselves. This is a good, fun book to accompany learning about missions.

[Thaliagrace]

This book was very entertaining and informative.

[Congetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked more mystery and history. My son wanted more mystery, but he rated it a four.