Phantoms Don't Drive Sports Cars

The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids #32

by Marcia Thornton Jones, Marcia T. Jones, John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

When the class takes a field trip to the opera, they meet a strange man playing violin in the orchestra. Could he be the phantom who haunts the Bailey City Opera House?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Chapter Books

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Marcia Thornton Jones has published 131 books for children with sales totaling more than 43 million copies world-wide. Her works include CHAMP (mid-grade novel), RATFINK (mid-grade novel), GODZILLA ATE MY HOMEWORK (chapter book), THE TALE OF JACK FROST (picture book) and LEPRECHAUN ON THE LOOSE (picture book). She is the co-author of seven popular series including The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids, Keyholders, Ghostville Elementary, The Bailey School Kids Jr. Chapter Books, Triplet Trouble, Bailey City Monsters, and The Barkley School for Dogs.

Marcia has been listed as a top 100 author by the Educational Paperback Association and selected for the Children’s Top 100 Books list by the National Education Association, International Reading Associations Children’s Choice Award. Marcia's books have received many honors and have appeared on on the Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers lists,

Marcia, a full time writer living in Lexington, Kentucky enjoys presenting at schools and conferences. As a veteran teacher with more than 20 years of experience, she easily relates the importance of writing to students of all ages.

Reviews

[BookeryBliss · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection of "The adventures of the Bailey School Kids" stories are among my all-time favorite children's books. Witty, mischievous and fun, these short and silly books continue to bring giggles to the young and old. Just as I have enjoyed them as a kid, my own children also love them today. I even catch myself re-reading them (alone) from time to time. What can I say? I guess I'll always be a BSK kid at heart.

[Javier Trost · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are simple stories that 3rd graders could read. But they are also silly fun. I admire the imagination and hope kids today enjoy them as much as I did growing up.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange phantom in Bailey city? Of course there is. I think it's cool they went to see Phantom of the Opera, I wish I was able to go see Phantom of the Opera.

I don't think Eddie would ever admit that he enjoyed the story. You know, he needs everyone to think he's cool and everything.

It seems a little weird that the "phantom" would be jealous of kids. It's a good thing that Christine showed no interest in him, who knows what kind of psycho he would be.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but I find it hard to believe the "phantom" would act the way he did towards children and at the end if the book.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the Phantom of the Opera vibes in this one.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went through a The Phantom of the Opera phase when I was in high school, so this was a treat to pick up and it brought back many warm memories of how much I loved the original Gaston Leroux book. It was a clever take on the whole story, and while I'm not completely convinced that Erik Gaston was the phantom, he certainly had a lot of the qualifications.

[Lisa Gusewelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bingham made me read the whole book from start to finish.

[Josh Epp · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars!

Quick read! Not my favorite of the series but reminded me of phantom at the megaplex from the og Disney channel originals haha

[Angela Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a 3.5 level reading material. This would be a good book to read aloud to students at about the 1st or 2nd grade level. In this book, a group of friends are attending an opera with their class on a field trip. One students is really reluctant about going because he thinks that it is going to be boring and begins to be disruptive during the program. A violin player was quiet annoyed by this students behavior that he began to threaten the students. Mysterious things happened that evening because the four friends were invited back that evening to watch the program again. The kids tried making the phantom jealous and he finally fled the theater. This is a great mystery that would keep students interested in the story line.

[Torry Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son liked reading all the " Bailey School Kids," books by Debbie Dadey and Marcia T. Jones. He loved this one in particular I think because of the red sports car on the cover.

The kids in this series Eddie, Howie, Liza and Melody are your typical elementary school kids, with wild imaginations. In this book, “Phantoms Don’t Drive Sports Cars,” the kids are investigating if a violin player is actually the phantom who hunts the Bailey City Opera House!

If you enjoy this story, check out my sons, and mine, other favorite Bailey School Kid adventure, “Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp.” A great Halloween read.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bailey School Kids is a best-selling children's book series by Marcia Thornton Jones and Debbie Dadey. Its main characters are a group of four children (Eddie, Howie, Liza, Melody) who suspect some persons in the stories are popular folk lore or fairy tale characters. They are appealing because they mix a familiar story in with this group of kids. Mid-grammar school

[Jerome Otte · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stranger joins the Bailey City Orchestra; he always wears black, keeps half of his face obscured, and drives a glitzy sports car. Is he haunting the opera? Obviously, the book involves a good deal of false assumptions on the kids’ part, and the existence of the phantom is never actually proven.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

great when ur little

[Erika Stauffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another good book to teach students about predicting.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how the kids decided to expose the Phantom by making him jealous. A very cute soultion.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite part was when the phantom left. the worst part was when the phantom was being bad. my favorite character was melody. the worst character was the phantom

[Eddy Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

cc:

When the class takes a field trip to the opera, they meet a strange man playing violin in the orchestra. Could he be the phantom who haunts the Bailey City Opera House?

by Debbie Dadey

[Carly Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it would be a good book to read on Halloween.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read these all in while I was in middle school and loved them, giving them a 3.5-4.0 for my past 12 year old self.

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

They went to the opera. Eddie didn't like Opera. Eddie loves sports cars. There's a strange violinist in town. He drives a sports car.

[Jess 🦋]

We love some phantom of the opera fanfic!