Dolphin Detectives

A to Z Animal Mysteries #4

by Ron Roy, Kayla Whaley, Chloe Burgett (illustrator)

Solve Animal Mysteries from A to Z! Inspired by Ron Roy's A to Z Mysteries series, this exciting animal adventure mystery is perfect for budding young chapter book readers. This time, 8-year-old Abbi and her friends solve a mystery with the help of dolphins!It's the weekend -- a perfect day for a sail off the coast of Maine.  But there's something fishy going on with the local dolphins and Abbi, Lydia, and Daniel are determined to find out why. Are the dolphins twisting, leaping, and whistling because they're playing? Or is it a warning of nearby danger? And if it's danger, how can the kids get grownups to believe them? Abbi and her friends are diving head first into this mystery!

Genres: Mystery, Animals

96 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

Ron 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.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

This chapter book is great for kids! Twins Daniel and Lydia along with their friend Abbi were out on the boat called Seahawk exploring the Atlantic Ocean. Lydia suffered from seasick but tried to deal with it because she wanted to see dolphins. The twins' mom is Dr. Herrera who is a marine biologist. She's driving the boat. Everyone was excited to see the dolphins. Lydia noticed more. She noticed the dolphins were upset and wondered if the people on the other boat had anything to do with it. The kids started investigating. Later, the friends and the twins' mom went out again, this time to a destination the kids picked out. They caught the same people from the other boat doing illegal fishing and called the coast guards. Good story and adventures! Good illustrations! Good friendship and teamwork!

Thank you Randomhousekids for the opportunity to read and review.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

“5 stars because I really liked it. It was really good. You should read it. They stop bad people from fishing. If you want to read it you can.”
- Kaleb, 6 years old

[Books with Brittany]

Read with Cooper.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abbi, Lydia, and Daniel get to go out on Lydia Daniel's mom's research boat to see dolphins. Their mom studies marine plants mostly, but she is a marine biologist. So when they see some dolphins acting strange, Lydia is concerned but her mom brushes it off. It still bugs Lydia later, so when the kids see the boat the dolphins appeared to be mad at in the harbor, the 3 friends decide to look around. Could the boat be doing illegal fishing in the protected waters? How can they know for sure?

An eco mystery that gets solved pretty quickly. Kids will like the illustrations. I found it odd that a marine biologist wouldn't notice dolphins acting strangely, but I forgave it because it did say her emphasis was plants and not dolphins.

Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: A dolphin is said to be slightly injured from a fishing net.
Ethnic diversity: Abbi is white American and in a wheelchair, Lydia and Daniel are Indian (Asian) American
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: The kids trespass in the other boat to see if it is doing anything bad. They do get in trouble for that later.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's mystery, first chapter length. I have never read any of the iterations of Ron Roy mysteries, so I finally got the chance to try one today. This series, centered around animals, is no longer written by Roy himself but credit is still given for the series it appears.

Abbi is excited to go on a boat with her friends Lydia and Daniel, whose mother is a marine biologist. But when they find the dolphins they went looking for, they are acting strangely. Lydia is convinced the dolphins are upset, but how can she convince her mom? A little sleuthing from the trio gives them the proof they need to share with the adults that someone is up to no good!

This is a quick read, with lots of white space and plenty of full-color illustrations. Abbi uses a motorized wheelchair and the other family reads Hispanic due to the last name being Herrera. The mystery is fairly easy, more of them pursuing their hunch rather than being thrown off by red herrings. A solid read for those not yet ready for full-length juvenile fiction.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abbie, Lydia, and Daniel go out on a boat with the twins' mom to go see dolphins. They are all excited but Lydia is the dolphin lover among them and she is the most excited. Having learned a lot about her favorite animal, Lydia notices that the dolphins are acting strange, even kind of mad, and she can't shake this weird feeling. When the kids uncover other strange clues, they set their minds to finding out what is really going on.

[Devorah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked that the dolphins were the real detectives and that they were eating at the restaurant and snuck out. Okay. And then they found a net with a flower in it. The name of the flower is coltsfoot.
And then she threw it into the air, her name is Abbi and then the dolphins were surrounding the ship.
I recommend this book!
This book was my 100s book!