The Secret of the Green Skin

Third-Grade Detectives #6

by George E. Stanley, Salvatore Murdocca (Illustrator)

GREEN VEGETABLES AREN'T ALWAYS GOOD FOR YOU

The new restaurant in town is a hit, but when several diners get sick, the Health Department threatens to shut the place down. And if the restaurant closes, Todd and Noelle's new friend, JoAnn, may have to move.

Mr. Merlin's Third-Grade Detectives want to prove that the problem wasn't the restaurant's fault. But Mr. Merlin's clue doesn't make any sense -- how can green be dangerous?

Genres: Mystery, Chapter Books, Childrens, Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

George Edward Stanley was born in Memphis, Texas on July 15, 1942. He received a bachelor's degree in 1965 and a master's degree in 1967 from Texas Tech University. He earned his Doctor Litterarum in African Linguistics in 1974 from the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. He lived all over Europe and Africa, studying and teaching foreign languages, working for the U.S. government, and writing books for young people and adults. He started writing fiction while a Fulbright professor in Chad, Central Africa, where about the only diversion he found available was listening to the BBC on his short wave radio. That led to his writing radio plays for a program called World Service Short Story. Three of his plays were eventually produced. After writing and publishing over 200 short stories in American, British, Irish, and South African magazines and linguistics articles in major international journals, he started writing books. He wrote over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for young people including The Katie Lynn Cookie Company series and the Adam Sharp series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of M. T. Coffin, Franklin W. Dixon, Laura Lee Hope, Carolyn Keene, Adam Mills, and Stuart Symons. He was a professor of African and Middle-Eastern languages and linguistics in the department of foreign languages at Cameron University. He died from a ruptured aneurysm on February 7, 2011 at the age of 68.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not know that the green cast sometimes seen on potato skins is called solanine, and that it is caused by exposure to the sun, and most importantly that it is poisonous and should be cut out of potatoes before used in food preparation. Now I've spoiled this mystery for you as that is the key. I found this one less riveting than the others in this series, and so did my six-year-old, but my eight-year-old, who wants to be a scientist when he grows up, was as riveted as always. So apparently this one is for your hard-boiled types.

[Hillvan]

490L

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth book in the Third-Grade Detectives series by George E. Stanley and Sal Murdocca. Our oldest really likes this series and she really enjoys learning about and solving the different kinds of puzzles. I explained to our girls that the puzzle used in this mystery was similar to the tap code used during Vietnam. I loved that we were able to decipher the clues with very little difficulty and I even showed our oldest what happens to a potato that is left in the sunlight (I had a few in my kitchen - oops! I made sure I peeled them before I cooked them.) Our youngest is becoming marginally interested in these stories and will listen in if she doesn't have anything better to do. I think it might have to do with the series title; perhaps in a year or so she will suddenly 'discover' them for herself.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting story and we will certainly look for more books in this series at our local library.

[Jordan Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't exactly remember what this book was about, since I got it from a school book fair in the third grade. I do remember, though, that this book was pretty freakin' cool. I felt like an everyday 8 year old detective!

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great series to introduce mystery genre to 3rd graders. It's accessible to most readers.