The Puzzle of the Pretty Pink Handkerchief

Third-Grade Detectives #2

by George E. Stanley, Salvatore Murdocca (Illustrator)

When Todd finds a clue to a mystery in his tree house, he enlists the help of his third-grade classmates to help solve the mystery.

Genres: Chapter Books, Fiction, Mystery, Childrens, School, 2nd Grade

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

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

[Aditya Babu]

This book is the second book in the third great detective series. This book follows Todd, Noelle, and their teacher Mr. Merlin, who look for a lost handkerchief which they believe is special because it is pretty and pink. Once they find the handkerchief they go on a journey to return it to its owner, and on this journey, they learn about the sentimental value of the handkerchief. I believe this is a really good book for 7-10 year olds, and especially perfect for third graders because they could relate to this book. Children could also learn more advanced literary skills while reading this book, especially towards the ages of 7-8. The primary genre of this book is mystery. This was a WOW book for me because it was very touching when they found out the sentimental value of the handkerchief. After all, I hold an item that I value a lot close to me as well. Overall I believe the theme of this book is teamwork as well as analysis. I would give this book a 3 or 4, but leaning toward the three. Its a great book for kids, but it got a little boring for me.

[Margaret Chind]

[Rebecca]

A fun mystery to be solved by the 3rd grade class using science and reasoning.

[Elizabeth]

AR 3.5

[Elena Peyton]

It was a really fun 🤩 book because I love mysteries!

[Malia Drennan]

A super quick read aloud to my kids! My kids loved it. ❤️

[Sydney Beth]

Better than the first.

[AlanaBerish]

All the kids loved this

[Rachel]

Another mystery mixed with science-y information, this time it’s about your ear wax! As they try to solve the mystery of who left a pink handkerchief inside Todd’s treehouse!

[Dolly]

This is the second book in the Third-Grade Detectives series by George E. Stanley and Sal Murdocca. The first book was a fascinating story that introduces children to the art and science of cryptography as well as forensics. And this second story continues the puzzle solving and police lab work.

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

[Jamey]

A mystery book for kids. Not my favorite, but my kids did enjoy it.

[Stephanie]

I actually read the first book in this series, which happens to not be on good reads yet (What??). The first book is about how the third grade class, with the help of their new teacher, learn to solve mysteries and decipher clues. This is a great way to teach students good problem-solving skills, and help them also learn to work together.

[Danielle Simmons]

This is another good book in the series that focuses children on learning how to use problem solving skills in their daily lives. Todd's own backyard leads to clues in this story that kids can easily read (62 pages) to learn concepts like problem solving and clue detection.

[Joy]

Another good children's detective story. I love detective stories, even those for children. My granddaughter likes them even better. Her mother and I have given her the detective story bug. Hurray!

[Elaine Hebert]

I like mysteries.

[Rebecca]

Great as a second book in the series. Another interesting mystery and how it is solved kept my reader wanting to read more at the end of each chapter.

[Sugus Arbsuwan]

fun