The Case of the Perfect Prank

Jigsaw Jones Mystery #23

by James Preller, James Preller

Looking for intriguing mysteries, great friendship stories, and quality early chapter books for beginning readers? Look no further: Jigsaw and Mila are the BEST elementary detectives on the market!

Mysteries are like jigsaw puzzles...you've got to look at all the pieces to solve the case.

With his top-secret detective journal, eye for detail, and ace partner Mila, Jigsaw is always ready to take on a new case. But will this new mystery be too tough to crack?

Genres: Mystery, Childrens

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

James Preller (born 1961) is the children's book author of the Jigsaw Jones Mysteries, which are published by Scholastic Corporation. He grew up in Wantagh, New York and went to college in Oneonta, New York. After graduating from college in 1983, James Preller was employed as a waiter for one year before being hired as a copywriter by Scholastic Corporation, where he was introduced (through their books) to many noatable children's authors. This inspired James Preller to try writing his own books. James Preller published his first book, entitled MAXX TRAX: Avalanche Rescue, in 1986. Since that time, James Preller has written a variety of books, and has written under a number of pen names, including Mitzy Kafka, James Patrick, and Izzy Bonkers. James Preller lives in Delmar, New York with his wife Lisa and their three children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/jamesp...

Reviews

[Rhaein Costa]

Love the plot

[Graham]

Look out for April Fools Day. Don't forget the practical jokes that might go around and that might happen. Every person sometime in their life has had a "Practical Joke" happen to them. So reading this book will bring back some good memories on the 1st day of April.

[Priscila Lima]

The Case of the Perfect Prank is book number 23 from the Jigsaw Jones Mystery series. Jigsaw Jones is a second grader and calls himself the “first detective in the whole second grade”. His real name is Theodore Jones. His partner in crime is Mila, his best friend. In this book, the detectives are searching for the “Practical Thief” who stole Danika’s cat. They also have to be on the lookout for pranks since April’s Fools is coming. All throughout the book, the kids keep receiving strange clues in a piece of paper but they always turn out to be false leads. Soon the real question becomes “does the cat even exist at all?”

The author keeps us guessing until the end of the book, where we find out that the there was never a cat. It was all a prank played on Jigsaw and he fell for it. He also was very clever in his writing style, leaving clues here and there but not necessarily giving anything away. Some children like the element of surprise and they definitely gt that while reading this book. This book is a good way to introduce children to the mystery/suspense genre.

This book contains ten chapters, they are easy to read and transitions nicely from one chapter to another. The author does a good job of keeping the plot flowing and keeping the readers on their toes as they move from one chapter to the other. There is an illustration at the beginning of every chapter that goes along with the title. There are also pictures of the notes that the kids receive that contains the clues. I really enjoyed the illustrations of the book, they were well done and it felt like the characters were actually real. This makes the book easy for kids to relate, as they can picture themselves in a similar situation.

[Cecelia]

Danika was pretending that she was missing a cat. Jigsaw had to find the cat. Myla knew Danika wasn't really missing a cat. It was April Fool's Day. At the end, Jigsaw figures out that all the clues mean "April Fool's!"

[Twyla]

I learned that sometimes a mystery is just a joke.