Bernie Magruder and the Parachute Peril

Bessledorf Mysteries #7

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Tony DiTerlizzi (Illustrator)

In order to get the big bedroom, Bernie needs to get his sister out of the house and so, with the help of his friends, begins the work of finding Mr. Right.

Genres: Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

148 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.

Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.

Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."

By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.

Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.

Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.

Reviews

[Roni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book because when I saw in my shelf of books, it seemed very interesting to me. The plot of this book is that Bernie's sister,Delores decides to follow a career in parachute-making.As a result Delores is has to jump from a plain with the parachute that she has made. Bernie is worried because there is a strange man in the building, making them think maybe he is the person who volunteered Delores to jump.My favorite quote from the book is, "...Delores, her eyes shinning,","the supervisor put me, me, in charge of the grommets,",because she was so excited about what had happened, but she was not thinking about what awful things could happen after. The author's writing style is unique because he really made me feel a urge to finish this book quickly in order to know what happens in the end. i would recommend this book to 6-8th graders because i personally think that this is a book that they will understand well.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the Bernie Magruder books. They are funny, clean books for ages 8 and up. In this one, Bernie decides to try to find a husband for his sister so he can have her bedroom. Things go as planned, but the chosen husband, Dwayne, is not who he is pretending to be.

[Anne Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was ok

[Cecil Chazhikat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book Was Really GOODD!!!!

[Kandyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy is trying to get his sister's bedroom by marrying her off. Funny.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What fun! I liked this one a lot. The characters are hilarious, and I love the long-winded Dad of the family. The plot and the mystery are very obvious, but still a fun read.