The New Year Dragon Dilemma

A to Z Mysteries: Super Edition #5

by Ron Roy, John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

Z was just the beginning! With A to Z Mysteries® Super Editions, chapter book readers keep on collecting clues and solving mysteries with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. Now with over 8 million copies in print, this classic kid-favorite series is back with a bright new look!
 
Fireworks and dragons and . . . a missing girl? Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are in San Francisco, home of the biggest Chinatown outside Asia. They plan to watch the famous Chinese New Year parade and see Miss Chinatown ride by in a giant float. But during the parade, Miss Chinatown disappears, and so does her crown! Can the kids crack the case?
 
Look for hidden messages inside A to Z Mysteries® Super Editions!

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Chapter Books, Adventure, Middle Grade, Young Adult

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

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

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent early-reader about three friends solving a mystery while on a trip to San Francisco. I picked up because I was looking for a new read for Lunar New Year, but there actually isn't much abut the holiday, despite the title -- it's just a backdrop for the theft.

From a mystery standpoint this pretty weak: the kids are able to solve it because of a couple enormous coincidences that make them privy to information no one else has. I mean really ridiculously huge, like in a city of a million people you happen to be next to the person plotting the crime on the phone, and then the next day are also the nearest witness of the crime. And also happen to recognize the other person involved.

As a San Franciscan I found the iterations of tourist attractions a bit boring, but I think this aspect would be fun if one hasn't seen them. In fact, my primary recommendation of this book would be for grade school kids whose family's were planning a visit.

[L.E. Fidler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regan: 4 stars. It was pretty good but I just wish there was like more of a mystery, I guess? I mean, I get it; it’s for littler kids, but yeah, still.

Fiona: 4.5 stars. I really liked it but took off half a point because I just felt like it was missing something.

Liam: 10 out of 10 out of 10!

Tim: I don’t know? Four? It was serviceable if not a little predictable.

[Leann J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.75 stars

[Alex Baugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is their February school break and Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose are lucky enough to be in San Francisco with Dink's father, Mr. Duncan. And best of all, it is the beginning of Chinese New Year. Since Mr. Duncan has business to take care of, he has hired a young college student to take the kids sightseeing. Holden Wong comes complete with a three-wheeled buggy to pedal the kids around San Francisco.

First up is a trip the the famous San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf to see the sights there, especially the sea lions that live on some floating wooden docks at Pier 39. Holden warned Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose about their noise and especially their smell, and he wasn't kidding. Then, after going through the aquarium to see the sharks, Josh suggests they get something to eat.

In the snack bar, Dink finds himself sitting near a large, bald man with an M tatooed on each hand. The man was looking at a drawing on a laptop and talking on a cell phone. Dink, who wanted to be a writer was in the habit of jotting down descriptions of other people, and as he was doing that, he heard the man say "The second tire works." When he leaves, he gives Dink a dirty look.

After their day at the wharf, Holden took the kids to the big Chinese New Year parade. Holden is really excited about the Miss Chinatown float because his girlfriend Lily Chen might be the girl picked to be Miss Chinatown and where the crown with a large, genuine ruby in it. The fireworks and the parade are great fun, particularly the colorful, giant dancing dragon. Two of the dragon's carriers ran out from under it and put the heads in the dragon's mouth to prove the dragon is happy. But the third carrier ran off in the opposit direction and disappeared. Holden and the kids were haveing so much fun, their barely noticed that.

Next, is the Miss Chinatown float made to look like a giant swan with Miss Chinatown in the middle, tossing candy at the crowd. Suddenly, there are more fireworks and while everyone is looking up, Miss Chinatown disappears. The parade comes to a stop, Holden, Josh, Dink and Ruth Rose all clamor on to the float to see what happened. All they see in the box Miss Chinatown was standing on, but Dink notices a piece of black sticking out from under it and when they lift it up, sure enough, they find Miss Chinatown, Lily Chen, but her crown with the valuable ruby is missing.

And before they know it, both Holden and Lily are arrested for the theft. Will Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose be able to solve this crime and get their new friends out of jail?

I wasn't familiar with this series, but I found The New Year Dragon Dilemma to be a pretty interesting mystery. It is part of a series, but the Super Editions have more pages than the regular A to Z Mysteries. They are nice chapter books aimed at readers who have outgrown the orginial series.

The kids, Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose, are nine years old, are still in elementary school, and are junior detectives. Dink wants to be a writer and Josh wants to be an artist, so their skills come in handy for solving the mystery of the missing ruby. Ruth Rose is the brainy, logical one and can put together all the clues that they discover.

I read The New Year Dragon Dilemma because Chinese New Year begins this week on January 31st and I was interested in books for young readers that would introduce them to some of the cultural events that take place during 15 days of celebration. And this book did give some nice background about the big dragon parade that is the culmination of Chinese New Year in San Francisco.

The book also gave some interesting information about the famous Fisherman's Wharf, which was nice, but then I discovered that you can see the sea lions that live there on a Sea Lion Web Cam - all the fun. none of the smell. Be sure it is daylight in San Francisco, otherwise it is too dark to see them.

The original series contained 26 books based on the alphabet, but with no more letters, the Super Edition was born. And it has proven to be a fun book, the mystery isn't difficult or scary and there is a bonus. It should have great appeal to young and reluctant readers. Embedded somewhere in each of the 26 black and white illustrations is a letter. As kids find them, they can put them together to spell out a message. A nice way to sharpen observation skills, like the ones used by the kids in the book.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was purchased for my personal library

This review was originally posted at Randomly Reading

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have loved the A to Z Mysteries series and have read them all. We love that Mr. Roy has written several extra "Super Edition" stories with the same characters. Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose feel like old friends to us.

This was a fun story with a Chinese theme and takes the friends to San Francisco. I loved showing our girls the places I've visited on the map in the book. The story does a good job explaining about some of the more popular tourist sites in the city. I enjoyed showing our girls the Sea Lion webcam at Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf.

The story is fun and exciting (and a little dangerous, too. Our girls loved it and we are eagerly awaiting the next Super Edition story. (We hope there will be more!)

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor says: I would rate this two stars. I rated two stars because it wasn’t as good as the other books. It wasn’t as interesting because it was about stealing a ruby.

Momma says: I liked this one and I would rate it four stars.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are in San Francisco, home of the biggest Chinatown outside of Asia! Their tour guide, Holden, is going to take them to the famous Chinese New Year parade. Best of all, Holden's girlfriend, Lily, is Miss Chinatown. She gets to ride a giant float and wear a crown! But during the parade, Lily goes missing, and so does the crown. The police think Holden did it. Can Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose clear their friend's name by finding the real crook? The alphabet is over, but the mysteries continue in this fourth A to Z Mysteries Super Edition, featuring a secret message hidden in the illustrations.

[Ardyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the odds of a Chinese-American teen not knowing what the CNY dragon's name (Gum Lung in this text, which I assume is just an odd / old / "fun" romanization of Gam Lung 金龍) means is slim to none. :-/ He used the Cantonese pronunciation, so that's something... but still.

Much more important to most of you: I read 38 pages into this 132-page book -- more than 25% -- and there's no mystery yet. I guess the author felt laying groundwork about San Francisco and its Chinatown would hold interest... but there is no chance my kiddo, at least, will stick around a mystery book for this long without some mysterious event unfolding.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are in San Francisco with Dink's dad touring the city. Dink's dad asks Holden, a young college student, to show the kids around. While at a Chinese New Year parade Holden's girlfriend gets attacked and the ruby in her crown gets stolen. Can the kids find out who the real thief is, and not Holden?
We, as a family, enjoy figuring out the mysteries in this series. We also enjoy finding the hidden letters in the pictures to find the secret message at the end of the book.

[Amy Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book aloud to Griffin and Jordan (10&8). They loved it! We solved the mystery by finding hidden letters on each picture page. We also guessed have the mystery of who committed the crime. Onto the next!

[Byron Bibliotherapy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great chapter book with intriguing mystery & picture clues.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these mysteries. This one involves two of my favorite things: Chinese New Year and San Francisco. It was great, as usual.

[Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK mystery for elementary school readers. Awfully simple mystery, less complex than Box Car Children or Cam Jensen.

[Patty Wilkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

oops sorry for cheating again

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucky Dink, Ruth Rose get to travel to San Francisco and experience a Chinese New Year parade ad well as solve a theft. Would have liked more descriptions of the Chinese New Year though

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than average kid book. Very charming.

[Noelani · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 year picked this one up from the library Saturday and has read it twice already.

[Serika · Rating 4 out of 5]

They were in San Francisco.

[Devorah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the dragon on the cover, it was really scary. It was so scary, I could't even sleep.
The book was also really really scary because it was really dark in the book on page 122.

[Deepthi Herga · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 7 - year old has finished the entire set of the A to Z mysteries (including all the super editions). The super editions are lengthier and more satisfying. I started reading them because I wanted to find out how good these mysteries are and after I started, I finished the entire set myself. This will be a common review for all the books in the set (so please forgive me if you see this repeated under another book).

First of all, the mystery part of the book is fairly simple for an adult, but I can see how it can keep a kid engrossed. The characters are playful, around the same age as my kid now, so are very relatable. Yes, there are some characteristics which can be a little irritating, but they didn't really bother me too much as to take away from the stories. The other con is that these little kids are left unmonitored in many of their adventures (I am not a helicopter parent, but it felt a little strange, especially when they are out of the country altogether).

That being said, now what I loved about the stories -

1) Most of the stories are based in different cities, and sometimes different countries, so the travel perspective is amazing. We, as a family, love to travel and every time the kids in the books traveled somewhere it made the story more exciting to me (as well as my kid). My kid had comments on how they went to Key West and later Washington D.C "just like us".

2) There are strong characters of both genders, the villains are of different genders as well, so the stereotyping is considerably less (there was a female pilot in one of the books that stood out to me) and I love it that girls reading the books have some good role models. I would always like more female strong characters shown ofcourse :).

I'm sure my kids will be enjoying many more of the author's books in the future :)

[Jnase1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first A to Z Mysteries book I've read and I really enjoyed it. It was a little less complicated than the Cam Jansen books and Nate the Great books I've read. The size of the print and the fact that the text is double spaced made the book easy and quick to read, which should appeal to beginner and reluctant readers both. I also liked the extra mystery of finding the hidden letters in the illustrations for one final secret message. The story wasn't too long or complicated to read, but it was still exciting. Late first grade and up would enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more in this series to see if the other books are just as appealing.

[Michelle Bridges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute mystery for middle elementary school readers. Simple adventure mystery where the three kids try to help clear their friend Holden's name when he is accused of stealing the Chinese New Year princess's crown. They follow clues and travel around the town to solve the crime. Simple, fun not scary at all. 2nd-4th graders maybe? Also there is a hidden message in the pictures which is fun too.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

when lily was supposed to be mrs.chinatown and she throws candy and gets to ride a big giant balloon and lily goes missing the police officers and dink and his friends follow they find lily in a box and they have know idea who did that to lily.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well told story, cute and realistic at the same time. You have to put aside your thoughts that children of this age should never be allowed to go places alone to enjoy this book. I sure wish the word inside this book, existed.

[Kaytee · Rating 4 out of 5]

they were going to San Francisco. they went to a restraunt then dink saw a man that was calling on the phone and a picture pf a sail boat then a parade started then the queen diapearred they found her but they thonk that the couple just did a act did they or did they not.

[Lauren Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always a treat to read a new A to Z Mystery with my kids. The super editions are fun because they're longer and have the hidden message - I just wish Ron Roy wrote them faster!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this with my sons, and we loved it. Another great Ron Roy book.

[Laura Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun Ron Roy mystery. This time Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose head to San Francisco and learn some of the traditions of Chinese New Year while chasing the thief who stole the giant ruby.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Liked it

[Tyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex loved this one, she is a huge fan of mysteries. She also loved that it took place in SF