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Jigsaw Jones Mystery #11
El detective disfrazado
C. Nino Puzle. Un nino de nueva anos que ayudado por su amiga Mila tratan de resolver casos que le plantean sus vecinos y companeros de clase. C. Nino Puzle Infantil - Aventuras
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
James Preller
202 books142 followersJames 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...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/jamesp...
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 31, 2017
I read this book to my students for the week of Halloween. They really enjoyed it! The ending was really good and unexpected.
October 7, 2018
I bought this book as I kid and really liked it. I loved the Jigsaw Jones mysteries. One novel, I don't know if it was this one, used this really clever code that he had to figure out. It was genius to me as a kid.
I got this as a kid and I loved Jigsaw Jones. I've kept this in my book chest ever since. I didn't remember anything about this, and I was in the mood for reconnecting with my childhood and this series.
I didn't remember that Jigsaw Jones has his detecting business in his treehouse, and charges a dollar a day to make people's problems go away, but that slogan came back to me.
I was afraid that it wouldn't hold up, and I admit to being a little annoyed by the writing. I didn’t like all the sounds.
"Oooooh.
Creeeeeeak.
Squish, squish, squish.”
“Toot-toot.”
“Oof. Ouch. Hiccup.
“Ziiiiiiip.”
This was all by pg. 8 and I was already sick of it. He was all about the onomatopoeia and I have never liked that that.
“WHOOOOOO.
“Hooooowl. A-oooooo.”
“Ziiiiiip.”
“Hooooowl. A-oooooo.”
“ Crunch, crunch, crunch.”
“Tinkle, tinkle.”
“Crunch, crunch, snap.”
“Tweet. Twee-tweeeet!”
This had a large cast of characters, especially for so short a novel. I had a really hard time keeping up with who everyone was.
Jigsaw and his mom and dad
Shirley Hitchcock and her dad.
Ralphie Jordan and his dad.
Joey Pignattano.
Nick and Daniel his brothers
Jasper "Stringbean" Noonan
Mila Yeh
Lucy Hiller and her dad
Sally Ann Simms
Danika Starling
Wingnut O'Brien
Freddy Fenderbank
I was disappointed that his first night of camping, he mentioned that they played flashlight tag and Mr. Hitchcock told the "coolest and scariest" stories. I couldn't believe he skipped over that and I can't stand when authors don't write out scenes that would be good. You can't mention a scary story and not say one thing about it.
Mr. Hitchcock started out the story by saying the ranger had said there's been no sign of the lake monster. It comes out on moonlit nights like this one. A classic to compare the current night to the one the monster likes. He said there's all kinds of descriptions for the monster, and that only one person has seen it and he isn't talking anymore. Danika was upset and asked if the guy was dead, and it was funny that he said he's not dead, but he isn't talking to anyone, just lays in bed staring.
He said the guy had been camping right there and he'd gone to the bathroom without a flashlight. It will be okay if they stay quiet in their tents and don't get out. The monster likes human food.
One of the boys suggested leaving food out to lure the monster in, and little Sally Ann had the idea to use marshmallows. Mila and Danika were the only kids in the group to vote against doing it, so they were out-voted. I knew where this story was going.
Mila left a note for Jigsaw, a piece of notebook paper that she had made two creases on going longways. She wrote words on the page but the only letters that mattered were the ones that the crease fell on. So he had to decode the message. I remember the coded messages used in this series and they're so clever. It's such a unique, interesting touch.
Danika hired them for the case of the lake monster, who was renamed the marshmallow monster after he ate the marshmallows. She said no one was swimming at the lake because of the monster and Jigsaw got down to his shorts and dove in. That was a funny moment because he didn't know why he did it. She'd accused him of being too afraid to investigate and so he must have wanted to prove he wasn't. Once he was in the water he felt something touch him twice and went right back out, agreed to take on the case.
It started to come back to me as he wrote in his journal the name of the case, the client, the crime and any clues he had.
Jigsaw set up a makeshift office on this rock, and it's cute that he used all these sticks to spell out office on the ground. Him and Mila went over the list of suspects, vouching for their tent mates who hadn't gotten up in the night, and vowing to check around with other people to see if they'd gotten up. Jigsaw remembered Joey coming and asking him for ginger ale for Freddy and Wingnut, whose stomachs hurt, so they were top suspects. Jigsaw and Mila went to scan the scene of the crime. I liked the piecing together of all of the details of how to solve this crime, the things that would make someone a suspect and the ones that would eliminate someone as a suspect.
Mila noticed that the marshmallow bag was missing, and an animal wouldn't have eaten it or anything. Wingnut and Freddy confessed to bringing contraband candy, so they were off the list.
Joey was the last person on the suspect list so Jigsaw set the trap, by telling Joey about the marshmallow bag he set out, and then waiting at a hidden spot.
Mila came to keep Jigsaw company as he waited. He'd tied a bell to the zipper of his tent so he would hear it opening. They saw a black shape moving through the woods and then his tent being opened. He assumed Joey was getting up to go to the bathroom and he'd taken the flashlight so he was worried about Joey. Him and Mila grabbed rocks up and threw them at the monster, Jigsaw kept blowing on his whistle.
It was unexpected that his dad was the "monster," because I couldn't remember who it had been. At the beginning I thought it would be a raccoon. But it was funny that he was mad about the rocks being thrown at him. It turns out he went around and cleaned up the food at night and put the marshmallows away.
It's just disappointing that there wasn't a real "monster," like an animal sneaking into camp. In books and shows, it's never what they think it is; it's always a person. Also, Jigsaw had thought he felt a lake monster touching him twice in the lake, and there was no mention of it ever again. To tie it all up, there should have been some attention as to what it really was, but that was left up in the air. A sentence saying something like since there's no lake monster, it must have been a stick or fish touching him would have been good.
It was too short, and the pacing too fast. It's only 74 pages so it was plowing through to the end and I would have liked so much more. He mentioned they were going on a hike to a waterfall, but he had to work on the case and he didn't go. I would have liked to hear about the waterfall. The only camp activity they did "live" in the novel was listen to the scary story. The rest was skipped over.
I got this as a kid and I loved Jigsaw Jones. I've kept this in my book chest ever since. I didn't remember anything about this, and I was in the mood for reconnecting with my childhood and this series.
I didn't remember that Jigsaw Jones has his detecting business in his treehouse, and charges a dollar a day to make people's problems go away, but that slogan came back to me.
I was afraid that it wouldn't hold up, and I admit to being a little annoyed by the writing. I didn’t like all the sounds.
"Oooooh.
Creeeeeeak.
Squish, squish, squish.”
“Toot-toot.”
“Oof. Ouch. Hiccup.
“Ziiiiiiip.”
This was all by pg. 8 and I was already sick of it. He was all about the onomatopoeia and I have never liked that that.
“WHOOOOOO.
“Hooooowl. A-oooooo.”
“Ziiiiiip.”
“Hooooowl. A-oooooo.”
“ Crunch, crunch, crunch.”
“Tinkle, tinkle.”
“Crunch, crunch, snap.”
“Tweet. Twee-tweeeet!”
This had a large cast of characters, especially for so short a novel. I had a really hard time keeping up with who everyone was.
Jigsaw and his mom and dad
Shirley Hitchcock and her dad.
Ralphie Jordan and his dad.
Joey Pignattano.
Nick and Daniel his brothers
Jasper "Stringbean" Noonan
Mila Yeh
Lucy Hiller and her dad
Sally Ann Simms
Danika Starling
Wingnut O'Brien
Freddy Fenderbank
I was disappointed that his first night of camping, he mentioned that they played flashlight tag and Mr. Hitchcock told the "coolest and scariest" stories. I couldn't believe he skipped over that and I can't stand when authors don't write out scenes that would be good. You can't mention a scary story and not say one thing about it.
Mr. Hitchcock started out the story by saying the ranger had said there's been no sign of the lake monster. It comes out on moonlit nights like this one. A classic to compare the current night to the one the monster likes. He said there's all kinds of descriptions for the monster, and that only one person has seen it and he isn't talking anymore. Danika was upset and asked if the guy was dead, and it was funny that he said he's not dead, but he isn't talking to anyone, just lays in bed staring.
He said the guy had been camping right there and he'd gone to the bathroom without a flashlight. It will be okay if they stay quiet in their tents and don't get out. The monster likes human food.
One of the boys suggested leaving food out to lure the monster in, and little Sally Ann had the idea to use marshmallows. Mila and Danika were the only kids in the group to vote against doing it, so they were out-voted. I knew where this story was going.
Mila left a note for Jigsaw, a piece of notebook paper that she had made two creases on going longways. She wrote words on the page but the only letters that mattered were the ones that the crease fell on. So he had to decode the message. I remember the coded messages used in this series and they're so clever. It's such a unique, interesting touch.
Danika hired them for the case of the lake monster, who was renamed the marshmallow monster after he ate the marshmallows. She said no one was swimming at the lake because of the monster and Jigsaw got down to his shorts and dove in. That was a funny moment because he didn't know why he did it. She'd accused him of being too afraid to investigate and so he must have wanted to prove he wasn't. Once he was in the water he felt something touch him twice and went right back out, agreed to take on the case.
It started to come back to me as he wrote in his journal the name of the case, the client, the crime and any clues he had.
Jigsaw set up a makeshift office on this rock, and it's cute that he used all these sticks to spell out office on the ground. Him and Mila went over the list of suspects, vouching for their tent mates who hadn't gotten up in the night, and vowing to check around with other people to see if they'd gotten up. Jigsaw remembered Joey coming and asking him for ginger ale for Freddy and Wingnut, whose stomachs hurt, so they were top suspects. Jigsaw and Mila went to scan the scene of the crime. I liked the piecing together of all of the details of how to solve this crime, the things that would make someone a suspect and the ones that would eliminate someone as a suspect.
Mila noticed that the marshmallow bag was missing, and an animal wouldn't have eaten it or anything. Wingnut and Freddy confessed to bringing contraband candy, so they were off the list.
Joey was the last person on the suspect list so Jigsaw set the trap, by telling Joey about the marshmallow bag he set out, and then waiting at a hidden spot.
Mila came to keep Jigsaw company as he waited. He'd tied a bell to the zipper of his tent so he would hear it opening. They saw a black shape moving through the woods and then his tent being opened. He assumed Joey was getting up to go to the bathroom and he'd taken the flashlight so he was worried about Joey. Him and Mila grabbed rocks up and threw them at the monster, Jigsaw kept blowing on his whistle.
It was unexpected that his dad was the "monster," because I couldn't remember who it had been. At the beginning I thought it would be a raccoon. But it was funny that he was mad about the rocks being thrown at him. It turns out he went around and cleaned up the food at night and put the marshmallows away.
It's just disappointing that there wasn't a real "monster," like an animal sneaking into camp. In books and shows, it's never what they think it is; it's always a person. Also, Jigsaw had thought he felt a lake monster touching him twice in the lake, and there was no mention of it ever again. To tie it all up, there should have been some attention as to what it really was, but that was left up in the air. A sentence saying something like since there's no lake monster, it must have been a stick or fish touching him would have been good.
It was too short, and the pacing too fast. It's only 74 pages so it was plowing through to the end and I would have liked so much more. He mentioned they were going on a hike to a waterfall, but he had to work on the case and he didn't go. I would have liked to hear about the waterfall. The only camp activity they did "live" in the novel was listen to the scary story. The rest was skipped over.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2026
Jigsaw Jones and company go on a camping trip. The kids are told a ghost story about a lake monster. Then marshmallows start disappearing. Is it the work of the lake monster?
I'm not sure kids these days tell ghost stories.
I'm not sure kids these days tell ghost stories.
June 5, 2014
My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start on.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
August 19, 2014
This is probably my most favorite Jigsaw Jones' book yet! As a reader to my special needs teen age son most of the time I can figure out 'who done it' within the first quarter of the book. But in this one you didn't know until a chapter or two at the end! The author does a wonderful job at the descriptions of camping out and of neighborhood unity! How fun would it be to live in a neighborhood where the kids and parents can go on a yearly camp out? WOW! It had a little 'suspense' to it with the monster story involved but I don't think it was enough that it would scare a smaller child. (my 2 year old granddaughter was playing in the same room I was reading this outloud and even with my changing voices and stuff she didn't seem scared.) Really neat book!
February 20, 2011
Jigsaw Jones goes on a camping trip. One father tells a story about a lake monster. The kids leave out a bag of marshmellows hoping the lake monster will eat them instead of the kids. Jigsaw is hired to find the monster. He puts out more marshmellows the next night as a trap. He sits up and discovers the monster--his dad who was just putting them away because you don't leave food out when there are animals like raccoons around.
July 28, 2012
This is book #11 in the Jigsaw Jones series of mysteries by James Preller. The stories are short and the mysteries are entertaining and this one was not too scary. We enjoyed listening to Gram read this one aloud to all of us on a hot summer night. I am sure we will look for more of these books at our local library.
March 20, 2018
This is a decent book. Basic, cute, short, mystery. I'm sorry I have to bring this up early. They brought in Alfred Hitchcock into this book? (I'll get into that in the story.)
Cover
I love the puzzle pieces used in the background and that the entire picture has a puzzle outline around it. The cover looks great. The one thing is that as the years go by the cover of this book will age interestingly. While the cover has this dated look to it I believe this will become one of those timeless(ish) stories. I think it's going to be like the Bobbsey Twins.
Story
The story is basic and short with a couple cute fake outs. The story is basic and the art is cool. I do like the charming drawings that are added in. The end is extremely logical almost to a fault. I didn't see it coming. I don't really know what to review there isn't much but I liked it. Great for younger readers.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOMENT
I got to bring this up. They have the King... I guess that would go to Steven. (Pun intended.) The father of Horror in this book. I'm not kidding. He's one of the few if not only character described as a bald pear without a neck. I am not a Horror fan in the slightest but that's how I picture him. And to seal the deal the book says he likes to tell kids scary stories. He isn't in the book a lot but he makes a big impression.
Cover
I love the puzzle pieces used in the background and that the entire picture has a puzzle outline around it. The cover looks great. The one thing is that as the years go by the cover of this book will age interestingly. While the cover has this dated look to it I believe this will become one of those timeless(ish) stories. I think it's going to be like the Bobbsey Twins.
Story
The story is basic and short with a couple cute fake outs. The story is basic and the art is cool. I do like the charming drawings that are added in. The end is extremely logical almost to a fault. I didn't see it coming. I don't really know what to review there isn't much but I liked it. Great for younger readers.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOMENT
I got to bring this up. They have the King... I guess that would go to Steven. (Pun intended.) The father of Horror in this book. I'm not kidding. He's one of the few if not only character described as a bald pear without a neck. I am not a Horror fan in the slightest but that's how I picture him. And to seal the deal the book says he likes to tell kids scary stories. He isn't in the book a lot but he makes a big impression.
June 18, 2020
I like how the child detective thinks things through in the mystery and actually eliminates suspects based on deductive reasoning. I also like the tone of the POV character. I think the kids will enjoy this story. I can't decide what age group is appropriate - I'd think it'd be a little scary for kids, but coming from an adult perspective, it's so difficult to tell. Safe scary? Fun scary? Or will the kids be scared to swim in a lake? :)
December 12, 2017
My students really enjoyed the suspense that was built in this story. Some of them felt afraid of what would happen next, and all of them were very interested in the story as a whole. I'm excited to see them check out the remaining books in this series. This was definitely a successful read aloud.
November 19, 2017
I️ read this book with one of my reading groups at work. I️ like this series, it introduces mystery in a fun way. This is a good starter chapter book.
May 4, 2019
Short, quick read. Okay but nothing special.
July 21, 2021
8 year old loved this. Such a funny little story about friends and dads and camping and a mystery.
October 4, 2021
The solution was somewhat underwhelming
February 5, 2024
Great for young readers. Positive father-son relationship shown.
January 1, 2020
Me gusta porque van de camping
April 28, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. It was not scary so I feel like it would be a great book for kids to read of either gender. It would be a good book to read as a class and have the class try and solve this mystery themselves as they read along. I think you could tie in different activities along with this book to implement into the classroom to make the reading interactive and more enjoyable for the students. I thought this book was a very cute book.
September 10, 2009
A little too scary for our liking.
March 29, 2015
Found it adorable for children, easy to follow, action-packed to keep the youngsters reading, some great humor woven throughout, fun characters, and also a great cover and artwork throughout.
February 14, 2012
There was a story called the marshmallow monster.They thought it was real but it wasn't.Auryn 8yo
Read
December 30, 2013AR Quiz No. 53078 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 2.8 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 2.8 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP
August 23, 2016
My kids (ages 4 & 5) and I loved this book. They kept wanting to keep reading. We love mysteries.
January 22, 2017
This not really horrid or scared story, but very well stories too.
July 11, 2008
He could of solved this case on the first night but he did it on the second.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2018
Alice: 5 stars. Spoiler alert: There is no lake creature but the dad made it up.
Jenny: 3 stars. A good mystery.
Jenny: 3 stars. A good mystery.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews