The Mystery of the Gold Coin

Greetings from Somewhere #1

by Harper Paris, Marcos Calo (Illustrations)

In the first book of this new chapter book series about mystery, travel, and adventure, twins Ethan and Ella must find a missing coin before they move away from their hometown!
When Ethan and Ella learn that their mother has accepted the position of travel writer for "The Brookeston Times," they are not happy. Move away from Brookeston? Say good-bye to all their friends? What could be worse? Their mom and dad promise them that this will be a great experience, but that doesn't make the kids feel any better.
The day before they are set to leave, their beloved Grandpa Harry stops by. As a gift, he gives Ella a pretty journal since he knows she loves to write, and he gives Ethan a gold coin that Ethan decides he will always keep in his pocket. But the morning of their departure, Ethan realizes he's lost the coin! Together, he and Ella must retrace their steps from the day before. Will they solve the mystery of the missing coin before it's time to head to the airport?
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Greetings from Somewhere chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Adventure, Family, Fiction

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2014

Reviews

[✦BookishlyRichie✦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS!!!

This was such a cute, fun, and super quick mystery! I loved all the illustrations throughout the book and really enjoyed how fast it was. I'd say if you have a brother/sister/cousin/daughter or son this would be a great mystery series to start them out with, the text is huge and the pictures are great too. I will for sure be reading more of this series. :)

- Richard

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enh....

A mystery = +
Boy and girl protagonist = +
Traveling the world = +
Lackluster writing = -
Illustrations in a chapter book = +
Illustrations that are not awesome = -
Intentionally flipped mom/dad roles that feels a bit forced to me = -
Stereotypical characters in the good guys/bad guys = -

Not terrible if you're hoping for some basic fluency-building books, but nothing to seek out in particular.

I like this one a bit better than The Mystery of the Mosaic

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cute beginning middle grade book! This is about siblings Ethan and Ella. Their parents tell them they are leaving their small town to travel the world for their moms journalism job. Their grandpa brings them each a gift and Ethan loses his (a gold coin). These are very short and simple, but really great for my daughter and I love the homeschool rep so far!

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun book. Review to come.

[DIVISHA MITHAL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanaya talks books:

I like Greetings from somewhere because it teaches us about different places around the world. I also like it because in the book the characters Ethen and Ella always have a mystery and I love thinking using clues and solving mysteries. I like that when they visit different places, they meet a friend of their grandfather. My favorite character is Ella because she's a girl like me! I love to read words in new language in each book.

Mommy likes:

The series is about twins Ella and Ethan who are on a trip around the world with their parents due to their mother's job as a travel writer for a newspaper. In each city that they visit they solve a mystery that they encounter besides the one given to them over email by their grandfather. In their endeavor to solve their grandfather's mystery they meet a lot of people and explore the culture of the city they are in. The books therefore expose the children to a lot of different countries, their languages, some trivia etc.

The book is designed for young readers who have transitioned to reading chapter books independently. The books are not very long and can be great for story time with kids as a read-aloud too.

The books are a great exposure to the different countries and their cultures for the kids.

Another thing which I really liked about the book is reversal of stereotype in the representation of the parents of Ethan and Ella.

Verdict:
In times when travel is limited, these books will take your child to far away places; and you along with them, will enjoy this trip.

For full review check my blog www.inbetweenbookmarks.wordpress.com or my Instagram page www.instagram.com/inbetweenbookmarks

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Ella and Ethan find out their mom has a new job with her paper to write stories while traveling around the world, they aren't exactly thrilled about the prospect. They love their town and don't want to move. Their grandfather gives them each a going away present, Ella gets a journal and Ethan gets a gold coin with a globe on one side and an eagle on the other. But somehow in their Saturday tasks around town, Ethan loses the coin. They must quickly revisit their tracks on Sunday to hunt down his coin and along the way get to say goodbye to a town and people they love.

I wish I had the 2nd book in this series to see what it is actually like to travel with Ella and Ethan. I like that the mystery in this is very realistic and seems like something 2nd grade twins could actually solve. I had a hard time getting it into my head that Ella and Ethan were 2nd graders though. They are drawn looking older than that and they talk and act a bit older. (What present day 2nd graders get to wander their town by themselves and not raise eyebrows???) The actual vocabulary (kept relatively easy or explained well), size of font (larger than normal) and abundance of illustrations definitely make the book seem aimed at lower graders. I just had to tell myself that Ella and Ethan were both very mature for their age. Kids who solve mysteries while getting to travel with their parents around the world while their mom writes travel articles is a fun premise. And I like the realistic reaction Ella and Ethan have to the prospect of suddenly moving. I'll definitely have to read more of this series later.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute introduction to what will turn into a cute episodic travel/mystery series for young readers. Think Jack and Annie-esque (they even have a tree house), except these twins travel with their family to different international cities and learn new words, history and geography, and solve a short mystery in each book. So far the family relationships are strong and mildly progressive (two working parents, and the father will homeschool the kids) and the story is stuffed full of little facts and asides to readers to build vocabulary and knowledge. (For example, off the top of my head, this book introduced several foreign language phrases, "perimeter," "investigate," the Ice Hotel, and more).

My sister in law and 6-year-old nephew love these books and read them together, pausing in each book to look up that city/country online and on a globe, learn more about the culture and history, track how long it would take to fly there, etc. It's so perfectly set up for the kind of nonfiction pairings that Magic Tree House already does, except that this series begs for readers to find their own informational texts (thanks, Common Core).

[Lindsey Zalewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was never a fan of mysteries as a kid; but this book has a charm to it. It isn't your traditional mystery that is like Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys- it is definitely for the younger crowd. The characters and their tribulations are relatable to the age groups that it's targeted at (I would say younger elementary 1-3): moving, having to say goodbye to friends and family, having to move outside of your daily routine. And in the midst of it all to solve the mystery of the lost golden coin! Like I said, the mystery is a simple one but I think as an introduction to the genre it is definitely suitable for students that seem to hold an interest in solving problems and following character's problems and resolutions. My ONLY problem I have with this (and if I could take away only a portion of a star for this) is that the actual mystery doesn't start until 40 pages into the book- providing only about half of it and some change to solve the mystery. Outside of that- I can see myself stemming off into exploring other youth mystery series to find what not only I like but what my students would like.

[Etienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book for free due to a mistake in the order I received today so I decide to have a look at it! Fun little book, small novel for children. It has a very cozy mystery to it and also some family stuff to deal with, in some sort of coming of age and positive message kind of thing. It was fun, well done, the black and white illustrations also add some quality to it and help kids transitions from picture book to small novel. Exactly what it was suppose to be. Even with all these positive elements, I still withdraw one star because of the very light and easy going vibe of it all, could have gone a bit deeper I the mystery, a bit deeper in the family stuff. Still very good, but I often find children book to hold on a bit were they could go further, children can handle it. That being said I would recommend it and would even be curious to see how the series would go on since it's the first book in a series.

[Ardyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

8yo son said he really liked it, but it took my pushing to get him to continue after the first chapter.

However, there are a *lot* of goodbyes in this book and that's an issue he's needing to process as more and more of his friends move away permanently due to COVID-related economic and travel issues which I won't delve into here. I only mention it because the catharsis of all these bookish goodbyes seems to be helping him with the ones in real life.

The mystery here isn't much of a mystery, and the family is still in their hometown. The final scene is driving away, and the sort of bittersweet feeling we all have when moving.

He liked it enough that we'll try another one in the series & see how those go. Overall, though, I would say borrow first if you can.

[Linda Klinedinst · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cute and adorable Story about a Family and their two Children. The Children are Mystery Sleuths and they solve Mysteries.

I got this Book through Book Outlet but I found out that my local Library through Evergreen I can get all of the books in the Series. I have books 2 & 3 on hold through my local Library through Evergreen Library System.

They are like Nancy Drew type books and they are easy to read - the print is in good size - Children's Size Print and there are Illustrations throughout the Books. The chapters are short and sweet and there is about 100 pages to each book.

I am not sure how many books are in this Series. I need to find this out.

I highly recommend Greetings From Somewhere Series

I give this Book 5/5 Stars

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was turned on to this series when one of my kids got one in a Book Bug box (it's like a momthly curated box of books for kids; my wife signed up the kids for the boxes), so I decided to read the series with them. We recently finished all the available Magic Tree House books, so I decided to tackle this series next. It's about twin kids whose parents are going to be taking them on travels all over the world (one of the parents is a travel writer), so they'll be having adventures, and learning words in other languages. In this one, they're preparing to leave their hometown, and lose a gold coin their grandfather gave them, so they have to search all over town to try to find it.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised that this series took the time to use this first book to set up the premise and introduce the characters without jumping straight into the travel aspect. I didn't love that the parents gave the kids too much responsibility (imo) - like packing up their own rooms and packing their own luggage. I love giving my kids responsibilities, and I always ask them to pack their own clothes for a trip, but even Emily (8yo/grade 2) will forget stuff unless we make a detailed list. The mystery was lame and impossible to figure out, but the story seemed more about saying goodbye to their friends and town.

[Lauren Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really let down by this. I bought this for struggling readers in 5th grade because they are twins and love to learn about different countries so I thought this would be a good fit. I also thought they’d have a fun time solving the mystery. This is NOT a mystery. There’s no way for the reader to try to figure out what happened through inference and clues throughout the book. Also, in the first book, the characters don’t travel anywhere. Maybe other books are better when they are in other countries...

[Maggie Panning · Rating 3 out of 5]

We just read this book in one sitting. It is a book listed in our world geography curriculum and I have heard that it is most families' least favorite in the series as it really is just an introduction to why these kids will be traveling the world and that is totally true. This book should have been twice as long and included the first location they travel to. But, we read it and despite the fact that the content was lacking, it held our attention and I will be happy to give another book in the series a shot.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure by this intro book, but it seems like this is going to be a georaphy series. Twins, Ella and Ethan are leaving the town they love to travel the world with their mother and father. Mother has a new job writing a travel column. This first book is their preparation to leave, and solving the mystery of Ethan's missing gift from his grandpa. At the easy end of the intermediate reading level.

[Stephanie P (Because My Mother Read) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this aloud with my 4.5 year old son and I thought he'd really like it, but he ended up losing interest in it pretty early on. It may be because the kids haven't left the country yet, and maybe he would enjoy the other books more since he likes learning about different places. We'll probably try again with the series a different time.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was purchased at Murder by the Book in Houston, TX and the 5 year old loved it. He said he wanted to see the characters (twin sleuths Ethan and Ella) further “travels and mysteries”.

The story was simple, the print was medium-large, and there were plenty of pictures. It’ll be a great series for once the kiddos start reading on their own.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a younger chapter book that was a mystery. I don't know that I would classify it as mystery. This might be good for kids who like twins and more realistic fiction - more of a book for kids who enjoy characters - not so much other elements. I will try to read one more in this series to see if this is something I would recommend.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, short read (listen). It's mostly setting up the concept for the rest of the series for why the kids are travelling around with their parents and solving mysteries. The audiobook length was around 36 minutes- which is the perfect length for my family to go to and from swim lessons. The book ended and my 6 year old immediately asked for the next book.

[Nam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say, I do not approve of what the parents are doing, so it made me cringe whilst I read it. It is one thing to move with children, quite another to be constantly on the road for a year or more.

[Abby Mallett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute story, but I wish the author had not relied on gender stereotypes. The brother likes soccer and won’t go near the bead store. The sister likes to write and have book clubs with her friend. It wasn’t really a mystery you could solve on your own with the book’s clues.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this series of books to Andrew while he was in 2nd grade. These books were just ok, not our top favorites, but I did love that it taught him about geography and about the country or town where the story took place.

[Sara-Zoe Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not good as a mystery series per se (none of the features of a mystery the reader could solve in any way), but a nice easy realistic chapter book. Same reading level as Kingdom of Wrenly.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, fun, and well written early reader. Great explanation of unknown vocabulary. They will be interesting to see what countries they visit in other books

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute mystery for young elementary school students.

[Parhizi2007yahoo.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic series full of vocabularies

Great book for increasing your informal vocabulary
I highly recommend it to English learners if they want to improve their speaking skills

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little mystery for beginning chapter readers.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I liked it because they looked for the gold coin where they went yesterday and it was funny” - Parker

[Erica Cizek-Vogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light, and easy new series I found to real aloud to my 6 year old twins. They like the adventures had and mysteries to solve by the main characters - who happen to be twins. 😍