The Case of the Ghostwriter

Jigsaw Jones Mystery #10

by James Preller, James Preller, Jamie Smith (Illustrator)

Clever, funny detectives Jigsaw Jones and Mila Yeh solve mysteries in shool and out.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Juvenile

80 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

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

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

thought this would be such a cute concept, and that little ghost on the back cover sitting at the desk writing is the cutest thing! But it was a bit disappointing knowing the kids jumped to a conclusion and assumed it was a ghost when you knew that wouldn't be the case.

I always like that each book contains a new secret code. There was a space code that Mila used at the beginning, where spaces between words were in the wrong places. It was easy to read on and join letters until they formed a word and you put the whole sentence together.

Jigsaw and almost everybody else except Mila were reading this series called Creep Show by R. V. King. I could put together that it was inspired by R. L. Stine and his Goosebumps series. It was funny that Jigsaw gave his copy of the Green Wet Slime to Mila and she took it with two fingers like it was contaminated and said she'd probably hate it. But then she was so engrossed with reading it that she ended up tripping over the sprinkler in his yard because she was reading and not looking.

The rest of the class tried to figure out who it was and thought R. V. King was coming. That's what I had assumed since he was mentioned and the whole class was reading him. But a guy told them that R. V. King is a ghostwriter and they thought that meant he's a ghost! As a lover of ghost stories, I'm always disappointed when authors don't have real ghosts and their characters don't believe in ghosts and it always turns out to be a real person. It would always be much better with a real ghost!

Mila was begging him for more of the creep show books. The class had to draw their family and then gather 3 family stories to select the best to be made into a book. Jigsaw's dad reads him stories at bedtime or they lie beside each other and talk. I've never known them to be so close. Jigsaw wanted to hear again how his middle name was Andrew after his uncle. His dad sighed and he said Andrew was very sick but he got to hold Jigsaw as a baby and he'd smiled at Andrew and they gave him the name to honor his brother. His dad cried and Jigsaw hugged him and didn't want him to be sad. These books have never been serious or emotional so it felt like I was reading something else entirely. I'd prefer them to just be funny and lighthearted and not try to tackle moments like this because it was jarring.

They went to ask Frank, the bookstore owner, if he knew anything about R. V. King and he gave them the author's phone number. And when the author didn't answer, he offered to drive them to his house! What?! How do you know that and why would you give out someone's personal information?
They arrived at a house flocked with flamingoes and discovered the author is a woman, not a man, and she keeps a cockatoo on her shoulder and wears roller skates. Are authors seen as cooky? She writes under a false name.

I expected Jigsaw's story to be about the name Andrew and how his uncle had died, but it was when Andrew was a kid and got his head stuck between the railings. No word on how Andrew died. I thought that was going to be answered since it was brought up.
Jigsaw and Mila knew who the author was going to be, and didn't tell anyone else, claiming they hadn't solved the mystery. Naturally I expected it to be Serena since her identity was revealed. But in a surprise, the tea with authors was really all the students and their books. Families came to visit but Ms. Gleason considered them to be authors now who'd written and illustrated their own books. Jigsaw's mom had made a comment about him being a real, live author so that's what tipped him off to the identity of the author, but Mila also knew and Jigsaw never told her so Idk how she figured it out. That wasn't clear or explained. Ms. Gleason also said they were published authors, which wasn't right because they're not published. They just typed them up and printed them out.

This one was disappointing. The cover is really misleading because Jigsaw and Mila look they're investigating and old house with a really interactive portrait of Shakespeare, and they did no such thing. That scene is completely made up and looks way exciting and the book isn't like that. There were a handful of funny quotes, more humor than usual, which was nice. But overall I didn't like that the big tea with an author event turned out to be the kid authors.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, their teacher is going to have a secret author come. They have to all make books to show how good they are at being authors. So they all want to know who the secret author is. They ask Jigsaw to do the case. So, he goes to an author's house that they think is a ghost. They find out that it's really just a woman who's the author! The rest of the children think the author is a ghost! The day of the secret author, Jigsaw hadn't solved the mystery yet! But Jigsaw thought he had. But when it was time, Jigsaw's teacher said, "Parents. The secret author is already here. All of these children are wonderful authors!" It was a fun surprise.

[Stephanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always looking for books to recommend to parents where kids are curious and safe. I love mysteries and want to share them with children but my biggest issue is when the characters run off and do something dangerous like follow the thief or go into an abandoned house. But this book has none of those things. I highly recommend.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

do you ever read your favorite book from 2nd grade and realize that you've always been the same person

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it because Jigsaw thought it was a ghost, but she was a woman. My favorite part was that Jigsaw thought it was a boy, but she was a girl. Jigsaw's teacher brought the "ghost" to school.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and satisfying read about the power of stories and writing!

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this Jigsaw Jones book; the class is encouraged to talk with family members and write their own stories about their families...funny stories, family stories, etc. And all the while the class hire Jigsaw to find out about a 'ghost' writer that will be coming to the class at the end of the week. Is it really a 'ghost'? This book was very nicely written, with twists in the storyline the end isn't what you think it will be.

[Mccall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that the mystery was challenging to figure out.

[kristabista · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was a good book. I liked it very much!

[Lolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was too easy

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

a person who liked stuff like this would like it.

[Madelyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book because i liked the part where they found out the ghost writer wasn't real, and they thought it was R.V. King but it wasn't. That was so tricky!

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 53077 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 2.9 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP