Mystery on Constitution Island

by Maggie Felsch, Jenny Phillips

Genres: History, Read For School, Mystery, School

151 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Alexa Tweedt]

The 5 star reviews are from people who give all books 5 stars or are homeschool weirdos who never learned anything, such as how to identify good books.

It has a horrible plot! The family gets stranded on an island and splits up with no explanation of how they got the food they are eating when just a paragraph before, the mom was worried they were going to starve and was wondering how to get food. The characters are over sappy and so dumb that they can’t solve simple riddles. A mysterious note is left behind that threatens them, and they all forget about it. Also, the ending was terrible. The only thing that made it bearable was that our mom read it aloud to us (4 kids, from 10-17yrs) and literally made up changes to the story on spot.

[Melinda]

This did not benefit the constitution class it was written for at all. It was so cheesy and unrealistic. The parts that did mention government were just part of characters’ conversations rather than being part of an interesting plot. (stuff like, “See the three branches on the tree? That makes me think of the three branches of government!” 🙄🙄) I would have stopped reading, except my kids had fun re-writing their own plots.

I recommend just doing the classes without this book.

[kendall₊ ⊹]

I read this along with my US Constitution and Government studies from The Good and the Beautiful. It was just a companion book with the studies and I found it really cringy and dumb.

[Sashafenton]

This book is a companion to the US government and constitution class homeschool curriculum by The Good and the Beautiful. The curriculum is fantastic and seems to be for kids 12+ but this book is very basic and seems to be written for 6-8 year olds. It was a cute story, everything worked out perfectly all the time so it wasn’t intense at all. The mother is portrayed as weak and full of anxiety, scared all the time. I didn’t like that. All in all, it’s a cute book for 6-8 year olds. I think a more in-depth and engaging should be written for kids age 12+ who take the Government class :)

[Marcia]

This was way too dorky. A family stranded and starving on an island spends most of their time solving riddles about the US constitution. Maybe second graders could be smart enough to understand the history stuff and dumb enough to not question all the poor choices the family makes, maybe.

[Tonya]

If I could give this book 0 stars, I would. I read this to my sons as part of their government class, and I would dread each day that required a chapter from this book. If it wasn't a part of the curriculum, we would have stopped after the first chapter. The writing was so forced and clunky. The story itself was so awful. There's no way a family would be stranded on an island, lose their boat with no supplies, the dad breaks an ankle, and the family still searches for a treasure. It's so unfortunate that this book was so terrible, because the curriculum that used this book was amazing. If you have to read this book for the US Constitution course from the Good and the beautiful, I highly recommend that you skip it. I think you could make the class work without it.

[Bobby-Kimberly Beason]

My 10 year old loved this book. The characters likable and the mystery intriguing enough to keep him wanting one more chapter. We learned a lot about the constitution and memorable people leading up to its creation. A very good resource for homeschool and education.

[Nicole Thomas]

3.5 stars. I read this to my kids for their history curriculum. They really liked it & it was a good way to teach about the constitution.

[Colette]

Read-aloud. This book is part of a curriculum, and includes audio biographies throughout. You can’t really read it without them, or without the other parts of the curriculum, either.

The book was okay. The kids liked it. I found it annoying because it was written with a clear lesson to teach. That makes it okay for teaching the lesson, but not good as a story. There were so many times as I was reading that I wanted to put it away. Didactic books like this are not good literature. I appreciate what the author was trying to do, but it felt dumbed-down. I don’t agree that that is what kids need for learning to take place.

[Breanne Ludwig]

Great book with a lot of educational information in a fun mystery

[Sara Miller]

We read this with our constitution class. The kids all enjoyed it and we learned a lot.

[Scott]

This was a fun way for the kids to learn about the Constitution and some important figures from American history.

[Mossey]

Awful 😭😭😭 and I’m a huge reader, it was part of my good and beautiful curriculum. This started my reading slump ngllllll

[ETHAN KING]

Very clean, no improper humor or even mild exclamations. I appreciate when books are entirely clean of phrases like, "OMG" and "darn" since they are unnecessary in children's literature, and any literature for that matter.

The characters in this book demonstrated strong faith and practiced prayer while referencing the bible often. It wasn't forced (many Christian authors force such references into their books, which is GREAT... but then not so great...)

This book, which went along with a U. S. Constitution homeschool curriculum, was FANTASTIC!!! I hated having to wait so long to finish it since I read the chapters one at a time while completing the curriculum, but this was still a fun story.

It kept me motivated to keep on going with the curriculum since I was excited to read the next chapter of this book. I loved the suspense!

Overall, I don't know why this book got so many bad reviews. I will be commenting on ALL of them because many of them are simply untrue. ***SHAKES MY HEAD***

Definitely a 5 STAR READ THROUGH AND THROUGH

[Hila]

3.75 rounded

The story follows a family in Maine who learn about a treasure hunt their ancestor, Grandpa Bailey, left for them on the family island. They decide to go camping on the island and search, but things don't go to plan, and the family loses their boat and gets separated. They continue to follow the clues, though, and come to a fascinating discovery as they learn about The Constitution of the United States.

We enjoyed this book as a family. It was my kids' favorite part of the history class 😂. I can't say it was outstanding literature, but i feel like it was a fun way to add to what they were already learning in the lessons. And they were engaged while listening, which is the best way to learn anything: by being interested.

[Lisa]

I liked the resourcefulness of the family, especially the mom. I liked that the family worked together.

My 10 year old liked the dog, the adventure, the mom, and that there was an unexpected outcome at the end.

It is definitely not a stand-alone book. You have to use it with the biographies' audio recordings, which alternate with the chapters and are part of the course lessons.

Honestly, I'm glad the book is over. We stretched the semester unit over a school year, which was wonderful for the course but not so much for this book. Next time, I'd have this as an individual read, not a group audio stretched the length of the course.

[KerryT]

This book is part of a new homeschool curriculum that is so popular right now. So although this is a children’s chapter book, it is filled with history, with a cleverly done treasure hunt that makes it more interesting. I had a hard time getting into this book but after a while, it got better….. If I were a homeschool mom this book would be part of our history lesson…whether as a read aloud or assigned reading. This is a faith based story but for anyone not part of their religion…. there are no doctrinal issues written. They pray to God to help them…they thank God….etc.

[Jessica Heath]

This book is a companion to an excellent homeschool course on the Constitution of the United States. The constitution course easily gets 5 stars, and this book is what propelled me forward through the (sometimes difficult to read) Constitution. It had an engaging plot, although I did find it hard to believe that no one appeared to be looking for the family after they had been lost for several days.

[Boden Fenton]

I liked how it teaches about the constitution, but the story is very dry. I didn’t like how they got the riddles right on their first try every time. And when there is suspense(who is the other person on the island?) it just turned out to be stupid in the end. -the person is really Dad’s cousin-
This book teaches a lot but wasn’t really worth my time

[Andrea]

This was such an amazing addition to the US Constitution unit from The Good and The Beautiful. It helped make complex topics more understandable and interesting to all of us! Suspense, mystery, survival, and history all wrapped up in one book! So cool!

[Carrie Adolph]

This was part of the constitution course from the good and the beautiful and it was very well done! We really enjoyed following along in this journey as it complimented reading the actual documents and biographies of our founders!

[Rodger]

The book seemed contrived to fit a specific progression of teaching points about the US Constitution. It was good as part of the homeschool Constitution unit, but didn't seem genuinely believable as a story.

[Amber]

We read this in conjunction with our US Constitution curriculum this year and loved both the book and the curriculum.

(full disclaimer: I think the book would be confusing and cheesy as a stand alone- need the biographies and additional curriculum to make it engaging)

[Ruth Hansen]

I love reading books that make history come alive. Mystery in Constitution Island helps you get to know more about the finding fathers, the Constitution, the bill of rights, and the government in an engaging way.

[Beth]

Fun to read as part of a government class we took.

[Ashley Jewett]

My children absolutely loved this book with the US Constitution and Government course. It was a perfect addition to make the course fun and exciting for them!

[Kerri]

This was adorable. It went great with the rest of the lessons. The biographies also from the good and the beautiful all tied together to make studying the constitution much easier for the kiddos.

[Gabrielle Mcj]

My 11 year old liked it. We did it as a read aloud to accompany our US Constitution and Government course.

[Amber]

This was my second attempt to read this book to my kids, and we all agreed it was torture.

[Elissa]

My kids loved this book! What a fun way to learn more about the founding of our country!