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Jigsaw Jones Mystery #2
The Case of the Christmas Snowman
As the class prepares for the holidays, Jigsaw takes the case of Lucy, who has lost her father's rare coin, and the mystery means having to interview a big, tough second grader in Bigs Malone. Original.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
12 people are currently reading
271 people want to read
About the author
James Preller
201 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 17, 2018
I've read two of these recently and I hoped it wasn't overkill. I wanted to space them out more but didn't want to take the chance of the library getting rid of them.
I opened it up and was thrilled that this is the second in the entire series.
It's so charming that in every one of these there seems to be a different method of code. It's just so cool and imaginative; I know I found it that way when I was a kid.
This had mirror writing, where he wrote his message on one sheet of paper. Then he turned it over and taped it up on the mirror, putting another piece of paper over it. He traced the message, which was backward. So all Mila had to do was hold it up to a mirror.
It read: .SUB EHT NO UOY EES .ESAC GIB .ALIM
!EGASSEM SIHT YORTSED
WASGIJ--"
which read MILA. BIG CASE. SEE YOU ON THE BUS.
DESTROY THIS MESSAGE.
--JIGSAW"
The thing about these hidden messages that I've noticed in every single one I've read is that they're not actually a secret message.
I felt like this was slow to get started and not focused on the mystery. Lucy had come to him and said she lost her dad's Indian head nickel and that she'd let Bigs hold it all day and he said he'd lost it. So at school the next day they questioned him and he got all threatening, so they backed down.
And then it moved onto each kid having to buy a book and put in a bag for the grab bag presents at school, and a Christmas pizza party, and a talent show, and holiday reports. I wondered when they were going to get back to the mystery. It was interesting that they could pick any holiday their family celebrated in winter. One girl was Indian and her family celebrates the Festival of Lights and Jigsaw said it sounded like it had too much cleaning. Mila mentioned her family started buying a toy and donating it to the Salvation Army for needy kids and I was touched at the mention because I'm a bell ringer for the Salvation Army this season.
Jigsaw got the idea to just buy Lucy another nickel, figuring it couldn't cost too much. So he went to a coin shop and I found myself getting a coin collector lecture. It felt like another sidetrack and distraction from the plot, but I did find it interesting because I've collected coins since I was a kid.
Uncle Sam explained that a coin collector is called a numismatist. Most kids start with a series collection. A series collection is when you pick one coin and try to find one in every date that it was struck. Kind is when you don't care about dates and try to find every kind of a coin that's been made, like every kind of nickel.
Jigsaw was looking for a 1937D Indian head nickel that has a buffalo with only 3 legs. Uncle Sam said that coins with errors are worth a lot more. So they sell for $200-$500.
Pg 36 Some cute, interesting elements but where is the mystery? It's nowhere to be found. Hope it gets back on track.
Mila and Jigsaw were in his basement working on homework, a spelling assignment where they had to use certain words in a sentence and then choose one bonus word to use. I was wondering why we cared and why this was even in here.
They finally took action by going to Bigs' house to snoop in his room for the coin. They concocted a plan to have Mila get Bigs out of the room while Jigsaw looked around. He discovered Bigs' jacket had a hole in the pocket that something could have fallen out of.
It reminded me of what he said about the Indian religious festival of Diwali. "It sounded okay, except there was too much cleaning."
One girl in school talked about Hanukkah and her mom made latkes, and Jigsaw didn't like trying new things. "It looked like a little pancake, but she couldn't fool me. Helen said they tasted better with applesauce. Oh, brother. Even a cardboard box would taste better with applesauce."
I'm not Jewish, but I imagine that would be offensive.
Jigsaw felt bad that he lied to get into Bigs' room and Bigs had been telling the truth the whole time. They made a snowman and he didn't feel like helping Bigs when he asked, then they did more holiday reports. They had reading circle and he couldn't sit still. Then they made snowman mobiles. HELLO, what is up with the plot? Where is it?! It was more about second grade projects than a mystery and I was impatient.
Then he came to the conclusion that Lucy had given Bigs the coin when he was working on his snowman, and that's when it must have fallen out. And he noticed Bigs wasn't careful about doing things so he'd probably picked up the coin with the snow and it must be inside his snowman.
After school the three of them took apart the snowman but didn't find it. That night he thought about his spelling words and "sweep" and "find" were two of them, which made him think about the janitor who was always finding things. At least the spelling assignment had something to do with the mystery because it had seemed so random.
So he realized the janitor must have found it. They went to ask and the man kept a jar full of coins he found. At the end of the year he donates them to a charity for kids. Sure enough, it was there. Jigsaw took the $5 Lucy had paid him for the case and put it in the jar, which was random and unexpected.
I didn't like how it went down. For the talent show Jigsaw asked the teacher if he could go up and he announced to the class that he could make Lucy jump up and down and scream. Probably wouldn't mention scream if you know what I mean...or maybe my head's just always in the gutter because I read romance. Idk.
Jigsaw asked Lucy to come up and he presented her nickel. Lucy jumped up and down, and screamed, and danced, and hugged Jigsaw, Mila, and Bigs. It was a bit much for me.
Bigs had wanted to show his snowman for the talent show, but it got destroyed when they were looking for the nickel so he had nothing to show. But Jigsaw saw him talking to the teacher and they all went outside.
Bigs threw a snowball at Jigsaw but he didn't get mad, because Bigs had said he had to make a snowball in the snow and then he had to throw it. "I guess it wasn't his fault that I made a perfect target."
What? He sounds like a bully and excusing it sends a really bad message. Unless you're friends and goofing around, or you're a part of the snowball fight, no one should be throwing snowballs at you.
Ms. Gleason told them to make a snowman and that's how their last day before Christmas vacation ended. Bigs thought it was a great snowman and thanked Jigsaw, and they shook on being friends. Bigs even hugged Jigsaw. He thought "Yeesh" and that was the last line. Not the conclusive ending and wrap-up that I wanted. And I feel like the title and the cover are misleading. Jigsaw and Mila never hid behind a tree and watched Bigs build a snowman. The nickel wasn't inside the snowman, and at the end the class built a snowman but it wasn't a big deal and there were no details about it, just that it was the biggest. The book wasn't as holiday as I would have liked either. I was disappointed because I expected a more holiday tale. A book titled the Christmas Snowman should be more about a snowman. The mystery itself wasn't very mysterious. There was only ever one suspect and then once that didn't pan out the next person they checked with had the nickel and that was that.
I opened it up and was thrilled that this is the second in the entire series.
It's so charming that in every one of these there seems to be a different method of code. It's just so cool and imaginative; I know I found it that way when I was a kid.
This had mirror writing, where he wrote his message on one sheet of paper. Then he turned it over and taped it up on the mirror, putting another piece of paper over it. He traced the message, which was backward. So all Mila had to do was hold it up to a mirror.
It read: .SUB EHT NO UOY EES .ESAC GIB .ALIM
!EGASSEM SIHT YORTSED
WASGIJ--"
which read MILA. BIG CASE. SEE YOU ON THE BUS.
DESTROY THIS MESSAGE.
--JIGSAW"
The thing about these hidden messages that I've noticed in every single one I've read is that they're not actually a secret message.
I felt like this was slow to get started and not focused on the mystery. Lucy had come to him and said she lost her dad's Indian head nickel and that she'd let Bigs hold it all day and he said he'd lost it. So at school the next day they questioned him and he got all threatening, so they backed down.
And then it moved onto each kid having to buy a book and put in a bag for the grab bag presents at school, and a Christmas pizza party, and a talent show, and holiday reports. I wondered when they were going to get back to the mystery. It was interesting that they could pick any holiday their family celebrated in winter. One girl was Indian and her family celebrates the Festival of Lights and Jigsaw said it sounded like it had too much cleaning. Mila mentioned her family started buying a toy and donating it to the Salvation Army for needy kids and I was touched at the mention because I'm a bell ringer for the Salvation Army this season.
Jigsaw got the idea to just buy Lucy another nickel, figuring it couldn't cost too much. So he went to a coin shop and I found myself getting a coin collector lecture. It felt like another sidetrack and distraction from the plot, but I did find it interesting because I've collected coins since I was a kid.
Uncle Sam explained that a coin collector is called a numismatist. Most kids start with a series collection. A series collection is when you pick one coin and try to find one in every date that it was struck. Kind is when you don't care about dates and try to find every kind of a coin that's been made, like every kind of nickel.
Jigsaw was looking for a 1937D Indian head nickel that has a buffalo with only 3 legs. Uncle Sam said that coins with errors are worth a lot more. So they sell for $200-$500.
Pg 36 Some cute, interesting elements but where is the mystery? It's nowhere to be found. Hope it gets back on track.
Mila and Jigsaw were in his basement working on homework, a spelling assignment where they had to use certain words in a sentence and then choose one bonus word to use. I was wondering why we cared and why this was even in here.
They finally took action by going to Bigs' house to snoop in his room for the coin. They concocted a plan to have Mila get Bigs out of the room while Jigsaw looked around. He discovered Bigs' jacket had a hole in the pocket that something could have fallen out of.
It reminded me of what he said about the Indian religious festival of Diwali. "It sounded okay, except there was too much cleaning."
One girl in school talked about Hanukkah and her mom made latkes, and Jigsaw didn't like trying new things. "It looked like a little pancake, but she couldn't fool me. Helen said they tasted better with applesauce. Oh, brother. Even a cardboard box would taste better with applesauce."
I'm not Jewish, but I imagine that would be offensive.
Jigsaw felt bad that he lied to get into Bigs' room and Bigs had been telling the truth the whole time. They made a snowman and he didn't feel like helping Bigs when he asked, then they did more holiday reports. They had reading circle and he couldn't sit still. Then they made snowman mobiles. HELLO, what is up with the plot? Where is it?! It was more about second grade projects than a mystery and I was impatient.
Then he came to the conclusion that Lucy had given Bigs the coin when he was working on his snowman, and that's when it must have fallen out. And he noticed Bigs wasn't careful about doing things so he'd probably picked up the coin with the snow and it must be inside his snowman.
After school the three of them took apart the snowman but didn't find it. That night he thought about his spelling words and "sweep" and "find" were two of them, which made him think about the janitor who was always finding things. At least the spelling assignment had something to do with the mystery because it had seemed so random.
So he realized the janitor must have found it. They went to ask and the man kept a jar full of coins he found. At the end of the year he donates them to a charity for kids. Sure enough, it was there. Jigsaw took the $5 Lucy had paid him for the case and put it in the jar, which was random and unexpected.
I didn't like how it went down. For the talent show Jigsaw asked the teacher if he could go up and he announced to the class that he could make Lucy jump up and down and scream. Probably wouldn't mention scream if you know what I mean...or maybe my head's just always in the gutter because I read romance. Idk.
Jigsaw asked Lucy to come up and he presented her nickel. Lucy jumped up and down, and screamed, and danced, and hugged Jigsaw, Mila, and Bigs. It was a bit much for me.
Bigs had wanted to show his snowman for the talent show, but it got destroyed when they were looking for the nickel so he had nothing to show. But Jigsaw saw him talking to the teacher and they all went outside.
Bigs threw a snowball at Jigsaw but he didn't get mad, because Bigs had said he had to make a snowball in the snow and then he had to throw it. "I guess it wasn't his fault that I made a perfect target."
What? He sounds like a bully and excusing it sends a really bad message. Unless you're friends and goofing around, or you're a part of the snowball fight, no one should be throwing snowballs at you.
Ms. Gleason told them to make a snowman and that's how their last day before Christmas vacation ended. Bigs thought it was a great snowman and thanked Jigsaw, and they shook on being friends. Bigs even hugged Jigsaw. He thought "Yeesh" and that was the last line. Not the conclusive ending and wrap-up that I wanted. And I feel like the title and the cover are misleading. Jigsaw and Mila never hid behind a tree and watched Bigs build a snowman. The nickel wasn't inside the snowman, and at the end the class built a snowman but it wasn't a big deal and there were no details about it, just that it was the biggest. The book wasn't as holiday as I would have liked either. I was disappointed because I expected a more holiday tale. A book titled the Christmas Snowman should be more about a snowman. The mystery itself wasn't very mysterious. There was only ever one suspect and then once that didn't pan out the next person they checked with had the nickel and that was that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2011
We've just started reading the books in the Jigsaw Jones series of mysteries by James Preller. Our youngest really likes them; she says they remind her of the Nate the Great stories, which she also loves. This story was fairly simple and straightforward, but we liked the plot and we loved the ending. It was a fun story to read aloud and we enjoyed reading it together.
May 4, 2014
This was a fun and interesting Jigsaw Jones. The ending wasn't what you originally had anticipated at the first-middle of book. Also something I thought was nice that they ended up being friends with the 'bully' of the school room. Finding out he wasn't as bad as everyone originally thought. WAs a really nice read
June 15, 2011
It was a cool book. I love mysteries and I've read a lot of these Jigsaw Jones books. The mysteries are always so creative!
February 15, 2013
A great read! This story has Jigsaw looking for a lost coin, but in the course of finding it, he finds out more about the coin itself and I actually learned something about coins I didn't know.
November 8, 2018
I even remember anything funny in it.
February 17, 2019
A delightful story about a second grade detective solving a coin mystery
April 12, 2019
Luisa: my favorite part is when he goes to Uncle Sam's coin shop. I like it when he says "you've got it jigsaw! "
February 28, 2024
Jigsaw Jones was a detective and he was on the case of the missing coin.
December 20, 2024
This was a cute book. I love Jigsaw Jones. Someone comes to him wanting to find a lost coin and he first blames Bigs Maloney but then figures it out.
February 9, 2025
Incredible ending!
July 6, 2015
Category: Easy Reader
Genre: Fiction
Sub-genre: Contemporary Fiction/Realistic Fiction/Mystery
Interest Level: Grade Grades 2 - 5
Reading Level: Lexile 400
Brief description: Jigsaw Jones is a series in which a second grade student, Jigsaw Jones, solves cases for his peers. He has assistance from his friend, Mila, in solving the cases. In this book, a classmate has lost a valuable coin that belongs to her father
Identify at least 2 characteristics of this genre(s) and subgenre and discuss how they appear in your book: Some characteristics of early readers are longer sentences, rich vocabulary, and fewer pictures. The Case of the Missing Snowman follows the format for the early fluent readers books due to its longer sentences, richer vocabulary (detective, cartwheels, coin collection), and fewer pictures. A characteristic of realistic fiction is a setting that is or could be real. The setting of the story is December (making snowmen, wearing winter clothing). A characteristic of contemporary fiction is characters who are coping with problems. In this book, Jigsaw Jones is helping a friend find the coin she is missing that belongs to her father.
In what ways and how well does the book as a whole serve its intended audience?: The book reaches its audience (grade 2 - 5) with its sense of humor and suspense. The reader becomes intrigued to find out what will happen next. The reader also can relate to the characters because the author makes them realistic: problem solving Mila and Jigsaw, worried Lucy, bully Bigs Maloney, and helpful teacher.
(I could not find any awards or professional reviews for this book.)
Genre: Fiction
Sub-genre: Contemporary Fiction/Realistic Fiction/Mystery
Interest Level: Grade Grades 2 - 5
Reading Level: Lexile 400
Brief description: Jigsaw Jones is a series in which a second grade student, Jigsaw Jones, solves cases for his peers. He has assistance from his friend, Mila, in solving the cases. In this book, a classmate has lost a valuable coin that belongs to her father
Identify at least 2 characteristics of this genre(s) and subgenre and discuss how they appear in your book: Some characteristics of early readers are longer sentences, rich vocabulary, and fewer pictures. The Case of the Missing Snowman follows the format for the early fluent readers books due to its longer sentences, richer vocabulary (detective, cartwheels, coin collection), and fewer pictures. A characteristic of realistic fiction is a setting that is or could be real. The setting of the story is December (making snowmen, wearing winter clothing). A characteristic of contemporary fiction is characters who are coping with problems. In this book, Jigsaw Jones is helping a friend find the coin she is missing that belongs to her father.
In what ways and how well does the book as a whole serve its intended audience?: The book reaches its audience (grade 2 - 5) with its sense of humor and suspense. The reader becomes intrigued to find out what will happen next. The reader also can relate to the characters because the author makes them realistic: problem solving Mila and Jigsaw, worried Lucy, bully Bigs Maloney, and helpful teacher.
(I could not find any awards or professional reviews for this book.)
May 4, 2013
this is a story of a little detective solving a case, he need to help a girl named Lucy to find back a Indian-head nickel.I think this is a good book, and I like the mysteries, it is like I am the one who is solving the problem.
September 6, 2014
This is the second of the Jigsaw Jones books. I've managed to run across these books in order and they are fun and quick.
The best thing about these books is that they are smart, and written in the style of a hard boiled detective novel.
The best thing about these books is that they are smart, and written in the style of a hard boiled detective novel.
June 11, 2015
My favourite character was Jigsaw because he solved the mystery. There was no worst character because the worst part was started by a hole in a pocket. The worst part was when Lucy's super-special coin went missing. My favourite part was when Lucy's coin was found. Auryn 11 years old, 2015
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2011
it was a cool book.I loved it.It is the third book I've had read by Jigsaw Jones.
April 3, 2012
Every book I read I think it's awesome.
April 24, 2012
How does a snowman walk away? Read and find out!
August 5, 2012
Read with my daughter, Abby.
April 9, 2020
this book was ok because it wasn't about a snowman.
March 18, 2017
The ending of donating $5 hit my heartstrings, since Jigsaw is just a kid but still wanted to donate for other needy kids.
March 1, 2011
I thought this book was good because at the end they found the missing coin htat was in the story.
October 19, 2013
Very intresting really a good mystery book!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews