What do you think?
Rate this book
A to Z Mysteries #24
The X'ed-out X-ray
Help Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solve mysteries from A to Z!
Kids love collecting the entire alphabet and super editions! With over 8 million copies in print, the A to Z Mysteries® have been hooking chapter book readers on mysteries and reading for years. Now this classic kid favorite is back with a bright new look!
X is for X-Ray . . . X marks the spot! When the kids go to a concert, Dink injures his arm. At the same time, the singer’s diamond necklace is stolen. Are the two mishaps connected? And could Dink’s X-ray have the answers? It’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to examine the evidence!
Kids love collecting the entire alphabet and super editions! With over 8 million copies in print, the A to Z Mysteries® have been hooking chapter book readers on mysteries and reading for years. Now this classic kid favorite is back with a bright new look!
X is for X-Ray . . . X marks the spot! When the kids go to a concert, Dink injures his arm. At the same time, the singer’s diamond necklace is stolen. Are the two mishaps connected? And could Dink’s X-ray have the answers? It’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to examine the evidence!
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
296 people are currently reading
840 people want to read
About the author
Ron Roy
249 books387 followersRon Roy has been writing books for children since 1974. He is the author of dozens of books, including the popular A to Z Mysteries®, Calendar Mysteries, and Capital Mysteries. When not working on a new book, Ron likes to teach tricks to his dog Pal, play poker with friends, travel, and read thrilling mystery books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
December 30, 2014
When friends Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose go to Penelope Guinn's concert, Dink hurts his arm and the singer's penguin pendant is stolen. Can they solve the mystery of who took the pendant and what is up with Dink's X-ray and why it was X'ed-out? Read this book and see.
This was a pretty good Young adult mystery novel. I enjoyed checking this book out. If you like mysteries, def check it out.
This was a pretty good Young adult mystery novel. I enjoyed checking this book out. If you like mysteries, def check it out.
December 17, 2009
Our girls love the A to Z Mysteries and we are a little sad that we only have two books to go. They are fun stories, though a bit contrived at times. This is an interesting story, filled with some intrigue, a burglary, and excitement, but it wasn't our favorite. Our girls really enjoy the main characters, Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose, and we will miss them when we finish the series.
July 1, 2010
I think Ron Roy is an amazing writer. This was not one of his greatest books but it was still a nice read. Its about Dink "breaking" his arm when they go to a concert. Mysteriously at the time where Dink was getting he arm raped up the singer lost her pricless neacklace. You'll have to read to find out what happens
June 11, 2010
when dink fell of the merry go round and sprains his arm also at thatyime penelope gwinns penguin neckless is stolen at that same time. dr.fleming is not the real dr.fleming stels the neckless and hides it in his cast. at the end penelpe gets her neckless back
Read
November 26, 2025bro when I tell you this was my childhood fr
January 31, 2010
(Don't forget my kid-lit blog as well; it's at http://kidlit4adults.blogspot.com .)
A friend has convinced me to try my hand this year at writing children's literature; but I don't actually know anything about children's literature, so am starting the process simply by reading a large selection of titles that have been recommended to me. I've been told that these, the "A to Z Mysteries" by Ron Roy (a 26-book series, each named after a different letter in the alphabet) are among the most popular "chapter books" these days among the elementary-school readers they're designed for (so in other words, aged roughly 7 to 10); and indeed, after reading three of them myself (U, X and Y), I can see that they touch on nearly every piece of advice I've now been given regarding writing for this age group, including a strong sense of humor, a quickly-paced but not too complicated storyline, lots of action and mystery, many scenes set in a school environment, and sentences that average around ten words. (Note, however, that these books don't adhere to one piece of advice I've been given, to concentrate on the ways that boys and girls interact at that age; although the three-person team of friends at the center of our tales is co-ed, they essentially all act the same, and eschew relationships with other children mostly to instead interrogate adults regarding the latest mystery they're trying to solve.) In fact, I was surprised by just how old-fashioned and even fuddy-duddy these stories sometimes are, given their immense popularity, happy proof that you don't nearly need to know about all the latest children's fads in order to write books that will appeal to them; they take place in a small middle-class pedestrian-oriented "Leave It To Beaver"esque town where even cellphones barely exist, and except for a few references to the internet could easily be mistaken for the chapter books from the 1950s and '60s that I grew up on.
As is typical for this age group, the "mystery" behind each story is pretty easily solvable, and is used mostly as an excuse to teach the rational problem-solving process of observation, interviews, and logical deduction; and as is typical of many authors for this age group, Roy often uses these stories to emphasize non-controversial moral lessons (i.e. "Lying is bad"), and also I think does an admirable job at adding as much diversity as possible to his admittedly white-bread environment. Each book is around 10,000 words altogether, broken into a dozen or so chapters, and contains dozens of illustrations* by John Steven Gurney.
*And P.S., not that this matters, but there was an aspect of these books that re-awakened an old complaint of mine from when I was in grade school and actually reading such books myself -- namely, the fact that the covers are done in a lush, full-color, photorealistic style, while the interior illustrations are monotonally cartoonish to the level of a typical newspaper comic strip, something I always considered a "bait & switch" scam when I was an actual kid. Although I could care less as a grown-up (and indeed, as a grown-up now understand why such a thing is done in the first place), I found it funny that these books could make a long-forgotten thirty-year-old memory re-emerge like that so profoundly.
A friend has convinced me to try my hand this year at writing children's literature; but I don't actually know anything about children's literature, so am starting the process simply by reading a large selection of titles that have been recommended to me. I've been told that these, the "A to Z Mysteries" by Ron Roy (a 26-book series, each named after a different letter in the alphabet) are among the most popular "chapter books" these days among the elementary-school readers they're designed for (so in other words, aged roughly 7 to 10); and indeed, after reading three of them myself (U, X and Y), I can see that they touch on nearly every piece of advice I've now been given regarding writing for this age group, including a strong sense of humor, a quickly-paced but not too complicated storyline, lots of action and mystery, many scenes set in a school environment, and sentences that average around ten words. (Note, however, that these books don't adhere to one piece of advice I've been given, to concentrate on the ways that boys and girls interact at that age; although the three-person team of friends at the center of our tales is co-ed, they essentially all act the same, and eschew relationships with other children mostly to instead interrogate adults regarding the latest mystery they're trying to solve.) In fact, I was surprised by just how old-fashioned and even fuddy-duddy these stories sometimes are, given their immense popularity, happy proof that you don't nearly need to know about all the latest children's fads in order to write books that will appeal to them; they take place in a small middle-class pedestrian-oriented "Leave It To Beaver"esque town where even cellphones barely exist, and except for a few references to the internet could easily be mistaken for the chapter books from the 1950s and '60s that I grew up on.
As is typical for this age group, the "mystery" behind each story is pretty easily solvable, and is used mostly as an excuse to teach the rational problem-solving process of observation, interviews, and logical deduction; and as is typical of many authors for this age group, Roy often uses these stories to emphasize non-controversial moral lessons (i.e. "Lying is bad"), and also I think does an admirable job at adding as much diversity as possible to his admittedly white-bread environment. Each book is around 10,000 words altogether, broken into a dozen or so chapters, and contains dozens of illustrations* by John Steven Gurney.
*And P.S., not that this matters, but there was an aspect of these books that re-awakened an old complaint of mine from when I was in grade school and actually reading such books myself -- namely, the fact that the covers are done in a lush, full-color, photorealistic style, while the interior illustrations are monotonally cartoonish to the level of a typical newspaper comic strip, something I always considered a "bait & switch" scam when I was an actual kid. Although I could care less as a grown-up (and indeed, as a grown-up now understand why such a thing is done in the first place), I found it funny that these books could make a long-forgotten thirty-year-old memory re-emerge like that so profoundly.
December 24, 2008
A fun little mystery for kids, where the thief is the one not suspected until the last minute. The kid-detectives use realistic methods to get clues, and are able to catch the culprit with the help of their policeman-friend.
July 9, 2009
Ah, yes....I do enjoy the A to Z mysteries...and I'm not a mystery person. This book started out great--a concert, three kids, everyone dressed up in costume--and ended up a real puzzler that could not be solved until the ending.
December 19, 2010
A cute little mystery for 2nd/3rd graders. The series would be an excellent introduction to the mystery genre for that age.
July 16, 2021
I saw someone in one of my reading groups was doing the ABC Reading challenge and, since I finished all my reading challenges over a month ago, decided to give it a try too, I decided to give this one a try. However, I could not find a book beginning with X that I hadn't read or had any interest in reading. One list had this series on as an option so I chose this one because I used to read these with my daughter and I felt nostalgic. Of course, I pretty much guessed the mystery just by reading the title but it was still fun to take a stroll down memory lane with Dink and friends. Cute series for young readers.
February 28, 2021
I asked my son to pick out one of the A to Z Mysteries that he thought I would like. He chose this one and told me "things are not as they seem." Good little mystery book and perfect for kids 7-10 years old.
May 16, 2017
loved it and the way they solve mistries
August 6, 2025
this one was a good one in the series so far.
April 16, 2008
You can read my thoughts here.
November 1, 2024
When Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose go to a Penelope Gwinn concert, they expect to have a lot of fun. Penelope's fans are all "Penguins"--so dressing up like the black and white birds is part of the whole concert experience. There will be good music and good food at the concessions stand--all shared with good friends. Who knew there'd also be a good mystery to solve?
At intermission, the kids go to the carnival-style area for snacks and fun. There's a carousel to ride and when they hear a shout and see a crowd gather, Dink kneels on his green dragon for a better look. And promptly falls off the carousel and hurts his arm. This sends him to the medic's tent where Dr. Fleming wraps his arm and tells him he needs to come and have his arm x-rayed.
Meanwhile, a thief, posing as an ardent fan in search of an autograph, has stolen Penelope's diamond penguin necklace. That's what all the hub-bub was about. The rest of the concert is cancelled and even though everyone is searched as they leave the grounds there is no sign of the stolen necklace. Given what they saw just before and during intermission, the kids think they have a few clues to follow. Will they be able to get the missing penguin back to Penelope?
This was a fun chapter-book mystery. The plot isn't terribly complicated, but I didn't expect it to be. Also unexpected was the nifty map of the small town where Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose live that can be found at the front of the book. Very cute and reminiscent of Golden Age mystery maps. It would have been even more so if it had been specifically of the Bushnell Park area where the mystery takes place. I also enjoyed the way the kids reasoned their way through the clues. A very nicely plotted mystery for the intended age group and I would expect kids to enjoy it even more than I did.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
At intermission, the kids go to the carnival-style area for snacks and fun. There's a carousel to ride and when they hear a shout and see a crowd gather, Dink kneels on his green dragon for a better look. And promptly falls off the carousel and hurts his arm. This sends him to the medic's tent where Dr. Fleming wraps his arm and tells him he needs to come and have his arm x-rayed.
Meanwhile, a thief, posing as an ardent fan in search of an autograph, has stolen Penelope's diamond penguin necklace. That's what all the hub-bub was about. The rest of the concert is cancelled and even though everyone is searched as they leave the grounds there is no sign of the stolen necklace. Given what they saw just before and during intermission, the kids think they have a few clues to follow. Will they be able to get the missing penguin back to Penelope?
This was a fun chapter-book mystery. The plot isn't terribly complicated, but I didn't expect it to be. Also unexpected was the nifty map of the small town where Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose live that can be found at the front of the book. Very cute and reminiscent of Golden Age mystery maps. It would have been even more so if it had been specifically of the Bushnell Park area where the mystery takes place. I also enjoyed the way the kids reasoned their way through the clues. A very nicely plotted mystery for the intended age group and I would expect kids to enjoy it even more than I did.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
April 27, 2018
I can give a pass that a child might not know how a broken arm works, but a parent would probably have noticed something way off.
- x-ray immediately? What about needed to wait a few days for swelling to go down?
- or what about the child not screaming so probably not broken at all?
Then the main clue:
- x-ray immediately? What about needed to wait a few days for swelling to go down?
- or what about the child not screaming so probably not broken at all?
Then the main clue:
December 16, 2018
This is another cute story about three friends working together to solve a mystery that occurs while they're living their daily lives. As always, the kids demonstrate healthy relationships with each other and with the adults in their lives. Two things that I especially liked in this book were how well Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose worked together to solve this mystery and how quick they were to give each other the credit for solving the mystery. I am sad that I'm almost at the end of this series.
February 28, 2019
I love this book. In fact, i love all good mystery books. But this isn’t some cheap knock off mystery book that took 2 hours to write, It’s actually a good mystery book. I only figured the mystery out after the halfway mark! It’s a unique mystery and its a lot of fun to read. I recommend this book and the rest of this series to anybody who likes that chill that goes down your spine when you figure out who did it. I like how the author made the ending and the confession come out clean.
May 8, 2019
Read these books when I was a kid and greatly enjoyed them, figured I'd give them a second read for kicks.
I certainly recommend any young mysteries fan devote time to this series, it's certainly a grand adventure for a young mind, the imagery of Ron Roy's words and his settings and unique character descriptions and personalities really help kids imagine a whole movie in their heads as they read each exciting page.
I certainly recommend any young mysteries fan devote time to this series, it's certainly a grand adventure for a young mind, the imagery of Ron Roy's words and his settings and unique character descriptions and personalities really help kids imagine a whole movie in their heads as they read each exciting page.
February 18, 2021
I thought this one was pretty clever. My daughter (6) and I read this in two sittings. She would have loved to read it in one, but it was bedtime. I have read a bunch of these with my daughter (all out of order). She loves them.
I have to say, I'm always wanting to know more about the criminals. These books seem to really condemn the villains. Surely, some of these crooks deserve a little more compassion. The thief in this one lived in a ramshackle house. I felt kind of bad for him, living in poverty, committing crimes to achieve his dreams. But before I could find out his motivations, it was off to the slammer. I'm not saying stealing and trickery should be overlooked but everybody deserves a bit of understanding.
I have to say, I'm always wanting to know more about the criminals. These books seem to really condemn the villains. Surely, some of these crooks deserve a little more compassion. The thief in this one lived in a ramshackle house. I felt kind of bad for him, living in poverty, committing crimes to achieve his dreams. But before I could find out his motivations, it was off to the slammer. I'm not saying stealing and trickery should be overlooked but everybody deserves a bit of understanding.
May 11, 2019
A trio of friends encounter another mystery after winning tickets to a Penelope Gwinn (a.k.a. Penguin) concert. Her diamond necklace is stolen, and Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose think they may have seen the culprit.
Yes, I read this because I needed an "X" for an A-Z reading challenge, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is an engaging lower middle grade mystery series.
Yes, I read this because I needed an "X" for an A-Z reading challenge, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is an engaging lower middle grade mystery series.
June 20, 2022
A to Z is one of my favorite series so mostly I would love it.And amazing book I think this is one of my favorite A to Z book. Now Dink Josh and Ruth Rose are having an excellent time at pentolope Glen concert. But during intermission Dink injured his arm at the same time the singer's diamond necklace is stolen .Could the two mishaps be connected who knows read the book to find out.
September 12, 2023
The book wasn't bad, but I didn't find it enjoyable. I listened to the audiobook, and didn't particularly like the narrator. And I found the plot to be silly.
I think the reason I didn't like the book is because i didn't truly want to read it, but rather just because the title starts with an X, which I needed to complete an A to Z reading challenge.
I think the reason I didn't like the book is because i didn't truly want to read it, but rather just because the title starts with an X, which I needed to complete an A to Z reading challenge.
December 31, 2023
4.5/5 I like how much detective work the kids do! It feels advanced for them, but at the same time, Ron Roy writes them in a non-condescending way. The adults take time to hear them out and also believe them. The only issue I have is it's not clear how the officer got hold of the pendant from the perp.
August 14, 2020
Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose attend a rock concert, but during intermission the star's necklace pendant is stolen, and Dink injures his arm when he falls off a carousel. These two seemingly different events takes the trio on the hunt for the missing diamond.
December 24, 2024
A fun little mystery for kids, where the thief is the one not suspected until the last minute. The kid-detectives use realistic methods to get clues, and are able to catch the culprit with the help of their policeman-friend.
May 16, 2017
i love the book and loved this one to
August 21, 2017
slam it!
What is under the x? Egg? Read the x-ray for a x on the x-ray for a x on the x-ray
What is under the x? Egg? Read the x-ray for a x on the x-ray for a x on the x-ray
December 3, 2017
I just love Penguins!
December 23, 2017
Fun mystery
Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews