The Lucky Lottery

A to Z Mysteries #12

by Ron Roy, John Steven Gurney (Illustrator)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Alphabet mysteries don't just happen to the A to Z gang--they can happen to anybody. But only super sleuths know how to gather evidence and figure them out.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Chapter Books, Audiobook, Middle Grade, Juvenile

86 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2000

About the author

Ron 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.

Reviews

[Olivia Collins]

Dink and his pals Josh and Ruth Rose solve mysteries in the fun and wacky new series for the Stepping Stone line. When Dink writes to his favorite mystery writer, Wallis Wallace, inviting him to visit Green Lawn, he's amazed when the author accepts. But when the big day arrives, Wallace is nowhere to be found. The police think he's just missed the plane--but Dink suspects foul play

[Dolly]

This is one of the least plausible stories in the A to Z Mysteries series. It's a fun and exciting tale, but not very realistic. And the word play with one of the characters in the story (Dorothy "Dot" Calm) is just plain silly.

Reading about skiing and snow storms in New England was pretty refreshing as we sweated in the heat in Hawaii in August; you couldn't quite imagine the snow, but at least it didn't seem so hot!

In any case, our girls love these stories and we are slowly working our way through the alphabet.

[Christine]

Another good mystery.

[Rick Christiansen]

They deserved way more recognition and at least 10% in the end

[Kat V]

Really? Dot Calm? Sigh. Maybe it was funny when it was written. Very cheesy. Didn’t love it. 2.8 stars

[Dallas Otigba]

The book Lucky Lottery is a very good book. This book is about 3 children named Dink, Josh , and Roth Rose and they have won the lottery but not yet they have found out that the lottery ticket is stolen but luckily they catch the crook ,and this time it is a woman, and she gets put to justice. This book changed my prospective of stealers. Although i didn't like them before now even worse.

[Angela]

This is my favorite A to Z Mystery.

Ron Roy dropped a lot of misleading clues which made the mystery even better to solve!

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken]

Eleanor says: this book was sweet at the end when the bad guy was caught and Lucky got his ticket back.

[Jackie]

I read this with my first-grade daughter, and she absolutely loved it. The story follows a mystery that builds over the course of the book, with the characters trying to piece together clues and figure out who was responsible. It kept her guessing—and very invested—right up until the mystery was solved.

I especially appreciated the reading level. The language was easy and natural for me to read aloud to a first grader, but also accessible enough that my daughter could read portions herself.

The plot was also more involved than many of the other chapter books she enjoys, such as Princess Magnolia, The Good Dog, or the Pet Fairies books. Rather than each chapter feeling relatively self-contained, there was a continuing storyline with clues and developments that she had to remember and follow. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed that.

It also turned out to be a great book for working on reading comprehension. Before we started the next chapter or set of chapters, we would recap what had happened previously, talk through the clues, and try to predict what might happen next. It gave us an easy and fun way to practice remembering details, sequencing events, and following a more complicated plot without making it feel like schoolwork.

The book kept her on the edge of her seat until they finally figured out who had done it.

This isn't the first book in the series—we happened to find this one for a great price at a resale shop—but that wasn't a problem at all. We were able to pick it up and jump right into the story without having read any of the earlier books.

We will definitely be looking for more books in the series.

[Blue]

Bad.

- Nate, Ruth's brother, gets to play but it seems the author forgot Josh has twin siblings, not just a dog.
- Not a single thought was given to looking at the security footage for the person behind Hector, nor purchase proof of ticket, only for the bowling team name. There was NOTHING about the footage going missing or getting erased either, which could have added tension.
- Not one thought was given to the old people having a child or grandchild to tell (conspiratorially or casually) who would in turn have been capable of commiting the theft.
- When Josh draws the face of the suspect, there are zero questions or comments on face shape - a huge part of getting a likeness.
- Why did Ruth have 3 kid-sized skis? There would have been two small sets, and two large sets, as she only has one sibling.
- "Dot Com" might have been a cute name in print, but it was dumb and annoying in audio.
- The author used a trail two books in a row now (yellow glass in K, now the silver bowties). Those also ought to have been a bigger clue, either them being gum wrappers would have been obvious, or they would have seen them getting folded when they were talking to the person who made them.
- The proof/confession ought to have been "I did not leave prints - I wore gloves," not Hector's fingerprints on the ticket which is dumb and unnecessary - she could claim he gave it to her as a gift and Hector is denying that he did just because it won big.

[Sydney]

Genre: Fiction
Grade Level: Middle School (4-5)

This book is about a boy named Lucky who is not so lucky and gets his winning lottery ticket stolen. I honestly thought this book was very slow as the plot of this chapter was drawn out over many chapters. However, I did like that I was able to play detective and try to piece together the clues throughout the story to try and figure out who the thief was. I think that any child that is interested in mystery novels will also enjoy that aspect. In my opinion, I think that this story would only be interesting to read around Christmas time because that is when the story takes place. I also really liked how there were some illustrations on the pages. I think that helps children better visualize what they are reading. Overall, I would give this book 3 stars.

[Ardae Perry]

This book is about a book named Dink who received a Lottery Ticket for Christmas. He had a grandfather who did it annually. The lottery numbers were their birthdays. For an example my birthday is 12/01/2008. In that case, the numbers that would be on mine is 1201. So he bought the ticket and gave it to him but this time, he won. When he went to try to redeem the ticket his ticket was stolen. There were 3 people involved his family, friends, and the store clerk Dot. In the snow on their school break time they decided to dedicate time with the police to find his ticket. The ticket was for over 4 million dollars. Soon after dedication and hard work investigating they traced it back to the store clerk and she was arrested and DInk became a very and thoroughly happy rich man. He shared with many.

[Alison]

(4.5 stars due to disagreement between the kids)

My six-year-old daughter says:
I liked it because one of their friends lost a lottery ticket and helped him get it back.

My four-year-old son says:
Same thing as my sister. ALL FIVE STARS! I liked it the best.

Mom said:
This one was a bit more slow for me. However, as a former English major, I'd like to say that this one has a very strong sense of place and setting. The blizzard, deep snow, and cold throughout this book was well written all things considered!

[Cheryl Gladfelter]

I check out the audiobook collections of four A to Z Mysteries because the kids, especially the oldest (6), love them.

The 4-year-old is hooked on The Lucky Lottery (we abbreviated the title to Lucky Lotto, which the 6-year-old keeps saying "that's not the title!!"). At about 57 minutes long, we usually end up listening to half the story on the way to (or from) daycare, and then the other half next time.

I am not exaggerating when I say we have listened to this story over and over and over again. Will she get tired of it?

Picture Lohan in Mean Girls: the limit does not exist.

[Paige]

WM: I give it 2 stars. It was not as good as the others. It was not as mysterious for me.


Me: I really enjoyed this one for some reason. It has definitely stuck out in my mind. maybe the fact the ticket was worth so much, and the kids helped a family in need. It was all about service versus getting something out it and they never even thought about taking it for themselves. Ron Roy, you are amazing for this book and what it stands for. I hope kids read it and are inspired to do the same for others.

[Jacquie]

OK, honestly for me personally I thought this book was a bit cheesy, but it was read with my 8 year old daughter and she enjoyed it so that's what counts. She liked the silly names like Dot Calm and the clues that were left around. Once she put everything together she figured out who the real thief was and enjoyed getting to play detective as she read. Yes, it is set in a Christmas time setting, but we didnt care.........it's a book!!!

[Kenzie Garvin]

As many other people do, I to dreaming about winning the lottery, that is why this book caught my attention. I wondered about the mystery behind these kids gaining the winning lottery ticket and what they wished to do with the money. The A to Z Mysteries series is a great way for children to become a part of solving a mystery while following children around similar in age. This particular book allows students to think about how they would spend or share the money they won, considering possible charities to donate to rather than spend the money on themselves.

[Simon]

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.

[Brenda]

You have to let go of any sense of reality when reading these books. I know they're just kids books, but I would like to give kids more credit than this. The fact that this insanely large sum of money was on the line, and the person called three kids to help them is more than ridiculous. I know, that's the whole point of these books, that the kids are solving mysteries. It's just that this one seemed not something you would leave up to kids. I mean, 7 million dollars. Seriously.

[Dominique]

I would be so mad if someone took my lottery ticket. I would go out to try and find the culprit right away because I would not want to wait because the culprit would have time to cash in the money for himself.

[Nam]

I was a bit worried about reading one about the lottery. Ron Roy made me really care about the winner, though. I hope Lucky uses some of the money to help his family and maybe buys his grandfather a nice gift.

[Amanda]

Interesting enough for the intended audience. Not very realistic. Loved the description of an atrium for young readers. Enjoyed the friendship between Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. Thought Dot Calm was a fun, if outdated, name.
Safe, clean children's book.

[Karen]

Luisa: I like that Josh was trying to draw a picture of Ruth Rose with a bird on her head. I also liked how they asked someone if Josh's drawing resembled someone, and it was the girl who stole the lottery ticket!

[Anthony]

When someone breaks into Lucky O'Leary's house, and steal his winning lottery ticket, he asks Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to help him locate the thief. The trio goes to work and try and track down the crook before they can cash in the winning ticket.

[Nihar]

THE GREEN LAWN MAP WAS INTERESTING AND THE STORY WAS BORING IN THE BEGINNING BUT AFTER I KEPT READING IT BECAME SO MYSTERIOUS, I READ 20 PAGES IN ONE DAY, THIS BOOK I GOT FROM MY SCHOOL LIBRARY IS SO AMAZING

[Joyce T.]

-- This is a series review. --

I love this series. The kids are solving real mysteries around their neighborhood (as opposed to their siblings), and they find out things that the adults couldn't.

-- End series review --

[Tara]

I like how the kids have no clues to begin with but work through it. Good problem solving skills.

[Maddy Saundra]

I'm am a child❤

[Emma]

Dot Calm. Haha. I don't know why I find this so hilarious.

[Jenny]

I love this book because I love adventures and I loved every single minute O read the book. I hope y'all will too☺