weathervanes – Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories

The Mystery of the Missing Scarf by Mary Blount Christian, illustrated by Joe Boddy, 1989.

This book is part of the Sherlock Street Detectives series.

Ann doesn’t have much confidence in her twin brother Walter’s dog Watson. She doesn’t think that he’s capable of learning tricks, and when Walter shows her the new trick he’s taught Watson, she isn’t very impressed. The trick is for Watson to just grab a red rag out of Walter’s hand and run off with it.

Ann is more concerned with getting her scarf washed and hung out to dry before they go see their friends. David and Pedro like Watson’s trick. At least, it’s a pretty good trick for Watson because Watson doesn’t know many.

Pedro shows the other kids how he’s making a weather vane. It’s a windy day, so it’s a good time to try it out.

Then, Ann notices that the scarf she hung out to dry is gone! At first, she blames Watson for taking it as part of the trick Walter taught him. However, the dog is not at fault. Pedro uses his weather vane to show Ann how to find her scarf.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

It’s a fun picture book mystery, but it’s also educational. I liked the part where Pedro explains how he made his weather vane. Kids can follow along with his explanation to make a weather vane of their own. The mystery of what happened to the scarf isn’t difficult, but the way the children found the scarf was clever. The book also has a vocabulary list and glossary in the back.

McGurk Mysteries

The Case of the Wandering Weathervanes by E.W. Hildick, 1988.

Brains Bellingham brings a new case to the other members of the McGurk Organization: a weathervane that he was using for his latest science experiment has been stolen! Although Brains says that the weathervane was extremely valuable because it was a critical part of his experiment, the others don’t think much of it. However, Brains’ weathervane turns out to be just one of many weathervanes that have disappeared all over town.

At first, everyone is sure that it’s just a prank, probably by some local kids, and it gets reported as an odd tidbit on the local news. However, the more weather vanes that disappear and the more time that goes by without them being returned, the more disgruntled the local citizens become. People (like Brains) start claiming that their weathervanes were worth more than they probably were, although there were a couple of legitimate collectors’ items among the stolen weathervanes. The police fail to see the humor behind the incident and start talking about serious consequences for the one responsible for the weathervanes’ disappearances. Unfortunately, as often happens in these cases, people begin looking at Wanda’s brother, Ed, as the culprit.

Ed has a long-standing reputation as a prankster, and so is the first person most people suspect when strange things start happening. Wanda is sure that he isn’t guilty this time, though. Her brother wouldn’t be above taking something for a short period of time just as a joke, but he wouldn’t just steal things from people and keep them. When some of the weathervanes start reappearing, at the wrong houses, it looks like it might have been a prank after all, but Ed still maintains that that he’s innocent.

The members of the McGurk Organization believe that the real culprit might be a friend of Ed’s who admires some of his pranks and might be trying to imitate him with a wild scheme of his own. However, if Ed’s friend is really guilty, where are the missing weathervanes and why haven’t they been returned? A professional private investigator has been pressing the kids for what they know about the thefts, and Ed suddenly disappears! There may be much more to the mysterious disappearing weathervanes than meets the eye. What started as an odd prank may have uncovered something more serious!

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.