Meg Mackintosh Solves Seven American History Mysteries - title #9: A Solve-It-Yourself Mystery (9) (Meg Mackintosh Mystery series)

My boys (8 & 10) really enjoyed the mysteries format of this book. They have clue tracker notebooks from other solve yourself type books. My issue with this book was the illustrations.On page 63, clue 1 was a message in Morse Code. My boys got out their notebooks to decode the message. But when decoded the message did not actually make words. When you turn the, Meg solves the Morse Code message and it was actual words that made sense. I thought maybe my boys had just not decoded it correctly, so I checked it. They had not made a mistake. When I compared the illustrations (the clue for the reader to decode vs the message Meg decoded) they were not the same.There is another illustration mistake on page 69. There is another clue found inscribed on a horn. The horn is clearly inscribed with the word "DANGER". The D is a little faint but can clearly be read. When you turn the page, Meg and her brother are talking about the letters "A-N-E-R" and how they might be musical notes. Meg makes a note in her notebook that the "tin horn has the letters ANER scratched on the side". Then they talk about how it might have said "ANGER". This is all very confusing to the reader since the illustration on the previous page clearly said "DANGER". Later on they clean the horn and see that it actually says "DANGER", but the reader has known this for the last two pages.Honestly, my kids really liked the book, but I'm not sure I would have bought it if I was aware of these errors. It really takes away from the "Solve it Yourself" premise when the clues are not accurate and you are having to explain that obviously the illustrator had not read the story closely.

This book series is excellent! I gave it to my GF's daughter adopted from China and they read every night about the Mwg's adventures. Highly recommend!

This book focuses on seven locations in the U.S. where historical events have taken place. The children in this story are given clues to names of the children involved as well as some artifacts that are part of the mystery. They must travel to each destination, figure out which child goes with which artifact, and try to solve the mystery. Real historical facts are woven into each story.I like the fact that the readers are encouraged to think about the clues and try to figure out what they mean before Meg and her brother tell what they think.I plan to use this book with my class all year as we 'travel' the U.S.A. to shed a little light on the history of our country. The reading level is a bit above most second graders; I will use it as a read aloud. The level is probably most suited for third and fourth grade levels.

My 1st grader is a real reader and I got tired of only seeing "boy" mystery readers at our local library. So I sprung for this series and she couldn't be happier. She flies through so many books so quickly now that I hesitate to buy them, but she re-reads these often enough if I put them on a shelf and she forgets about them for a few weeks. I would highly recommend these books - and I hope it sends a message to authors out there: not all our reading girls are interested in princess stories! Thank you Meg Mackintosh!!!

My grandson who is 6 LOVES this book. He could not wait to come over again and read a couple more chapters. I highly recommend!!! I wish there were more non-fictional mysteries like this.I am purchasing the fictional mysteries by same author. Hopefully he will enjoy as much.

My son really enjoyed these Meg Mackintosh books. He's read and reread all nine of them. I wish there were more!

These books are amazing! Fun reading to do together and we learn about history at the same time. Its interactive and good for my 7 year olds reading level. May require a parent for some, but it makes for quality time w your children. Thank you!

These books were a huge hit with my eight year old son. They were great intro's to chapter books without being to intimidating for him. I couldn't keep up with his reading pace I finally just had to order the whole series because he wanted to read them all right away. They were a quick read for him and built confidence to jump right into bigger sized books.