NaNoWriMo and Young Readers Day

To everybody participating in National Novel Writing Mon (NaNoWriMo), I wish you well.  Here is my contribution to your efforts, Write or Die.  Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.  You set which mode you want to write in: 

Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.

Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you've written you wordcount goal or both)



There is a desktop version with more features that you can download for $10.00. 

Now for Young Readers Day!

November 8 is Young Readers Day as well as the holidays are fast approaching. Do you plan on giving some mystery books as gifts to the young people in your life? Let’s take a look at a popular Juvenile Detective series, the Three Investigators by creator Robert Arthur (other authors were William Arden, Nick West, M. V. Carey and Marc Brandel). The Three Investigators are three young high school students named Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews

Jupiter is a former child actor and orphan living with his aunt and uncle and the brains of the group. Pete Crenshaw is the jock who does stake outs. Bob Andrews is the bookworm who excels at research. Jupiter’s Aunt and Uncle own a salvage yard which hides an old trailer hidden under strategically placed junk with secret entrances to the boy’s detective business headquarters. The three boys are younger, don’t drive and lack resources like the Hardy Boys of Nancy Drew but they are cleaver and diligent employing observation skills and their wits.

The series started in 1964 stopped in 1990, was re-released in 2005 and has a fan base in Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailan, Indonesia and probably more I have missed. In some of those countries, they have published more books in the series than the US has.

http://www.harrykaneart.com/ shows you the artist who created the book covers and sketches for the series.

I grew up reading these mysteries (even as a girl I followed the three boy’s adventures avidly). They are fun and inventive. I have kept for nearly thirty years an old copy of The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints inspite of multiple moves and life challenges. This maybe a series you could introduce your child to.

Books in the series:

1. The Secret of Terror Castle
2. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot
3. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy
4. The Mystery of the Green Ghost
5. The Mystery of theVanishing Treasure
6. The Secret of Skeleton Island
7. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye
8. The Mystery of the Silver Spider
9. The Mystery of the Screaming Clock
10. The Mystery of the Moaning Cave
11. The Mystery of the Talking Skull
12. The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow
13. The Secret of the Crooked Cat
14. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon
15. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints
16. The Mystery of the Nervous Lion

17. The Mystery of the Singing Serpent
18. The Mystery of the Shrinking House
19. The Secret of Phantom Lake
20. The Mystery of Monster Mountain
21. The Secret of the Haunted Mirror
22. The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle
23. The Mystery of the Invisible Dog
24. The Mystery of Death Trap Mine
25. The Mystery of the Dancing Devil
26. The Mystery of the Headless Horse
27. The Mystery of the Magic Circle
28. The Mystery of the Deadly Double
29. The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow
30. The Secret of Shark Reef
31. The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar
32. The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs
33. The Mystery of the Purple Pirate
34. The Mystery of the Wandering Cave Man
35. The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale
36. The Mystery of the Missing Mermaid
37. The Mystery of the Two-Toed Pigeon
38. The Mystery of the Smashing Glass
39. The Mystery of the Trail of Terror
40. The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion
41. The Mystery of the Creep-Show Crooks
42. The Mystery of Wreckers' Rock
43. The Mystery of the Cranky Collector

Do you know of a children’s or young adult mystery series? We know of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys – probably the oldest running mystery series' around. But what else is out there for parents to introduce their young mystery readers to? Please leave comments of recommendations to help in gift giving and encourage not only the reading habit but the mystery bug too!

Until Thursday when we review another book, I wish you many mysterious moments.