B N BBy New Bery©New Bery 2009 1

I know you’re going to win

again, Bets!” exclaimed Julieagain, Bets! exclaimed Julie

Brown and Sylvia White together.

Even though Julie and Sylvia wereEven though Julie and Sylvia were

best friends, they were very

differentdifferent.

Julie was very sharp and had

lots leadership qualities. Sylvia

was plump and loved to eat. She

was sort of the class clown.

©New Bery 2009 2

Bets, however, neither

sharp and smart like Julie, nor

was she the class clown like

Sylvia. Bets was very quiet andSylvia. Bets was very quiet and

mouse-like. No one really

noticed her but when it was timenoticed her but when it was time

for the young author’s

competition, her ability shone

like a shining, golden star.

©New Bery 2009 3

Bets won the young

authors competition everyauthors competition every

single year because of her

d f l t i d lif likwonderful stories and life-like

pictures of animals.

A few boys in Bets’ class

were very jealous of her. Theyy j y

were very mean to Bets and

always sneered at her and triedalways sneered at her and tried

to make fun of her.

©New Bery 2009 4

One of them even said,

“Why even have a youngy y g

author’s competition? Why not

just give the silly prize tojust give the silly prize to

Elizabeth and move on?”

Two of these jealous boys

were Chuck and Bobby. Chuck

and Bobby were excellent at left-and Bobby were excellent at left

brain but hopeless at right-brain

subjectssubjects.

©New Bery 2009 5

Chuck was a very

i b d B bbexasperating boy and Bobby

was more at the principals office

than at class because he got in

trouble so much.

Ch k d B bbChuck and Bobby were

very jealous of Bets and envied

her the most in the entire class.

©New Bery 2009 6

The next Monday, right

after lunch, Julie and Sylvia

walked into the classroom to

see Bets quietly crying at her

desk. “Its gone,” she weptg , p

sorrowfully.

“What’s gone?” asked

Julie while Sylvia tried to

comfort Bets.

©New Bery 2009 7

“M th ’ b k ”“My young author’s book,”

replied Bets sadly.

“Quick! Lets search for clues

before the rest of the class

arrives!” exclaimed Julia.

The children scurriedThe children scurried

around the classroom looking

for clues. They found a piece of

purple, flavored stretchy eraser

stuck to Bets desk.

©New Bery 2009 8

“That’s Megan’s!” yelled

Sylvia. “The thieving dog!” “No,Sylvia. The thieving dog! No,

No! I asked for the eraser to play

with and forgot to give it back ”with and forgot to give it back,”

said Bets quickly.

“Wait a minute!” said Julie

so suddenly that she made the

other two girls jump. She

pointed to the ground.pointed to the ground.

©New Bery 2009 9

“Look at that ” she pointedLook at that, she pointed

to a crumpled piece of paper.

SSylvia picked up the paper and

said,

“It looks like some type of code.”

The writing on the paperThe writing on the paper

was in some kind of weird, blue

ink A real clue ” said Julia andink. A real clue, said Julia and

she pocketed the piece of paper

i h i f iwith satisfaction.

©New Bery 2009 10

The CodeThe Code

©New Bery 2009 11

The next period was recess

Julie and Sylvia were thinkingy g

about what they could do to find

the book as the book wasthe book as the book was

supposed to be submitted in two

d J t th t f i ddays. Just as the two friends

had begun to walk to class,

Sylvia started go in the opposite

direction towards the bathroom.

©New Bery 2009 12

“Sylvia, where are you

going? We are already late for

class!” yelled Julie.

“A girl’s gotta go when aA girl s gotta go when a

girl’s gotta go!” said Sylvia and

almost ran into the boy’salmost ran into the boy’s

bathroom without realizing it.

Julie yelled after her but Sylvia

did not listen and kept on

running.

©New Bery 2009 13

She suddenly stopped

startled in front of the boy’sstartled in front of the boy s

bathroom when she saw the

door open and watched Chuckdoor open and watched. Chuck

come out She accidentally

bumped into Chuck whose hand

was stained light blue.

“You’re a girl, not a boy

you brainless person,” heyou brainless person, he

snapped.

©New Bery 2009 14

“Thanks a lot, Einstein,” Sylvia

muttered. She stood a moment

and thought about the colored

ink on Chuck’s hand. “What aink on Chuck s hand. What a

queer color,” Sylvia thought out

loud “It looks sort of familiar ”loud. It looks sort of familiar.

“Well, I’ll go and talk to

Julie about it,” she said and

went down the hallway to her

classroom.

©New Bery 2009 15

Last period that day was

computers After class Julie andcomputers. After class, Julie and

Sylvia stayed to help the teacher

dust the board.

Just as they left, they saw

two computer notebooks lying

on the table. The two girlson the table. The two girls

picked up the notebooks.

©New Bery 2009 16

The flipped to the first page of

each book and saw a queer

group of letters on each book.g p

One book said “INAIQ” and

th th id “HUHHE ” “Wh tthe other said “HUHHE.” “What

on earth does that mean?”

asked Julie. The two girl, then,

started to walk back to their

classroom to pick up their

backpacks.p

©New Bery 2009 17

On their way, Chuck and

Bobby came by grabbed theBobby came by, grabbed the

books, and without a word of

thanks walked away quickly.

“You're welcome creeps”

said Julie.

“I always thought theirI always thought their

names were Buck and Chobby,”

S l i i l d “N lSylvia giggled. “Now lets go

check their desks for clues.”

©New Bery 2009 18

“Something here smells

fishy,” said Julie “Why wouldy, y

anyone call themselves by code

names? I think this is somehownames? I think this is somehow

related to Bets’ missing book.

L t’ h k i Ch k dLet’s check in Chuck and

Bobby’s desk and try to find

some clues.”

The two girls walked up tog p

Chuck and Bobby’s desks and

found a round piece of paper Itfound a round piece of paper. It

looked like a decoding wheel.

©New Bery 2009 19

Decoding Wheel©New Bery 2009 20

“It seems like “A” is “G”,

“B” is “H”, “C” is “I,” and so

on,” noticed Julie.

“Let us look too see if the paper

you found earlier matches thisyou found earlier matches this

code,” suggested Sylvia. The

two friends verified the weirdtwo friends verified the weird

letters on the crumpled piece of

paper with the code and the two

matched with each other.

©New Bery 2009 21

In English, the code read:

HIDE BOOK UNDER TRAPDOOR. YOU

KNOW WHERE. “Crazy person!”

moaned Sylvia “Why can’t hemoaned Sylvia. Why can t he

just tell us where this silly

t d i ?”trapdoor is?”

“The thieves don’t give

away clues to the detectives,

silly!” replied Julie.

©New Bery 2009 22

The next day, first period

was music. The music teacher

was ill, so Miss Jones, the girls’

class teacher gave the classg

extra recess.

As she and Julie wereAs she and Julie were

walking to the playground,

Sylvia took out a mint was about

to pop it into her mouth.

©New Bery 2009 23

To her dismay, she tripped

over something and the mint fell

out of her hand. “I guess that

wasn’t mint to be,” she said

dolefully. “Now what is thatdolefully. Now what is that

stupid thing I tripped over?” she

thoughtthought.

She and Julie looked down

and Julie said thoughtfully, “It

looks like some kind of

trapdoor.”

©New Bery 2009 24

TRAPDOOR!” the two girls

yelled together. “Let us see if

Bets’ book is under here,” Julie

suggested.

The two girls lookedThe two girls looked

underneath the trapdoor and

found the Bets’ book lyingfound the Bets’ book lying

underneath thin, flat rock.

©New Bery 2009 25

“Now we have found the

book,” said Sylvia. “But I still

want to know what “INAIQ” andwant to know what INAIQ and

“HUHHE” mean.

The two friends used the

code and decoded “INAIQ” and

“HUHHE ” They then figured out“HUHHE.” They then figured out

that “INAIQ” meant “CHUCK”

and “HUHHE” meant “BOBBY.”

©New Bery 2009 26

“Now we know that Chuck stole

the book,” said Julie. “But how

do we prove that they stole it?”

She thought for a moment.She thought for a moment.

“Wait! I have a plan!” she

l i d “S l i ll th texclaimed. “Sylvia, you yell that

Elizabeth’s book has been

found. That will catch Chuck and

Bobby’s attention and they will

come running here.

©New Bery 2009 27

I will be hiding, and when

they arrive here, I will jump out

of my hiding place and say that I

have caught them red-handed!

You, then, run and tell MissYou, then, run and tell Miss

Jones to come. After that we’ll

see what happens!” finishedsee what happens!” finished

Julie excitedly.

©New Bery 2009 28

Sylvia ran off to do what

Julie told her and Julie tried toJulie told her and Julie tried to

find a good hiding spot. Chuck

and Bobby, as predicted, arrived

in a few minutes. Julie jumped

out of her hiding and yelled, “’I

have caught you guys!” In ag y g y

couple of minutes, Miss Jones

arrived with Sylvia and Betsarrived with Sylvia and Bets

behind her.

©New Bery 2009 29

“Sylvia has explained to me ally p

that has happened,” she said

sternly What you guys have donsternly. What you guys have don

is very wrong. I have talked to

the principal and he says that

you two, Chuck and Bobby, shall

be expelled from this school.”

©New Bery 2009 30

Miss Jones then turned to

Bets and asked, “Are you readyBets and asked, Are you ready

to turn in your storybook,

Elizabeth?” she asked “JustElizabeth?” she asked. “Just

one second Miss Jones,” Bets

replied. Bets opened her book

and quickly wrote inside:

Acknowledgements:

I dedicate this book to Julie

and Sylvia for being good

friends and for cleverly solving

The Mystery of the Missing Book.

©New Bery 2009 31

Animal Adventure

By Elizabeth Smith

T l d l fTo Julie and Sylvia for cleverly solving The

Mystery of the Missing B kBook.

©New Bery 2009 32