Summer Book Club Excerpts

"Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

On a warm October night in Chicago, three deliveries were made in the same neighborhood. A plump tangerine moon had just risen over Lake Michigan. The doorbell had been rung at each place, and an envelope left propped outside.

Each front door was opened on to an empty street. Each of the three people who lived in those homes lived alone, and each had a hard time falling asleep that night.

The same letter went out to all three:

Dear Friend:

I would like your help in identifying a crime that is now centuries old.

Used with permission of Scholastic Inc.

"The Hardy Boys: Extreme Dangers" Danger" by Franklin W. Dixon

I'm going to die.

That's what I thought when I pulled the cord of my parachute -- and nothing happened.

Definitely not cool.

As I plummeted downward through the sky, it felt like I was floating. The earth below, on the other hand, was rushing up to greet me at a speed of 120 miles per hour.

To make matters worse, it was my first solo jump.

And probably my last.

I tried not to panic. I looked over at "Wings" Maletta, the jumpmaster of Freedombird Skydiving School. The big bearded man was Freedom-falling about ten yards away from me. I waved to him like a maniac, pointing at my broken parachute cord.

Excerpted from The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers #1: Extreme Danger by

Franklin W. Dixon © 2005, used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

"Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery" by Peter Abrahams

Ingrid Levin-Hill, three weeks past her thirteenth birthday, sat thinking in her orthodontist's waiting room. You're born cute. Babies are cute. Not hard to guess why -- it's so everyone will forgive them for being such a pain. You grow a little older, and people say, "What beautiful hair," or "Get a load of those baby blues," or something nice that keeps you thinking you're still on the cuteness track. Then you hit twelve or thirteen and boom, they tell you that everything needs fixing. Waiting in the wings are the orthodontist, the dermatologist, the contact lens guy, the hair-tinting guy, maybe even the nose-job guy. You look at yourself in the mirror, really look at yourself, for the first time.

Used with permission of Harper Collins Children's Books.

"Conspiracy" (Lady Grace Mysteries) by Patricia Finney (as Grace Cavendish)

We are just making ready to leave Oxey Hall. And here have I another daybooke and five fine new quill pens from the feathers of one of the geese, and the Queen has given me a new bottle full of ink, made with crystal and chased with gold, and it has a stopper that locks. She gave it me on condition I do no more writing when wearing my white damask gown. Not even if I am very careful. We have unpicked the piece that somehow got ink upon it and put a new piece of white damask in -- I think it looks very well, though Mrs. Champernowne grumbled that the colour was a little different.

Used with permission of Random House Children's Books.

"Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery" by John Feinstein

Stevie Thomas read the letter once, then twice, then a third time to be sure it was real. Then he started screaming.

"Mom! Mom! Mom!"

Stevie suffered a few bad moments when his mom said she wasn't sure she or his father could get away from work to go with him and then started fussing about the time off from school. But somehow Stevie knew his dad wasn't going to turn this down.

After all, Bill Thomas had been the one who had first introduced his son to sports -- specifically basketball.

Used with permission of Random House Children's Books.

"Laugh Till You Cry" by Joan Lowery Nixon

Dodging low tree branches, leaping over dips and cracks in the sidewalk, Cody Carter ran harder and faster down Chimney Rock than he had ever run in his entire life. Someone was chasing him and quickly closing the short gap that lay between them.

The person yelled something, but fear and his own loud gasping for breath blocked Cody's ears, and he couldn't make out what was said. The only words that bounced through his brain were his: I'm only thirteen years old. I'm too young to die.

Used with permission of Random House Children's Books.

"Who Cloned the President?" (Capital Mysteries) by Ron Roy

KC Corcoran pulled a slip of paper out of her teacher's basketball cap. She read the words on the paper and grinned.

"Who did you get, KC?" Mr. Alubicki asked.

"President Thornton," KC said.

"No fair!" Marshall Li protested. "You already know everything about him."

Mr. Alubicki smiled and passed the hat to Marshall, KC's best friend. Marshall picked a slip. "Herbert Hoover?" he said. "I don't even know who he is!"

"But you'll know all about him after you write your report," his teacher said.

Used with permission of Random House Children's Books.

"The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange!

Sunset towers faced east and had no towers. This glittery, glassy apartment house stood alone on the Lake Michigan shore five stories high. Five empty stories high.

Then one day (it happened to the be the Fourth of July), a most uncommon-looking delivery boy rode around town slipping letters under the doors of the chosen tenants-to-be. The letters were signed Barney Northrup.

The delivery boy was sixty-two years old, and there was no such person as Barney Northrup.

Used with permission of Dutton Children's Books.