Review Detail

THE CASE OF THE GRINDSTONE GOBLET is a clever, interactive mystery book that readers can really get into! The book is a combination of puzzles for readers to solve as they work on the overall mystery of who stole the Grindstone Goblet - a golden trophy given to the student who attends the most Sunday services at a remote private school in the UK. The text leads readers to puzzles to solve, like deducing from the clues who had what potential tool and in what potential place at the right time, or figuring out a password. In the end, they will figure out whodunnit!

What I loved: This is such a clever concept, and it is executed beautifully. Readers are introduced to the case and then solve the puzzles to help advance to the answer. There are a mix of word and math problems to solve with varying complexity. The range of challenges works well, so readers don't give up when the hard ones roll in. For the math problems, they use a range of addition, subtraction, and multiplication with small and large numbers, so this does work best for middle elementary school readers who will already have some expertise in these tools.

The blend of text and puzzles is just right, great for readers who love to get into the action! They spend a lot of time figuring things out from the clues with short writing in between to help give the context and clue solving paths they will take. This really allows readers to get pulled into the mystery with plenty of red herrings and surprising twists in the overall mystery.

My 8.5yo got into this very fast, and it was hours of fun for solving and deducing as he worked through them. Some of the most challenging puzzles required a little adult help for his age, but readers who are slightly older may have an easier time of them. It was so helpful that the answers are all included in the back (and the puzzle pages tell you which page to find them), so we could check on the most challenging ones to see if we were correct.

I will definitely be looking for more from this series in the future! This is a great way to keep kids busy, entertained, and learning! They will use their brains and have fun doing it... a true win!

Final verdict: THE CASE OF THE GRINDSTONE GOBLET is a delightful and entertaining mystery that pulls the reader into the story and gives them plenty of puzzles to enjoy as they figure out whodunnit! Highly recommend for middle grade readers!