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by Amy S. Hansen
by Amy S. Hansen
I should have known something was wrong when I woke up. I mean things were looking too good to be true. With only a week before the 4-H fair, my tomato plants have gorgeous red baseballs.
I know what you’re thinking. Why should I, Julie-almost-in-fifth-grade-Johnson, give a hoot about tomatoes? I can throw further than anyone in the fourth grade. And only Jimmy Young beat me running. Why worry about vegetables?
Partly because my mom wanted me to. She said I should do something non-competitive. Then she laughed and said it might even have a calming effect on me.
I laughed too. But maybe she was just a little bit right. When I’m in the patch, I feel the dirt. I watch the bugs. I pull weeds. Calm is not so bad. But Mom is wrong about one thing. Gardening is competitive and I’m going to win.
Julie discovers her prize tomatoes have been made into mush. She is certain her neighbor Stephanie has been making tomato sauce to keep Julie from winning at the fair.
Determined to solve the mystery, she gets her brother Paul, her friend Jimmy Young, and her dog Apples to help. They set up a trap using bells on the tomato plants, and are ready to camp out all night to catch the tomato killer in the act.
Join in on the fun as Julie gets to the bottom of the mystery of her mashed prize tomatoes.
Details
Details
Dragonfeather Books
40 pp. ● 5.5x8.5
$7.95 (pb) $3.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-949290-91-2 (pb)
JUVENILE FICTION / Mysteries & Detective Stories
JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General
For ages 9-12
Publication date: October, 2022
Amy S. Hansen loves mysteries. Much of the time she writes about real-life mysteries like where do the bugs go in the winter and how does a refrigerator work. But she also loves fictional mysteries, where she gets to set up the puzzle then let the reader try and figure it out. She has more than 25 books published, mostly for kids and mostly about science. Her other books include Bugs and Bugsicles, Insects in the Winter and Firebird, A Kirtland’s Warbler Story.
Amy has always enjoyed writing and would often have writing challenges with friends in grade school. After college she realized she could get paid to write and started work as a journalist. She worked on newspapers, radio and magazines before moving into children’s writing. She lives in Maryland with her husband and a dog. She has two grown sons who have moved out of the house, but are always welcome back.
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