Text Type: Fiction/Mystery
Page Count: 24
Word Count: 2,400

Book Summary
In The Mystery of Granville Library, three friends discover mysterious clues in a library book. The boys put their heads together to solve the mystery, and in the end they discover a very special place.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Problem solving

Objectives

• Problem solve while reading to remember important information in text
• Identify mystery genre
• Identify and create similes
• Solve a content vocabulary acrostic

Materials

• Book -- The Mystery of Granville Library (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Problem solving, similes, acrostic worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

• Content words: acrostics, binding, catalog, copyright, dead end, decades, discovered, instill, King Arthur, Middle Ages, mysteries, pattern, Renaissance, riddle, Romance languages, scanning, secrets, treasure

Build Background

• Ask students what genre, or type, of books they usually check out of the library. Discuss what students know about mysteries. Ask what mystery TV shows and movies they may have seen. (For an example, discuss Scooby-Doo mysteries and how the characters solve cases.) To encourage discussion, list on the board the mysteries that students name.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students a copy of the book. Show them the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about.
• Review the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• Direct students to the table of contents on page 3. Ask them what information they can tell from looking at the chapter titles in the book. (Accept answers that show students are thinking about what the book might be about.)

Introduce the Strategy: Problem solving

• Discuss the steps involved in problem solving. First, the problem solver needs to identify the problem. Then the problem solver needs to decide what information is needed to solve the problem. Next, the problem solver needs to brainstorm ideas (individually or as a group) to determine what might lead to the solution(s). Finally, the problem solver needs to decide on the best solution(s).
• Model using the table of contents as a way to identify problems in a mystery.
  Think-aloud: I know that many mystery authors divide books into chapters that relate to events, problems, or clues. Looking at page 3, I see six chapters that may provide clues to solving the problems in this mystery. The chapter titled "King Arthur's Clue" makes me think that the book will start with a clue. I'll have to read the book to find out the first clue.
• Have students preview the rest of the book by looking at the illustrations and captions.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As you preview the book, invite students to talk about what they see in the illustrations. Reinforce the vocabulary words they will encounter in the text.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Ask students if they are familiar with the term romance languages. To help students define the term, direct them to the fifth paragraph on page 12. Model how they can use context clues to figure out what romance languages are. Explain that the meaning of the words is given the paragraph. Read the sentence, substituting the languages listed for the unfamiliar words. Ask students if the sentence makes sense.
• Show students the glossary and explain its purpose.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find out the mystery at Granville Library. Have them try to solve the problems by following the clues in the book as they read.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 7. Have them go back and reread the chapters if they finish before everyone else.
• Discuss mysteries. Tell students that mysteries can be traced back to Ancient Greece when Sophocles and Euripides wrote plays that were mysteries.
• Ask students if they've read Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, or Harry Potter books, and discuss what they liked about these books. Discuss how the characters solved mysteries in the books.
• Ask students to identify the first problem in the story that the boys need to solve.
• Model problem solving.
  Think-aloud:On pages 6 and 7, Daniel found writing in the book. At first he was going to dismiss, it but then he saw a familiar pattern to the writing. Daniel used his skills from solving word games to identify the acrostic. The first letter of each word together spelled his name.
• Ask students to tell the next clue. (If this message speaks to you, think of your birth date.) Ask what information is needed (Daniel's birth date). Have students brainstorm ideas as to what this may mean and steps they might take to reach a conclusion. Write the ideas on the board to determine if anyone can solve the clue.
• Have students read the remainder of the book, thinking about how to problem solve as they read.

Have students make a question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read and understand the word.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Discuss how identifying and solving problems in the text and trying to solve them keeps readers actively involved in the reading process and helps them remember what they read.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Identify genre

• Discussion: Ask students to think of an everyday mystery (for example, losing an item and retracing one's steps). Discuss how characters in books and movies solve mysteries. Ask students why they think readers might choose to read mysteries and what makes a good mystery.
• Introduce the skill: Review or explain that mysteries inspire the imagination. Mystery writers often turn ordinary events into unexplained mysteries. List the basic elements of a good mystery on the board: (1) an event happens that no one can explain; (2) someone, such as a detective, is asked to solve the mystery; (3) the detective attempts to make sense of the mystery; (4) suspects are identified; (5) the mystery is solved.
• Check for understanding: Have students identify the five elements of a mystery in The Mystery of Granville Library. First, ask students to tell the event in the book that no one can explain. (Daniel finds writing near the binding of a book his Mother recommended he read.) Next, ask who volunteers to solve the problem (Daniel). Then ask how Daniel goes about trying to make sense of the mystery (He uses his experience with solving word games.) Then ask if there are any suspects in this mystery. (Discuss whether or not Daniel's grandfather could be considered a suspect.) Finally, review all of the steps involved in solving the mystery and discuss the solution.
• Independent practice: Have students complete the problem solving worksheet.
• Discuss student responses and the bonus answers.

Grammar and Mechanics: Similes

• Review or explain that a simile makes a comparison by using the words like or as. Write the words like and as on the board. Tell students that these words often signal a simile. Say: For example, when I say the library is as quiet as a tomb, I am comparing the quiet of both places.
• Check for understanding: Say: Using your detective skills, find the simile in this book (first paragraph on page 6). Remember to look for the clue words. Ask what things are being compared (smells of the book are compared to a closet full of old newspapers). Have students create original similes comparing smells to items (the shirt smelled like a rose, the jacket smelled like an old shoe).
• Independent practice: Give students the similes worksheet to complete. Discuss their responses.

Word Work: Acrostics

• Referring to page 24, review or explain that an acrostic is a short verse that is created by using the letters of a topic word or phrase to form new words or phrases about that topic.
• Check for understanding: Have students read aloud the last paragraph on page 6. Write the words Do All Nations Instill Equal Laws? on the board. Ask a volunteer to read the first paragraph on page 7. Have students tell the solution to this first clue.
• Independent practice: Give students the acrostic worksheet. Discuss their responses.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section of the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing and Art Connection

• Have pairs of students write and illustrate a mystery, remembering to include the five parts of a mystery, as outlined in Teach the Comprehension Skill section. Have students make sure that the character(s) in the mystery apply their problem-solving skills, as outlined in the Introduce the Strategy section. Finally, invite students to read their finished mysteries to the group.

Social Studies Connection

• Provide print and Internet resources for small groups of students to research the history of mysteries. Assign groups various periods in history, from Ancient Greece to the present time. Have them prepare posters and oral presentations that provide information about mystery writers. Display the posters along a mystery time line.

• use the strategy of problem solving to understand a mystery and to apply that strategy to complete a worksheet
• understand and identify the mystery genre
• identify similes in text; apply understanding to complete a worksheet
• understand and use word game skills to complete an acrostic worksheet

Comprehension Checks

• Book Quiz
• Retelling Rubric