The Cayuga Island Kids series features a diverse group of big-hearted friends who work together to solve mysteries, have adventures, and organize community projects. They are fact detectives who think, brainstorm, research, and collaborate to uncover answers and puzzle out solutions. Above all, they are kind, helpful, smart, and resourceful kids who have lots of fun together.
These chapter books are perfect for 7- to 10-year-olds in 1st through 4th grade.
“Any book that begins with a map of an island is my kind of story. Enliven that setting with a diverse group of characters who are consistently kind—and bursting with curiosity—and you’ve got all the elements of a series that is alive with adventure, friendship, and mystery.”
~ James Preller, author of the Jigsaw Jones mystery series
Book 1: The Mystery of the Barking Branches and the Sunken Ship
This entertaining mystery-history adventure is based on real events surrounding one of the biggest puzzles of the Great Lakes! The Cayuga Island Kids set off on a hunt for a certain kind of tree and instead unearth a cannonball thought to be from a treasure ship built right on their island that sank in 1679 and was never recovered. As they hunt for clues and follow leads, they discover that the island they live on is home to a whole lot of history. And, it turns out, a whole lot of mystery, too. We all have history in our own backyards, just waiting to be discovered by inquisitive, adventurous, and fun-loving fact detectives!
Book 2: The Adventure of the Big Fish By the Small Creek
Moving from knowing something has to be done to getting it done takes determination, teamwork, and sometimes, looking in a new direction. In this award-winning second book in the series, the Cayuga Island Kids rescue a mallard caught in the plastic rings from six-pack of cans. Moments later, a girl on a bike carelessly tosses a plastic bottle in the creek. That’s when they decide it’s time for action. How the Cayuga Island Kids go from fishing a plastic bottle out of the creek to bringing the community together to build a recycling bin big enough to hold plenty of plastic makes for a lively adventure. Young readers will be entertained as they come to realize the importance of brainstorming ideas, teamwork, the value of community effort, recycling, and the promise of new friendships. Best of all, readers will cheer on the Cayuga Island Kids as they come to realize that, although we are each just one person, together we can make a BIG difference.
Book 3: The Case of the Messy Message and the Missing Facts
It’s fall as Book 3 of the Cayuga Island Kids chapter book series opens. Julian explores food science as he experiments with recipes for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Being a cookie sampler takes Mac’s mind off his troubles with fractions. Yoko practices for the school play tryouts, and Maya helps Ms. Choi with the Make-and-Take-Club. Lacey, of course, is searching for the next mystery to solve. And then two of Ms. Choi’s glitter pens go missing. The clues and evidence point to a suspect, but are the Cayuga Island Kids jumping to conclusions? When a classmate jumps to conclusions and shares false information about Julian’s cookies, the kids join forces to set the facts straight. And while researching explorers for a school project, the kids uncover misinformation that blurs the truth, and makes the reasons for being a fact detective crystal clear. Sorting through clues and evidence—just like research—means making sure you have all the facts, and not just a fraction of the truth. Young readers will cheer for the Cayuga Island Kids as they embark on this adventure involving misinformation, faulty assumptions, flour bugs, glitter pens, and chocolate chip cookies.
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Debbie Smith –
The Alekizou is a rather odd-looking creature with a bump on his head. While that bump does incredible non-human things, this fellow seems to also have a human side.
The story, which is told in verse, has more words than most picture books. However, it shouldn’t really matter since it’s aimed at children old enough to have longer attention spans.
Even though Alekizou’s fine feathered friend, the owl, tries to interest him in learning, he’s not interested. Alekizou is far more interested in fun and games. But that comes with a price. The poor creature can’t write, spell, count, or read.
Now here’s something interesting. When he spots people, both young and old, coming out of a building carrying armloads of books, he’s not happy. Not happy at all! We humans might say that he is a bit jealous and feeling somewhat lonely.
And so the library plot begins. Since he can’t read books and has no need for them he will destroy them. That way he won’t feel so lonely. Kids will want to play more and not spend so much time studying and reading.
That night he quietly makes his way to the library and gobbles up all the vowels from the books. Why only vowels, you ask? Those are the letters that look like tasty beans and gumballs.
With no vowels in the words, all of the books are fairly worthless. But the bigger problem is the fact that all vowels have disappeared, not just the ones in the books. No one can communicate. A word might sound like “HLDW!” when someone tries to speak.
What to do? What to do? The Alekizou ends up using American Sign Language and enlisting the help of children. But does that mean everyone now has to communicate using sign language? Or is there a better solution?
My thanks to City of Light Publishing for a digital copy of this book. My thoughts are my own and posted voluntarily.
What Concerned Me
While this is a small concern, I didn’t like the face on Alekizou. He looked a little too scary.
What I Liked Most
This is such a fun story to introduce vowels, sign language, teamwork, and more.
It even shows the local library as a place that makes people happy! Now I ask, how can you go wrong with a book that promotes libraries?
Trixie Angeles –
Alekizou is an unusual looking character with an extraordinary superpower – a bump on his head that can change its shape whenever he wants. He is a fun-loving character and despises reading, learning and going to school. Thus, he can’t read, write or spell. And when he finds kids enjoying the library, that’s when his terrible plot starts running in his head.
A story for kids who can’t see the importance of learning and those who always choose to look for trouble instead of reading their books and learning. A fun story to enjoy with your kids that focuses on finding solutions to certain problems, teamwork and most importantly, changing yourself for the better – not only for yourself but also for the people around you.
Esther @ BiteIntoBooks –
I loved the pictures and the font in this book. I think these are important factors in a picture book, so the book started off with kudos for that. When I started reading, I found out the book is in rhyme, which I’m such a big fan of. It invites children while reading and also teaches them about words that sound the same.
The playfulness in this book is amazeballs. There is playing with rhyme, playing with words, vowels and sign language. This book screams creativity, creativity, creativity!
Tonja Drecker –
The bright, bold cover and illustrations were the first thing to catch my interest, and when the rhyming fun started, it was hard not to enjoy this fun read.
The Alekizou is a unique looking creature, who enjoys playing and fun more than anything else in the world. But this has its price. The Alekizou can’t read. When he sees people coming out of a library, laughing and having fun, he gets a bit jealous. Wanting the kids to play with him, he eats all vowels and no one can read or speak. This wasn’t what he expected would happen, and now, he has to somehow fix it again.
The Alekizou is quite an odd creature, but it’s this which definitely grabs attention. His desire to play is easy to relate to…especially for those who maybe aren’t so fond of learning themselves. Although he makes the mistake of being jealous and causes a huge problem, the lack of true evil content makes him sympathetic and it’s hard not to cheer for him, hoping he can fix things again. His emotions and actions are something young readers will identify with and understand.
The rhymes flow pretty smoothly and weave with clever word play. It’s not a book for younger listeners, but works great for those ages 7 and up, since there is quite a bit of text and the word choice as well as the word play are a little too advanced for the younger end of the spectrum.
While this is obviously a tale which celebrates reading, libraries, and words, there’s the nice addition of ASL (American Sign Language). This is a rarity for picture books, and I was thrilled to see it used in these pages. This will especially draw young readers is and help increase their understanding of this type of communication as well.
jeanncioffi –
This marvelous children’s book, forthcoming June 20, teaches children their vowels. It is beautifully illustrated, giving the story a magical quality that appeals to children everywhere. It includes signing for the hearing impaired, making it special indeed. Nancy Turgeon, the author, is my sister, and Patricia Raine, the illustrator, is my friend. The book is suitable for children learning their alphabet, and makes the “ordinary” extraordinary! Consider it for your young children, and, especially, your grandchildren!
Patricia McKeighan –
“Very fun book for young readers. An added bonus of the use of sign language in the end.
One person found this helpful”
Laura Pedersen –
Learning to read can be difficult and wonderful. Turgeon captures the journey in a clever, creative, and colorful way. The prose dances while the illustrations are engaging and wonderfully diverse. Younger children will enjoy having this book read to them while older ones will surely return to it just for fun even after they’ve moved on to chapter books.
Marilyn –
“One of the best books ever. It was creative, colorful, and taught my 5 year old his vowels and consonants in a fun and entertaining manner. He especially loved this book. The pacifier on Alekizou’s hat was a silly favorite. We hope to hear more from this author. I also gave a copy of this book to their school.
One person found this helpful”
Richard Thomas –
“Smartly rhymed and beautifully illustrated, with clever plot turns from start to finish, this book instructs young readers about the essential function of vowels, the wonders of the written word, the importance of public libraries and even the usefulness of sign language.
The main character, The Alekizou, transforms himself from unschooled villain to savior of literacy and likable classmate in his diverse, closely knit community.”