Cluey Crew 4 – Pop-up Party

Lisa Thompson's Pop-up Party is a short Cluey Crew mystery for 7 year olds about a surprise party where nobody will say who the guest of honour is.

What happens

The Cluey Crew are Cluey Louie, who collects clues, his best friend Maddie, Trivia Olivia, who collects facts, her best friend Tom, and Louie's dog Twitch. One morning they notice people carrying things into the old theatre, which has been empty for years. Olivia's gran once starred in a play there, but annoyingly, Olivia can't remember which one.

Then a man in a sparkly green jacket rushes over. He's Mr T, and his cast has just called in sick. Five of them? Perfect! Before they know it, the Crew are being measured for costumes and packed off to make-up.

The catch is that Mr T won't tell them who they're dressed as, or whose party it is. Tom gets his head measured and is sure he's getting a pirate hat. Louie comes back wrapped head to toe in silver foil. Twitch is given "big hair" and ends up looking like a cat caught in a fan.

Then someone cackles from the shadows. And Maddie goes missing.

It's a gentle puzzle rather than a scary one. The fun is in spotting the clues as the theatre fills up with decorations, and working out which story everyone has walked into. Can your reader get there before Olivia does? (Grown-ups will probably twig quite early. Keep quiet!)

Every so often the story stops for "Olivia's Trivia!", a little box of facts about poppies, tornadoes or how long dolphins remember each other's whistles. It's a quick, easy read with short chapters and lots of talk, so it suits a newer or less confident reader just as well as a keen one.

What to read next

If this goes down well, the Crew are back on the case in Watery Ben. Twitch digs up a strange old key in the park, Olivia is sure it winds a clock, and three men with metal detectors seem very interested in the same spot.