The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone

Stan and Jan Berenstain's The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone is a rhyming mystery for 5 year olds about three little detectives racing the clock.

What happens

There's trouble at the Bear Museum. A dinosaur bone has gone missing, and the museum opens at noon! Dr Bear is pacing the floor. Luckily the Bear Detectives are on the case, three little bears with their detective kit and their faithful hound dog, Snuff.

So the search begins. They poke into every cranny and nook. They creep through a dark, dark room with a mummy's tomb. They peer into a very valuable vase (there's nothing in it but some very valuable dust). They're sure they've spotted the thief in the tower, and again in a room full of statues. Wrong, wrong and wrong again!

Meanwhile the time keeps ticking. Eleven fifteen. Half an hour to go. One minute left...

Will they find the bone before the doors open? Who took it? You'll have to read it to find out, but eagle-eyed little readers might just work it out before the detectives do.

This is a proper early reader. The lines are short and bouncy and they rhyme, so it's a lovely one for a child who's just starting to read on their own. There's lots of repetition too ("Will they find the bone? Will they find the crook?"), which helps new readers build up speed and confidence.

It's also a great one to read aloud. Each wrong guess is a mini cliffhanger, and there's plenty of room to stop and ask "Is THAT the thief?" before you turn the page. The spooky bits (a mummy's face in the dark, a gang of wax figures with a sword and an axe) are over in a flash and always turn out to be nothing.

The whole thing is very short, so it works nicely as a quick bedtime story or a first book to try alone.

What to read next

If they love a mystery, the Bear Detectives have another case in The Berenstain bears and the bear detective. This time it's Farmer Ben's prize-winning pumpkin that has disappeared, and Papa Bear is sure he can solve it without the detective book.