Franklin W Dixon’s The Missing Playbook is a baseball mystery for 7 year olds starring two brothers who can’t leave a puzzle alone.<\/p>\n
Joe Hardy is eight and Frank is his big brother. They both play for the Bayport Bandits, and the new season is about to start.<\/p>\n
At the team barbecue, Coach Quinn shows everyone her brand-new playbook. It’s bright red and full of drills and batting orders. Frank flicks through it, puts it down on the coffee table and wanders off to play a party game.<\/p>\n
Then the party gets interrupted. Some players from the rival team have been toilet-papering the trees outside! By the next practice, the playbook has vanished.<\/p>\n
So who took it? The rivals had a reason. So did Tommy, who’s cross that Speedy gets to pitch instead of him. The boys climb up to their hidden tree house and start working through the Five Ws (who, what, when, where and why), just like their private investigator dad taught them.<\/p>\n
This is the second Hardy Boys Clue Book, and what makes these ones different is that your reader gets to play detective too. Just before the answer, the story stops and asks them to write down their suspects and the clues that helped. It’s a great excuse to argue about who did it over tea (you might find yourself joining in).<\/p>\n
The clues are fair. A friend’s new camera turns out to be very useful, and the boys have to look really carefully at what’s in each photo. Readers who spot the answer before Frank does will feel VERY clever.<\/p>\n
Speedy is a brilliant character. She’s the star pitcher and she talks so fast that her words all run together. There’s lots of team spirit here too. The boys care about the Bandits, and they hate the thought that someone on their own side might be to blame.<\/p>\n
One thing you might want to chat about. In their hurry to solve it, Frank and Joe go through another team’s bags and a teammate’s locker without asking. It’s played as exciting, but it’s a good little talking point.<\/p>\n
It’s an American book, so it’s all Little League, gym class and Mom. None of that gets in the way.<\/p>\n
If they enjoy this one, the brothers’ first Clue Book case is The Video Game Bandit, where they’re helping set up a big fundraiser for the same team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Franklin W Dixon’s The Missing Playbook is a baseball mystery for 7 year olds starring two brothers who can’t leave a puzzle alone. Joe Hardy is eight and Frank is his big brother. They both play for the Bayport Bandits, and the new season is about to start. At the team barbecue, Coach Quinn shows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12364,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7573,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Video Game Bandit","lr_seo_hook":"Two brothers hunt for a missing baseball playbook, and readers can join in."},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[19],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[335],"class_list":["post-7574","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-7-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-franklin-w-dixon"],"yoast_title":"Hardy Boys Clue Book 02 – The Missing Playbook by Franklin W Dixon | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Two brothers hunt for a missing baseball playbook, and readers can join in. For ages 7+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n