My son Will, age eleven, has been reading the Mysteries in Our National Parks series by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson, so I thought I'd interview him about those books.
Mom: So, which of these books have you read?
Will: I've read Cliff-Hanger (#3), Deadly Waters (#4), Ghost Horses (#6), Valley of Death (#8), and Running Scared (#11).
Mom: What got you started reading them?
Will: Grandma gave me one after she visited one of the parks. I think they sell these books in the gift shops at parks. I haven't seen them at my school library.
Mom: We've found them at the public library, though. Do you like them?
Will: They're pretty good. I'd give them a solid four out of five stars. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger and they have no boring parts at all.
Mom: What kind of stories are they? Are the characters always the same?
Will: It's always the same kids who solve the mystery, plus one extra kid who's an orphan or something who the family has taken along for the trip. Endangered animals are often part of the story, like maybe a particular animal goes missing and the kids have to figure out what happened to it.
Mom: Should kids read them in order?
Will: No, definitely not. It doesn't matter what order you read them in. They are kind of scary, so I would say you should be at least eight to read them. There are situations where people are in serious danger, like at one point the kids are in a dark tunnel and their candle is almost gone, or another time a mom is hanging by her fingertips over a deep chasm.
Mom: Do the books make you want to visit the parks?
Will: The one that took place in Yellowstone made me want to go there because the author made it sound really beautiful.
Mom: Thank you for participating in this interview and soon you'll be in a blog!
Will: Cool!
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