The Rules of Wolfe
By James Carlos Blake

Building on his leisurely, quasi-autobiographical saga Country of the Bad Wolfes (2012), Blake uses the characters of his sprawling Mexican American clan to offer a new spin on the kind of hard-edged outlaw tale he’s better known for. The Wolfes are engaged in the “shade trade”: a wide range of illegal activities, mostly cross-border smuggling, but not, as a rule, drugs or people. The Wolfes have a lot of rules, and to that they owe their success.

It’s Rough Being Stuffed: 8 Picture-Book Mysteries about Missing Toys
By Ann Kelley

Whether it’s named Huggy, Fluffy, or Bear, a child’s favorite stuffed animal is not to be messed with. But, alas, toys always go missing—and it’s always cause for panic. In these eight picture books, all terrific whodunits for the blankie-loving crowd, there are stuffie snatchers on the loose, including the obvious suspect (family dog) and a surprise delinquent (pink bear).

Babbit . By Lydia Monks. Illus. by the author. 2013. IPG/Egmont, paper, $8.99 (9781405254236). PreS–Gr. 1.

Babbit, a stuffed blue rabbit, lives with the Big One and the Little One—the latter of whom is “not really very good” at looking after him.

Unpacking a Standard with Mysteries
By Julie Green

Mysteries are adventure and challenge wrapped up together. The best mysteries for youth draw young readers in right away with exhilarating intrigue. They present a problem fairly quickly in the text, and then give readers a chance to solve it all on their own as they follow the clues dangled tantalizingly throughout the story. Mysteries also provide opportunities for students to read closely, pay careful attention to story details, and to make inferences—all activities that are emphasized in the Common Core State Standards! Below are suggestions for implementing CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1–6.1 with notable youth mysteries.

One Last Job: 6 Crooks Who Should Have Quit While They Were Behind
By Bill Ott

Advice to all good-hearted crooks who want to get out of the game: don’t do “one last job.” It won’t work. Never Does. Never. It doesn’t matter what the reasons may be—help the kids you abandoned, get back together with the ex-wife you still love, put together a stash and hightail it for Costa Rica—by the end of job, you’ll either be dead or worse off than when you started. The chimerical one last job offers only a one-way ticket on the Oblivion Express. Don’t believe it? Follow the thin red line of these noir heroes from illusion to reality.

Boot Tracks . By Matthew F. Jones. 2006. 208p. Europa, paper, $14.95 (9781933372112).

Sleuths on Screen: 15 Famous Detectives and the Actors Who Played Them
By Ben Segedin

Adapting popular crime series for television and the movies comes with the challenge of casting the correct actors in the part of beloved characters. Casting the wrong actor in a role can condemn a series to a single outing, but good casting can create a franchise (and make billions of dollars, as in the case of James Bond—$6 billion and still counting). The actor is often the character since many more people may see the movies than will read the books. The actor in a crime series will forever define the character—until he or she is replaced by a younger actor. The James Bond series has survived and prospered using numerous actors in the starring role. Other franchises keep trying to find the perfect actor for the part. The Jack Ryan series is about to feature its fourth Jack Ryan in five films. Some characters transcend nationalities.