I gave this to my grandson in early June as school was closing in the hope it would keep him reading over the summer. I went over to visit and walked in the door to find him reading it diligently with a piece of paper in his hand. He kept writing letters down and them jumped up and said "I solved it" and showed me the solution. My daughter told me he has been going though the chapters and really enjoying it. She read him the first chapter and then "was too busy to read the next,so suggested he could do it himself". He could and did - reading level is fine for a boy who is just an average 2nd grade reader.

George Stanley's Third Grade Mysteries are interesting stories that kids want to read. Two lines in The Puzzle of the Pretty Pink Handkerchief are particularly interesting for parents and teachers. They are...
"Mr. Merlin's third-grade class was special. They were known as the Third-Grade Detectives." If classrooms were only as good as the one that Stanley describes, we wouldn't have any education problems anymore.

I only gave it four stars because I don't think they are super great books, but my son really likes them and that is saying a lot. He likes the mysteries and how they are solved.