The Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity

(Barnett, M., & Rex, A. (2009). The case of the case of mistaken identity. New Yourk: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. )

Summary: Steve Brixton is a 12 year old who aspires to be a detective. His mom’s boyfriend, a police officer, doesn’t believe in Steve’s abilities even though Steve solves a troubling mystery of the boyfriends in minutes at the dinner table. Steve’s innocent school research project then hurtles him head first into a mystery involving librarians who are really secret service agents and books on that hold national secrets. He is wanted by the police and on the run trying to prove his own innocence. It’s Steve’s dream come true.

 

Reading Level: Ages 9-12, Lexile 590L

Key words/phrases:

1.      Detective

2.      Mystery

3.      Adventure

4.      Friendship

5.      Librarians as secret agents

Suggested Delivery: Third Grade Read Aloud

Electronic Resources:

1.   "The Home of the Brixton Brothers Detective Agency": this website is the home site of this book series. It includes material and pages for kids, as well as a link to “Tips and tricks on writing your own suspenseful mystery!”.
2.   The “Anatomy of a Mystery” would be helpful for teachers when preparing students during the “Before” activity and when assisting students in writing their own mysteries:

Teaching Suggestions:

   Key Vocabulary: gingerly, greasepaint, library of congress, walkie-talkie, elated

   Reading strategies to increase comprehension:

         Before: Discuss the components of a mystery novel and brainstorm with the students parts of a mystery novel. Create a chart outlining these parts before reading.

Story Parts	How story parts are used in a mystery	Examples from books
Characters
Setting
Plot
Problem
Solution

         During: Have students mark book with Thinkmarks (http://in2books.epals.com/content/strategy.aspx?caid=Reading_Strategy&plankid=2&divid=Thinkmarks) as the book is being read. On the Thinkmarks, the students can jot down any questions, comments, or noting an interesting phrase or sentence, in general, or which adds to the genre of mystery. The students can then share their Thinkmarks with a partner, or the whole class at designated times (such as when you are done reading for the day). During the reading of this book, the students can add examples and parts of the mystery genre that arise unmentioned in the “Before” activity.

         After: Have the students create a story map of the book outlining the major characters and events in the story and showing the progression of the story from beginning to end. The students’ story map can take any form, such as a chart, drawing, collage, or mural.



Mac Barnett



Writing activity demonstrating inferential comprehension: After the class has read several other books which fall into the genre of mystery, have students complete a comparison matrix.

	The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity	Book #2	Book #3
Characters
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Solution

The matrix will be used to help students write their own mystery story. One suggestion is to have students take a central theme from each of the mysteries highlighted and imitate it. For this book, they could take something ordinary (for this book, the Library of Congress call numbers) and changing the reason for it. The students should be encouraged to use the “before” chart, the story map, and the story comparison matrix in the formation of their story. They could also use the planning your mystery chart form Scholastic (http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/f.jsp?id=41122) to help them map out their story. The “Tips and tricks on writing your own suspenseful mystery!” from the Brixton Brothers website (http://www.brixtonbrothers.com/extras.php) would also be helpful for the students while brainstorming ideas or for imitating the language used in this book.