Panda Puzzle

by Ron Roy

  “So is this what they mean by a Win-Win situation?” Josh asked.

  “Exactly,” Officer Fallon said. “Now how about I treat us to ice cream cones at Ellie’s?”

  “That’s a Josh-Josh situation,” Dink said, smiling at his friends.

  A to Z Mysteries

  Dear Readers,

  So many of you sent in excellent stories for our Alphabet Zweepstakes contest. It was a difficult choice, but I selected Nicholas Oliverio as the winner. His picture is on this page. He sent in a terrific mystery story about a falcon. His winning entry is posted on the Random House Web site at www.randomhouse.com/kids/books/series/az. I loved the story and I am looking forward to meeting Nicholas and his family when we have lunch in New York City.

  This book was about one of my favorite animals, the panda. In doing my research, I discovered that pandas are becoming more and more rare as more and more of their habitat is used for other purposes. I am a member of the World Wildlife Fund, which helps save pandas and other animals from extinction. I have supplied the address below in case you’d like to join, too.

  I’m thrilled that so many of you are visiting my Web site and sending me e-mail! I try to answer each one as soon as possible.

  That’s all for now—I have to get back to work on the next A to Z Mystery.

  Happy reading!

  Sincerely,

  World Wildlife Fund

  1250 24th Street, N.W.

  Washington, DC 20037

  www.worldwildlife.org

  Collect clues with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose

  in their next exciting adventure,

  THE QUICKSAND QUESTION

  “Wait for me!” Ruth Rose said, kicking off her sandals.

  They pushed their feet through the warm, shallow water. Dink could feel the fine sand between his toes. The water was so clear he could see the tiny pebbles on the bottom.

  Suddenly Josh stopped. He turned around with panic on his face. “I’m stuck!” he cried.

  As Dink watched, Josh started to sink. The water was up to his knees!

  “I can’t pull my feet out!” Josh yelled. “I think it’s quicksand!”

  A STEPPING STONE BOOK™

  Great stories by great authors …

  for fantastic first reading experiences!

  Grades 1-3

  FICTION

  Duz Shedd series

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park

  Magic Tree House® series

  by Mary Pope Osborne

  Marvin Redpost series by Louis Sachar

  Mole and Shrew books

  by Jackie French Koller

  Tooter Tales books by Jerry Spinelli

  The Chalk Box Kid

  by Clyde Robert Bulla

  The Paint Brush Kid

  by Clyde Robert Bulla

  White Bird by Clyde Robert Bulla

  NONFICTION

  Magic Tree House® Research Guides

  by Will Osborne and

  Mary Pope Osborne

  Grades 2-4

  A to Z Mysteries® series by Ron Roy

  Aliens for … books

  by Stephanie Spinner & Jonathan Etra

  Julian books by Ann Cameron

  The Katie Lynn Cookie Company series

  by G. E. Stanley

  The Case of the Elevator Duck

  by Polly Berrien Berends

  Hannah by Gloria Whelan

  Little Swan by Adèle Geras

  The Minstrel in the Tower

  by Gloria Skurzynski

  Next Spring an Oriole

  by Gloria Whelan

  Night of the Full Moon

  by Gloria Whelan

  Silver by Gloria Whelan

  Smasher by Dick King-Smith

  CLASSICS

  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

  retold by Stephanie Spinner

  Dracula retold by Stephanie Spinner

  Frankenstein retold by Larry Weinberg

  Grades 3-5

  FICTION

  The Magic Elements Quartet

  by Mallory Loehr

  Spider Kane Mysteries

  by Mary Pope Osborne

  NONFICTION

  Balto and the Great Race

  by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

  The Titanic Sinks!

  by Thomas Conklin

  At first Toots thought it was

  a trick of the light.

  She screwed up her eyes, then opened them wide, but it was still there. High in the corner of the ceiling a tiny door had opened, and a creature, no more than half an inch high, had climbed through. Toots could see it as clearly as she could see the books on the bookshelves. The creature was crossing the ceiling and making its way toward the brass lamp in the center, leaving a trail of dark, smudgy footprints on the clean white paint as it did so.

  Discover a hidden world above and beyond the ceiling of your living room in Toots and the Upside-Down House by Carol Hughes.

  Text copyright © 2002 by Ron Roy

  Illustrations copyright © 2002 by John Steven Gurney

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc.,

  New York.

  www.randomhouse.com/kids

  www.ronroy.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Roy, Ron.

  The panda puzzle / by Ron Roy ; illustrated by John Steven Gurney

  p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries) “A stepping stone book.”

  Summary: Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose investigate the kidnapping

  of the new baby panda at the petting zoo.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-54029-4

  [1. Giant panda—Fiction. 2. Pandas—Fiction. 3. Zoos—Fiction.

  4. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.R8139 Pan 2002 [Fic]—dc21 2001019541

  RANDOM HOUSE and colophon and A TO Z MYSTERIES are registered trademarks and A STEPPING STONE BOOK and colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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