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The Big-Top Mysteries (1) – The Case of the Vanishing Granny

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The Big-Top Mysteries (1) – The Case of the Vanishing Granny by Alexander McCall Smith, and Sam Usher

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By Alexander McCall Smith, and and, Sam Usher

avg rating

28 reviews

Roll up! Roll up! The Shortbread Family Circus is in town! Introducing the first tale in The Big Top Mysteries, an exciting new series from Alexander McCall Smith and illustrator Sam Usher.

Billy, Fern and Joe Shortbread are the stars of their family circus, but they also have another talent … they’re experts at solving mysteries! When their circus moves into a new town they soon make friends with a young boy named Tom. But Tom can’t enjoy the circus because his granny has disappeared and he’s worried he’ll never see her again. With the help of their astonishing circus skills can the Shortbread circus stars crack the clues and find Tom’s granny?

Reviews

01 Jan 2025

I really liked the book because it was really fun and interesting to read on and find out about more, my favourite characters were definitely the dogs because I love dogs and especially these dogs because they were really smart well behaved. I also liked that the book also had a little mystery for the reader to solve, and yes I would definitely recommend it to someone.

08 Jul 2024

Mitzi the dog is my favourite character because she is a smart dog.
The chapter about the surprise is the best bit.
Definitely recommend reading

04 Sep 2023

Its was very interesting. but i knew what the end could be

30 Aug 2023

It was funny, had lots of good parts to it. Favourite character was the Granny because she made a HUGE chocolate cake!

21 Aug 2023

A most extraordinary mystery!

27 Jul 2023

I liked the book because it was sad and happy and it was quite funny. My favorite character was Joe because he figured things out with his doggy. I would recommend my sister reads this.

23 Jul 2023

I found this book quite funny and it was an exciting story

15 Jul 2023

I would recommend it to my friends because people love chocolates and their granny’s. I really enjoyed this book because it was interesting, fun and it was a surprise at the end.

26 Sep 2022

It was a good mystery and they found Granny in the end! Recommend for age 6+.

05 Sep 2022

I liked when Joe and his dogs went to save his brother, sister and Tom [they were very cunning]

02 Sep 2022

It was a really good book. Really mega. I liked Granny the best. I would recommend other children and adults read it.

15 Aug 2022

I would definitely recommend this book to kids between the ages of 6 - 9. My favourite character was Fern because she was a great friend and acrobat. The dogs towards the end were the funniest and smartest characters, because they rescued Tom and were great entertaining circus dogs.

23 Jul 2022

My favourite characters were Romeo and Juliet because the two children were playing for their school and their granny went there. It had lots of feelings in and I would recommend it.

21 Jul 2022

A lovely book to suggest for my Year 2 class to read

09 Sep 2021

I liked The Case Of The Vanishing Granny because some children tried to rescue Tom’s granny but made a mistake and it turned out she didn’t need rescuing. I would recommend this book to children aged 7-9.

08 Aug 2021

I liked this book because they were circus people.

20 Jul 2021

I enjoyed it because I live mysterys and it was exciting and I liked the part when they found the boy's granny and saw she wasn't really missing, she was making a surprise for the boy's birthday. It was a fiction book and I would recommend it to children who love mystery.

06 Sep 2020

beacuse they went to the chocolate shop

26 Aug 2020

when they went to the chocolate shop

03 Aug 2020

It's about four children Billy, Fern, Joe and Tom try to find a little boy granny who has disappeared. The four children used their circus skills to follow the clue whish lead to the boy granny.

31 Jul 2020

I would tell me friend to read it because it is exciting and it's got mysteries.

22 Jul 2020

It did not appeal to me but other people may like it

16 Jul 2020

This book was awesome - my favourite character was Fern - I loved how they helped each other.

01 Dec 2019

It was exciting!!!

07 Aug 2019

I think this book is a wacky adventure of a boy named Tom that lost his Granny and he was sad in the circus. The circus children ( Billy, Fern and Joe) helped Tom get his Granny back.
I recommend this book to 7-12 years as it is and action, adventure and family book.

07 Aug 2019

It was very funny. They tried to find Tom’s granny who was in the chocolate shop

05 Aug 2019

I liked this book because it was a mystery finding the granny and about the circus. My favourite characters are Billy, Fern, Joe, Mrs Shortbread and Mr Shortbread. My favourite part is where all of the shortbread family tell you what is their favourite part of the job is.

03 Aug 2019

I thought this book was really good I like the ending where you find out where Tom’s Granny was and what she was doing! Hint: cake making. I liked all the circus kids and the youngests kid’s 10 dogs
I recommend this book!!!

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