The mystery of Sara Beth

By Polly Putnam

Book Overview

Give your primary students more varied book choices in a wider range of reading levels to meet both their interests and abilities successfully-and watch their skills soar! The complete collection features 96 books, many written by well-known author, poet, and former teacher, Margaret Hill. The series is organized into four sub-collections by student interest and reading level. Each sub-collection is accompanied by a helpful Teacher's Guide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813656168
• ISBN13: 9780813656168
• Release Date: January 1950
• Publisher: Modern Curriculum Press
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.2" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 3

Customer Reviews

Sara Beth has a secret . . .

This was one of my favorite books when I was young. It's a nice mystery story for children in early elementary school. When a new girl named Sara Beth joins their class, Becky and her friends go out of their way to make her feel welcome. However, Sara Beth barely acknowledges their attempts to make friends with her. Becky becomes concerned about Sara Beth and her lack of interest in making friends at school. Becky also notices some other odd things about Sara Beth's behavior, which tends to change unexpectedly. Could these things help explain what Sara Beth is trying to hide? The solution to Sara Beth's problem is quite simple, but it may seem bigger to younger children. The story presents a good example of the use of observation and logical thinking when approaching a problem. As Becky tries to determine why Sara Beth acts the way she does, Becky watches her closely and makes a list of her observations before coming to her final conclusion. In the back of the book, there's a list of vocabulary words that appear in the story. It does not provide definitions for these words, though. I think that most unusual words in the book were guinea pig and tetanus shot. One more thing I thought that I would mention is that Becky, the main character, is African American. This is not mentioned at all in the text of the book and is not important to the story, but it is shown in the pictures. I mention it only because I know that sometimes people are looking for a book where the main character is a minority, either for their own interest or for a class assignment (I took a course on children's literature once where we covered topics like that.).