The Case of the Missing Snowman

By Dan Absalonson

A SMART KID MUST SOLVE A MAGICAL CRIME TO CLEAR HIS FATHER'S NAME

Barnabas and his friend Jeff made a great snowman but it has gone missing! From the huge round footprints in the snow it looks like it came to life and walked off. Then they see on the news that the local bank, where Barnabas's dad works, was robbed! A strange crime scene is left behind with large puddles inside and half-melted snowmen outside. No one believes Mr. Thackeray's claims that snowmen robbed the bank so he loses his job. Barnabas must solve the crime to get his dad's job back.

This grade school chapter book is full of laughs, adventure, mystery, and magic. It's great for intermediate readers ages 7 and up but adults will love it too! A great story to read to kids or to give to children who have started reading longer books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Absalonson
• Release date: Sep 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9780463830079

Dan Absalonson

Dan first started writing stories in elementary school, where he and a friend would skip lunch and recess once a month to eat in the library while hearing all about the new books on the shelves. His love for reading, as with visual art and music, has now extended into creating his own fiction. He is also a huge fan of podcasting, and all of his stories are available for free in audio. He works as a digital artist and lives in Washington state with his beautiful family of five. Learn more at www.DanDanTheArtMan.com

Book preview

The Case of the Missing Snowman:

A Barnabas Thackeray Mystery Book 1

A Chapter Book by Dan Absalonson

Copyright 2018 Dan Absalonson

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author..

Visit the author’s website:

www.DanDanTheArtMan.com

Give feedback on the book at [e-mail]

www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan

www.instagram.com/dandantheartman_author

First Edition

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my firstborn son Seth. The story was inspired by him becoming a reader! When he turned 8 he started to enjoy reading, so of course I bought him a bunch of books. Then I read them myself and discovered a love for chapter books! They were so fun to read! I'm also an artist so I loved all the illustrations inside chapter books too. I thought it would be fun to write my own chapter book and draw the illustrations. This book is product of that. Look for illustrations to come in the second edition and the paperback version. So thanks Seth! Love you buddy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to my great team of Beta Readers who read the pre-publication version of this book to give me feedback on it and help me make it better! I really appreciate it! Especially Mrs. Maxwell who read it to her 5th grade class before I had it edited! Her stories of the students loving it and laughing while she read it to them were really encouraging! Here’s the list of beta readers:

Arlene Radasky

Angel Brandner

Carrie Stanton

Rachael Ritchey

Josh Corneil

Sarah Maxwell

Mrs. Maxwell's 5th Grade Class

Steve Schiller

Dustin Cruz

Chapter 1 | A Missing Snowman

My name is Barnabas Thackeray, and this is The Case of the Missing Snowman. I’m a kid detective who investigates magical creatures. Not too bad for a fourth grader right? School is pretty easy for me so I get a little bored sometimes. I decided to start writing down cases of mysteries around town I’ve helped to solve. It will give me something to do while the other kids in class finish their schoolwork. I never set out to be a sleuth of the supernatural, but the world of magic invaded my life in a very personal way as you’ll see in this first story. Now I know it’s real. If you would have told me magic exists before all this happened I never would have believed you.

If you’re curious about me I’m your typical geek. I’m very thin. I wear glasses with black frames, and have dark brown hair. I like reading books and watching documentaries about cool historical stuff like ancient Egypt. Also, I like to dress nicer than most teachers do. I usually wear a collared shirt with a sweater over it. When I grow up, I’ll become a college professor, but I haven’t decided yet on English or History. I figured I should dress the part now. I like looking neat and intelligent, but back to the mysteries.

I’m sure the stories of these cases will be fun to read because they will be incredible. It’s hard for me to believe they happened even though I lived through them. I never thought I would discover truths beyond the limits of science, but the facts don’t lie as you will see in this first case. Even something as innocent as a Christmas Carol written for children can contain truths about our universe that are unbelievable.

It all started with a missing snowman. My friend Jeffrey told me about it the next day at school in the cafeteria between heaping spoonfuls of mashed potatoes.

I ran right past it, he said. I didn’t notice it at first because the bus driver was honking the horn waiting for me. So I ran onto the bus and got in a seat as fast as I could. Then I looked out the window and saw it. Our snowman is gone! he said.

Jeffrey is my best friend. He’s a big guy but his baggy clothes hide it well. If he wasn’t such a carefree curious person, I think people would be more intimidated by his size. He keeps the occasional bully from picking on me though—which I really appreciate. Jeffrey has thick dark