The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery

I had read this book back in grade school in the early 90s, and it stuck with me so much that 30 years later I bought it so that I could enjoy it with my daughter. The story itself is interesting and fun to read through, with fantastic writing and gorgeous artwork on every page. However, the real experience of this book begins once you finish the story and start diving into the "mystery". My daughter and I had so much fun revisiting every page searching for clues to be able to decipher the secret codes and uncover the mystery central to the story. The back of the book is presented as sort of a "case file" with information, solutions to all the riddles, and explanations of the various hidden clues. As a kid, I remember reading this book over and over again, probably once every month or two, and I look forward to being able to enjoy it with my daughter over and over again.

My kids (13,11,8) and I enjoyed solving these clues so much! Left it on the table for a week and the kids would work on it anytime they could. One night we stayed up so late, determined to solve the mystery! Great for critical thinking and problem solving! Great for bonding!!

This is a book you could read in a few minutes, but if you want to solve the whodunit mystery within this 32-page story, prepare to spend several hours poring over the text and illustrations. Despite the author’s claim on the Notes for Detectives page that it is quite easy to discover which of the 11 animals stole the feast, it is not. So, please don’t feel stupid if you don’t figure it out right away. There is an easy way to figure it out, however, that is presented on that same Notes for Detectives page, and that is to solve the simple letter substitution code on that page. The first letter of the animal who stole the feast is the letter you substitute for the first letter of the coded message. If you simply plug in the first letter of each animal in turn, by the 10th try you should have the answer (you don’t need to do it 11 times, because if the 10th try doesn’t work, you automatically know the 11th one is correct).One thing you should know if you read this book, is that you need really good eyesight or a really good magnifying glass. Because the illustrations are so finely detailed and the clues are buried in these details, they are many times quite difficult to spot. If you’re over 40, you will probably need some excellent reading glasses or that magnifying glass. You will also have to reread the text many times, and go back and forth between the pages, scrutinizing the text and illustrations. If you’re really into solving puzzles, you could easily spend all day with this book, so make sure you have no work to do before you pick it up and start reading.All in all, this is one of the best detective stories I have ever read.

My best friend and I absolutely ADORED this book as kids, patiently going through and solving every single puzzle and figuring out who did it. We were always stymied by the name of the swan, and since that was pre-internet, we never did figure it out! Fast forward twenty years, and I'm an elementary gifted and talented resource teacher. While cleaning out my bookcase at my parents' house, I found my childhood copy of the book and thought it might be a neat lesson/unit to do with my weekly 4th grade enrichment group. The kids absolutely adore it, as much (or more) than my best friend and I did twenty-some years ago. We all read the story together, and then I let them loose solving the mysteries (I bought a second copy of my own, and then had to scour local public libraries to get more copies for students to share). Some of the puzzles we solve together, or at least start together. They love working in groups, and have a detective log I created where they have to record the clues and solutions. At the end of the year, almost all the kids say it was their favorite unit. This year, as an end of year teacher present, one students even gave me three more copies of the book (that he bought on Amazon :-D) so that kids don't have to share as much. I highly recommend this book--kids and adults adore it, and in addition to being just plain fun, it encourages perseverance, deductive thinking, observation, critical thinking, problem solving and more!

I’ve given out dozens of these books to family members and friends. I’ve talked classes of fourth graders using this book. I did book clubs for kids during Covid. The book is a masterpiece.

I’ve been buying editions of this book for more years than I can remember. I gift it to every 8-12 year old, boy or girl, in my life. Beautifully illustrated and it contains a story, within a story, and then another story. Any child that lives a mystery or has a detective inclination will appreciate this book.

My 10 year old son and I have spent one of the best hours of our lives together trying to crack the code of this book. We have scoured the pages over and over again finding more and more clues. We still have a ways to go to solve the mystery and I love that we get to spend more time trying to decipher this complex puzzle together. It's also been a great lesson in how we can use technology to research certain things to help us decipher some of the clues. In addition to the many different fascinating ways to solve the mystery, the illustrations are beautiful and the story in rhyme makes for a fantastic read aloud. I can't wait to buy this book for the school library and get the students excited about it too. I have a feeling it will become a fast favorite!

This is such a fun book. I've bought it for multiple kids. But in most cases, you'll need to help them solve the puzzles.