The Book BanditBy Kieran Douglas

Kieran, Jason, Warren, Justin and Patrick were all playing tag in the park. It was getting late and it was really cold, so they all went home.

When Patrick got home his mom was at the store, so he went to his room. When he looked on his shelf, all of his books were gone! When he looked closely he noticed a glove on the floor behind the door.

The next day at school, he told his friends that his books were stolen. They offered to help him catch the perpetrator. Patrick said one book was left, but it was his least favorite book.

When the teacher told the class to take their books out of their desks, all of his books and textbooks were gone! The minute Patrick noticed this, he told the teacher. After class, he told his friends what was happening.

Patrick was feeling both sad and a little mad. He slammed his pencil on the desk, accidentally cutting himself. He went to the teacher to ask for a bandage.

His friends decided to find the perpetrator quickly and retrieve those books. They started off by thinking of three suspects.

First they thought Samantha might be a suspect, because she just lost to Patrick in the spelling bee on Wednesday. Their second suspect was Larry, who has been jealous of Patrick for two years because he is a better reader. Finally, they thought of Kristi, who lost to Patrick during elections for class president

They  asked Kristi what she was doing yesterday. She said she was shopping all day long. She even showed them a receipt from Croppers, as proof for her alibi.

Then they asked Larry what he was doing yesterday. He was talking, but it was a little hard to hear him because he was chewing his gum so loudly. He said that he was at the park.

School was over, so they put on their gloves and headed to Sam’s house. Samantha just got back from a vacation in Hawaii. She showed them some pictures from her vacation. They realized she had a good alibi and couldn’t have stolen the books.

They all headed towards Patrick’s house. Larry, his next door neighbor joined them. Jason found a penny on the ground on the way - it was super shiny. They were all playing cards thinking of who could have taken the books, except Jason who was still looking at the cool penny.

Then Kieran suddenly realized that Larry wasn’t at the park when everyone else was. Maybe Larry did it, he thought to himself. Kieran noticed that Larry was wearing two different gloves. One of his gloves matched the glove Patrick noticed at his house after the books were stolen.

So Larry apologized and they were still friends. They talked to Larry about the glove and books and finally he confessed and gave the books back to Patrick. He said he took the books because he wanted to stop Patrick from becoming an even better reader. He just wanted to get better at reading himself. Patrick told him that if he asked, he could borrow books anytime.