In the book, The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies places Evan and Jessie going to their Grandma’s house. The go there every Christmas and stay until New Years. They are going also because grandma’s house was on fire. When they arrive, they see all the damage the fire made. Then, Pete the repair guy comes and asks Evan for some help the next day. Evan says yes. Jessie goes out to see the bell and discovers it is missing. She rushes back home and tells her mom and Evan that it is gone. Evan and Pete got the hole in the wall fixed and was cleaning up when Jessie told him that the bell was gone. Then, Grandma came home and got all confused and thought that Evan burnt the house. The next day, Grandma and Jessie worked on the puzzle and talked about the bell. Jessie didn’t mention that the bell was missing. Maxwell comes in and has Jessie watch Get Smart. Jessie suggests that they should become spies and find out who stole the bell. The next day when Pete and Evan were fixing the roof, his mom wanted Evan to take Grandma on a walk. He tried to avoid the hill where the bell is, but Grandma goes up there and sees it is missing. She then completely forgets who Evan is and accuses him of stealing the bell. Evan asked if he could help her home and that his mom sent him. Grandma agreed. When they got home, Evan’s mom tries to take her coat off, but Grandma refuses and says it is time to feed the chickens, even though she doesn’t have chickens anymore. The next day, Pete showed Evan how to use a plumb bob. When Grandma wanted to go for a walk, Evan asked if he could come along. She said she’ll be waiting outside. Evan Looked for his shoes, and when he got outside, she was gone. Jessie and Maxwell made a map of all of the houses within the vicinity. There was one house where mean boys lived in. Jessie said thats where they should spy first. They head over to the house and watch. Evan looks for Grandma and sees Pete’s truck and tells him what happened. He figures that he needs Jessie to help him out. He hears a scream and shattered glass. Before the glass breaks, Jessie sees that they created a device and were using a live frog to test it. The boys tied the string onto the frog’s legs and began stretching the frog. Then, Maxwell threw a rock through the window. Evan runs and sees that the boys that were in the barn and Jessie were there. Jessie told Evan what happened. Jessie begins throwing rocks at the boys and rescues the frog. They begin looking for Grandma. Jessie figures out where Grandma is. They go to the teepee that they built last summer and find Grandma. Evan takes her home. Jessie goes to see Maxwell. Will They find the bell before New Years. Or will they just have to celebrate it without ringing it? Find out in the Bell Bandit. Not able to put my finger on the exact reason why I didn't like this book as much as the rest in the series. Sometimes I felt Evan and Jessie were too immature for their age (ie tantrum-like behavior). Sometimes I felt the plot was dragging and would just be starting to build when the point of view changed. OR perhaps it was the lack of new vocabulary at the start of each chapter or the lack of a content area concept tie-in (economics/law) that would make this more feasible as a read-aloud. As normal, Jessie and Evan have to deal w/ a lot in the very few days that span this book. Though the illnesses were never named, I appreciate the way the author helped the children learn about and deal w/ Alzheimer's and Autism. The resolution for all the topics is great for the younger readers. Though the characters are the same, this was more stand-alone than book 2 in the series. As a KC3 nominee next yr, I hope my students end up enjoying it more than me.
What do You think about The Bell Bandit (2012)?
Very interesting including the fact that I am only 11.
—Kayla
Not as good as the first two in the series, but we still enjoyed it.
—Biteme
An interesting story with an odd cast of character.
—azazel243
