Doreen Cronin’s The Legend of Diamond Lil: A J.J. Tully Mystery is a tale of intrigue, deception, and – well – chickens. It is a marvelously tangled web of solid clues, red herrings, and everything in between, one that is interesting enough that child readers will be willing to return to the text for some deep literary analysis. Yippee!

To do so in a creatively fun way, Read Write Think is offering an interactive tool entitled The Mystery Cube. It is so easy! Simply enjoy reading this great story, then access the Mystery Cube link. Type the answers into the interactive site as they correspond to Diamond Lil’s story line. You know…plot, characters, clues, setting, and the like.  Have the child recall as many aspects of the Legend... as they possibly can. Be thorough. When complete, hit PRINT and – boom – you’ve created a story cube that offers countless opportunities to reinforce the important literary elements of this great mystery and teach about the story structure of the genre as a whole.

Try it! It’s a ton of fun. Almost as enjoyable as teasing Vince the Funnel.