The Case of the Fifth Word
NoteWhat This Chapter Covers
Unit 3: Mystery and Magic opens with a clever detective story from the famous Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol. Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, a brilliant eighth-grader, helps his father — the Chief of Police of Idaville — crack a five-year-old jewellery robbery. A dying ex-convict leaves behind a strange message: four odd words and a blank where a fifth should be. By spotting a hidden pattern in the days of the week, Encyclopedia works out the missing fifth word and discovers where the stolen jewels are hidden. You will follow the mystery, decode the puzzle yourself, build vocabulary, and study the grammar of questions and clues.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- retell the mystery and explain how Encyclopedia Brown solves it;
- work out the fifth-word puzzle based on the days of the week;
- explain the theme — observation and logical reasoning — and why the title fits;
- use the chapter’s vocabulary of crime and detection correctly;
- form questions correctly and use phrasal verbs common in detective writing.