This week, something terrible happened at Phoenix Bay.
Ripley went missing.
For anyone who doesn’t know Ripley – he’s our beloved reading buddy. And when the young people arrived to find crime scene tape across the classroom, clues scattered everywhere, and a “DO NOT ENTER” sign on the door… the investigation was on.
This was reading week. And we wanted to make it unforgettable.
Our young people became detectives. They gathered evidence, examined clues with magnifying glasses, questioned suspects, and worked together to piece together what happened – and who was responsible.
Watch the concentration on their faces. The curiosity, the determination to solve it.
That’s what reading can do. It doesn’t have to be a book and a chair. It can be a crime scene, a mystery, a reason to think, to question, to imagine.
For young people who have often found school difficult, finding a way in to learning matters.
Sometimes that way in is a magnifying glass and a missing reading buddy.
We’re already planning next week’s reading adventure.
Ripley, we’re glad you’re safe. 
