The Crow's Ring: Middle-Grade Fiction (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781964064086)

GOLD MEDAL Winning Authors Present

Another Rollicking Adventure

What begins as a fun summer turns wild and crazy when thirteen-year-old Brandon Woodberry and his best friends meet a salty old sea captain with ties to an unsolved 1930s jewelry heist. Determined to both crack the case and save the captain's tugboat before it's hauled off for scrap metal, Brandon & Co. follow their noses and a series of enticing clues.

But the heat is on after Brandon's pet crow, Ralph, turns up with a valuable missing ring, and the line between hero and villain gets murky. Can Brandon and his friends - both feathered and non - solve the cold case, clear their names, and rescue the tugboat before time and luck run out?

Join Brandon for another adventurous summertime romp as he searches for the truth and discovers a curious bond to the sea.

Don't forget to read THE BIRD CAPER and THE BIG DREAM in The Crow's Tales series. Laugh-out-loud mystery adventures to entertain young readers and adults, too!

THE BACKSTORY

The Crow's Ring was always going to be a mystery adventure, like the rest of the series. The Captain's tugboat, the Maryanne, is key to the story. It's based on Thorir's childhood in Iceland, where he'd go to the harbor and watch the ships his father sailed on. He especially loved the look and character of the tugboats.

Another interesting point is that in book two (The Big Dream), Brandon's pet crow, Ralph, finds a ring. The ring reappears and plays an important role in this story. Look at the ring on the book cover-it's a copy of the one Victoria's dad gave her many years ago when she was a young girl. The ring is meaningful to her since she didn't have her dad in her life growing up.

Near the end of the story, Brandon and Josh are served a beautiful Corn Flake Cake. This is a delicious cake with pineapple, whipped cream, and cornflakes. Thorir's Icelandic mother used to make this, and we both miss this tasty dessert. His sister, Ragnhildur, knows how to make the cake, but unfortunately, she lives far from us. We're hoping to try to bake it someday!

Is The Crow's Ring the last book in The Crow's Tales series, or is there more to come? We originally intended to write only one book, the 1st edition of The Big Dream, for our grandchildren, as a gift for them for the holidays. Little did we know we would fall in love with writing for middle-grade readers and with the fun, heartwarming characters we had created. It didn't take long to figure out there was more to young Brandon's story and his adventurous relationship with his pet crow, Ralph.

Instead of a series of loosely connected stories, we decided to focus on the characters' journey through middle school. This allowed us to show how our protagonist, Brandon, and his friends matured in their interests and relationships. In book one, The Bird Caper, Brandon is 10 years old. In book two, The Big Dream, he's 12. And in book three, The Crow's Ring, he's 13, turning 14. As the stories' characters - Brandon, Josh, Penny, Skip, and Sophie - age, their challenges become increasingly complicated and exciting. This approach to the series has opened the door to endless adventures and insights.

So, if you're wondering, "Will there be a book four, five, or even more?" The answer is mostly up to you, the fans!