Thanksgiving for the Junior Rangers
(Authors note: The second half of my first interview with: My Dad, will be out next week.)
This week I was traveling, and that made me think about what the Junior Rangers would be up to over the holidays. So I thought I would let you all know how various members of the Junior Rangers Investigative Club spent their Thanksgiving after the events of the first three books in the series. (yes, 3)
(btw: I went back to Mammoth Cave during Thanksgiving. It was a brief trip, and fun! I had several friends and family along.)
How the Junior Rangers Investigative Club Members spent their Thanksgiving.
The Benitez’s:
Lucy and Miguel made it back to the Dry Tortugas for their father's island-wide party! It was a potlatch event, and everyone brought thier own dish. One of the maintenance workers deep-fried a turkey. Gabriel Benitez grilled steaks. Miguel made a salad, and Lucy stole Rudy's Christmas Cookie Recipe. The oatmeal, pecan, and chocolate chip cookies were a favorite amongst the JRIC. To make the recipe her own, Lucy added four different food colorings to different batches to make red, yellow, green, and blue cookies. However, most of the rangers and Dive Bears were unaware of her addition, and they avoided the sickly looking cookies. Miguel and Chet, however, knew and figured out the truth respectively, and had a field day! Each ate so many cookies that Lucy was convinced her food coloring fix was a hit, leading to a similar Christmas misunderstanding. But that’s for another day, all you need to know was that, despite their odd coloration, the cookies tasted perfect!
Dr. Carmen Benitez, wrapping up the grant proposal for a new research project, was unable to make it home for the holiday’s but instead spent the day in Biscayne with
The Cases and Scheers:
On Adam’s Key, in Biscayne National Park, Justin and his parents spent their first Thanksgiving without Cassidy, Justin’s older sister. Instead they welcomed Dr. Benitez, and had a big dinner with Rudy and his mother. Rudy did not make cookies. “Those are for Christmas, Lucy.” He said on a group video chat the day before. Instead, he made pumpkin muffins, key lime pie, and a pecan pie for desert. Justin helped his parents with several dishes. Rudy wanted to carve the turkey with his pirate sword, but no one would let him. Once the dinner was over, they all sat down to solve the Case’s most recent mail order mystery. Without Cassidy around, they were able to narrow the suspect list quickly, and for the first time ever Rudy solved the mystery first! He was the only one who suspected the butler, totally believing in that old trope. When it turned out that he was correct, everyone else was shocked!
As for Cassidy: "I just spent my entire fall break helping Ric watch Justin and the others in Mammoth Cave! I need a break! Mattie and I are going to see Niagara falls!" She protested over a phone call, then she drove north to pick up her friend and head up to the border. While sightseeing, Cassidy’s suspicion got the best of her and she dragged Mattie Jackson along. They ended up investigating a suspicious man who was unloading strange supplies upriver from the falls. It turns out he was planning to recreate an infamous, and incredibly dangerous, old stunt and post videos online. The investigative due watched him stash cameras around the lookout, before driving to a launching point. They informed state park rangers who stopped him just before he could climb inside a heavy barrel he had been planning to ride over the falls! Although Cassidy and Mattie had, probably, saved his life, she was more disappointed than excited by they resolution. She’d been convinced the daredevil was actually part of an evil Maple Syrup smuggling cartel. Her displeasure was forgotten when she saw a Goshawk flying circles near the launch point. “There’s a bird Justin hasn’t seen!”
The Zhangs and the Caulfields:
Amelia Zhang, her mother, and her father, spent the holiday in Kissimmee with Amelia’s grandparents. They tried to get Ric and Bethany to come along, but the siblings decided to stay in the Everglades. They had a quiet holiday. Amelia’s grandfather read her most recent reports about various JRIC cases, and offered his remarks. “There’s a fine line between risk taking and putting yourself in danger.” He cautioned. “Make sure you stay on the right side.” However, he said this with a smile.
Ric and Bethany Caulfield spent their holiday in the Everglades. Ric had to work. “I might have been on special assignment in Mammoth Cave, but I still have days to work to make up for our travel. Besides, work piled up while I was gone.” He sighed. They still managed to take Thanksgiving day off and run a Coffee Chronicles marathon, while eating Pizza. Without friends or mysteries, Bethany managed to finish more books than usual. When she ran out, she read more articles using Lucy’s mothers University account. (She had learned to hide her reading history.)
The Jacksons:
Although Mattie was off with Cassidy. Trevor and his parents had their first Thanksgiving in Washington D.C. Their new place was palatial, and they hosted his dad’s entire family. It was a weekend full of aunts, uncles, cousins, food, and fun. Absolutely no mysteries, or poorly planned investigations, and for the first time Trevor found himself missing it. Maybe he would listen to Mattie and join his park service friends for Christmas and the New Year, although the idea of a bug filled swamp made him shiver.
There were other Junior Rangers Investigative Club members, real and honorary, and they all too had wonderful Thanksgivings, scattered about the country and around the world. And somewhere in the desert, where years ago several of the JRIC parents had been lost for weeks on end, one figure spent Thanksgiving alone, like always, as intended, holding onto a secret that Justin and the others were only beginning to discover.
I had a good US Thanksgiving, It’s not a given or a promise so I can only hope that did as well!
Stay tuned for more random updates, the second part of my interview, another interview and so much more! Until then, take care. I’m back to posting on Saturdays instead of Sunday’s. We’ll see if that lasts.
It’s still the holiday season, so don’t forget that both Junior Rangers Investigative Club Novels are available, and if you are looking for other children’s books, check out the link below to see a whole online bookshop full of works by Authors of all types for children of all ages. I’m planning on buying a few of these myself.
Happy Holiday Season!
Click the link above, or the pic to the left, to check out a selection of children’s and young adult literature. Fiction, non-fiction, picture books, novels, and more. All from talented authors and illustrators who are members of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. (SCBWI)
My books are there too! But so many more!