René Saldaña, Jr.

“The Case of the Pen Gone Missing is a tricky one for a young sleuth. The hitherto unattainable Toots Rodriguez solicits Mickey’s help when she is accused of stealing a classmate’s special pen, the one actually touched by the President of the United States when he signed the bill sponsored by the classmate’s father. Mickey’s observational skills are blunted by his attraction to this deadly damsel in distress, but a timely tip from a mysterious ‘Angel’ puts him on the right track, and he not only finds the pen, but exposes the real culprit.” — Mystery Scene Magazine

Product Description: These lively stories follow Rey Castaneda from sixth through eighth grade in Nuevo Penitas, Texas. As Rey begins to cross the border from childhood into manhood, he turns from jokes and games to sense the meaning of work, love, poverty, and grief, and what it means to be a proud Chicano — moments that sometimes propel him to show feelings un hombre should never express. It’s a new territory where Rey longs to follow the example his hardworking, loving father has set for him.

Product Description: Mickey Rangel, kid detective extraordinaire, has just exited the school bus one sweltering afternoon when he hears a blood-curdling shriek. It’s coming from the creepy neighbor lady’s house. “My lemons, Mickey, my prize-winning lemons. They’re gone. They re all gone,” Senorita Andrade cries. Who could have removed several sacks full of lemons? In this second bilingual book in The Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers, author and educator René Saldaña, Jr. has crafted another engaging book for kids, and his wise-cracking, smart protagonist will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.