The Runaway Racehorse (7 page)

Dear Readers,

One of the most interesting parts of writing the A to Z series has been selecting ideas and words for titles. Some titles have come easily, such as
The Absent Author
and
The Deadly Dungeon.
But other titles are much harder to come up with, such as those for the Q. book and the future X book.

Some of you have helped by sending me your ideas, and I do appreciate that. The title
The Invisible Island
came from a reader in Ohio.

Coming up with the R title was fun. After all, my name is Ron Roy, and one of my fictional friends is Ruth Rose. As I began to think about the R book, I made a list of some of
my favorite R words. Here’s a short list. Maybe you can add some of your own favorite R things.

RABBIT
—
what’s cuter than a bunny?

RACCOON
—
I love their little hands

RAIN FOREST
—
great sights, smells, and sounds

RAINY DAY
—
I stay inside and read!

RASPBERRY
—ice cream!

RED
—
like roses and robins’ breasts

REDWOODS
—
so awesome to see

REINDEER
—
how else would Santa get here?

RELAXING
—
with a good mystery book!

RICH
—
I feel rich because I have good friends

ROCKET
—
blast off to outer space!

RUBBER BAND
—
what a super invention!

RUNNING
—
one of my favorite ways to get exercise

And, of course, the most special R word is
READING
!

I hope you enjoyed reading
The Runaway Racehorse.
It was fun doing
the research. I even visited the racetrack in Saratoga Springs, New York. I met a nice worker who showed me the huge green barns and the private viewing boxes.

Here’s a picture of me with the Alphabet Zweepstakes winner, Nicholas Oliverio, and his brother, Eric, at lunch in New York City! We had a great time!

Happy reading!

Sincerely,                    

Collect clues with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose
in their next exciting adventure,

THE SCHOOL SKELETON

“Miss Shotsky, where’s Mr. Bones?”

The nurse had her back to Dink. “Right there, where he always is,” she said.

Dink stared at the empty corner. The school skeleton had hung there as long as Dink could remember. But now the only thing Dink saw in the corner was a red scarf hanging on a hook. “He’s not there,” Dink said.

Miss Shotsky looked. Her mouth dropped open. “Well, I’ll be hog-tied,” she said. “He
is
gone!”

A STEPPING STONE BOOK
^™

Great authors write great books …
for fantastic first reading experiences!

Grades 1-3

Duz Shedd
series
    by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Junie B. Jones
series by Barbara Park
Magic Tree House
^®
series
    by Mary Pope Osborne
Marvin Redpost
series by Louis Sachar

Clyde Robert Bulla
The Chalk Box Kid
The Paint Brush Kid
White Bird

J.C. Greenburg
#1 Andrew Lost on the Dog
#2 Andrew Lost in the Bathroom

Jackie French Koller
Mole and Shrew Are Two
Mole and Shrew All Year Through
Mole and Shrew Have Jobs to Do
Mole and Shrew Find a Clue

Jerry Spinelli
Tooter Pepperday
Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale

Grades 2-4

A to Z Mysteries
^®
series by Ron Roy
The Katie Lynn Cookie Company
series
    by G. E. Stanley
Adèle Geras
Little Swan

Stephanie Spinner & Jonathan Etra
Aliens for Breakfast
Aliens for Lunch
Aliens for Dinner

Gloria Whelan
Next Spring an Oriole
Silver
Hannah
Night of the Full Moon
Shadow of the Wolf

NONFICTION
Magic Tree House
^®
Research Guides
    by Will Osborne and
    Mary Pope Osborne

Grades 3-5

The Magic Elements Quartet
    by Mallory Loehr
#1: Water Wishes
#2: Earth Magic
#3: Wind Spell
#4: Fire Dreams

Spider Kane Mysteries
    by Mary Pope Osborne
#1: Spider Kane and the Mystery Under
    the May-Apple
#2: Spider Kane and the Mystery at
    Jumbo Nightcrawler’s

NONFICTION
Thomas Conklin
The
Titanic
Sinks!

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Balto and the Great Race

Text copyright © 2002 by Ron Roy
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by John Steven Gurney
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House
Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.randomhouse.com/kids
www.ronroy.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roy, Ron.
The runaway racehorse / by Ron Roy ; illustrated by John Steven Gurney
p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries)
SUMMARY:
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose investigate the disappearance of a valuable racehorse that Dink’s uncle and his friend, Forest Evans, have just bought and entered in a race at Saratoga.
eISBN: 978-0-307-54467-4
[1. Race horses—Fiction. 2. Horses—Fiction. 3. Larchmont (N.Y.)—Fiction. 4. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.R8139 Ru 2002     [Fic]—dc21     2002002726

RANDOM HOUSE
and colophon and
A TO Z MYSTERIES
are registered trademarks and
A STEPPING STONE BOOK
and colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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