Middle school is hard. Solving cases for the FBI is even harder. Doing both at the same time - well, that's just...FUN!
Framed! is the award-winning series about Florian Bates and his best friend Margaret who solve mysteries using a technique called TOAST, the Theory of All Small Things, which helps them find clues others overlook.
Set in Washington, D.C., the pair assists the FBI like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson helped Scotland Yard. Named to fourteen state award lists, the series received multiple Edgar Award nominations, starred reviews, and was a featured pick in People Magazine.
"The real draws here are the two resourceful leads' solid, realistic, friendship, bolstered by snappy dialogue, brisk pacing, and well-crafted ancillary characters." - Kirkus starred -review
A budding genius gets recruited by the FBI to find stolen art in this Edgar-nominated book that has “elements of Alex Rider, James Bond, and Sherlock Holmes” (School Library Journal).
Get to know the only kids on the FBI Director's speed dial - and several international criminal's most wanted lists - when Florian and Margaret get recruited to help the bureau solve a baffling art heist at the National Gallery.
School Library Connection says, "It ill grab readers from the first page with its witty characters and non-stop action."
Simon & Schuster/Aladdin (2017)
Grades: 3 - 7/Ages: 8 - 12
ISBN13: 9781481436311
Also available as an audio book.
Winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery, Vanished! brings back Florian and Margaret as covert consultants for the FBI's hush-hush Special Projects team.
In this case, a young cellist disappears during intermission at the Kennedy Center and the heroes follow the mystery all the way to the White House. In its starred-review, Kirkus Reviews calls it "A splendid whodunit: cerebral, exhilarating, low in violence, methodical in construction and occasionally hilarious."
Simon & Schuster/Aladdin (2018)
Grades: 3 - 7/Ages: 8 - 12
ISBN13: 9781481436342
Also available as an audio book.
Florian and BFF Margaret are back for their third adventure as they try to uncover a spy ring and clear the good name of Marcus, their friend and FBI handler.
Along the way they try to evade a suspicious FBI agent, decipher a secret code that has been used for years to pass secrets in the open, and escape from a vault underneath the Library of Congress.
In a starred-review, Kirkus Reviews calls it "A top-shelf test of courage, friendship, and ingenuity."
Simon & Schuster/Aladdin (2019)
Grades: 3 - 7/Ages: 8 - 12
ISBN13: 9781534408920
Also available as an audio book.
Extras
Curriculum Guides - Click a cover for individual guides
See James win the Edgar Award
Host a Mystery at School
I've written a mystery that takes place in your school library! A spy has been posing as a substitute teacher and smuggling secrets in library books. Now your students have to solve the case and discover who among them has been helping him out. It's an all-new way to get students to investigate your media center. All you have to do is download the two files below and you'll have everything you need. (Average time to play the mystery game is 40-45 minutes.)
.PDF File
Power Point
Research Photos
I made countless research trips to Washington, including annual visits to Alice Deal Middle School - while I was writing the Framed! series. Here are 12 of the photographs I took to help me recreate an accurate picture of the nation's capital.
The amazing Alice Deal Middle School where Florian and Margaret are in the seventh grade. GO VIKINGS!
This talented painter is part of the National Gallery's copyist program. She was friendly and answered all of my questions unlike the mysterious copyist who Florian and Margaret encounter in Framed!
DCFD Engine Company 4, nicknamed the Hornet's Nest, where newborn Margaret was left in safe haven. In real life, in 1919, this was the first African-American fire house in Washington.
The amazing Alice Deal Middle School where Florian and Margaret are in the seventh grade. GO VIKINGS!