Short Story – Level 1 – Medium

The Librarian’s Clues

It was the quiet hour before the school day started, and Mrs. Keene, the school librarian, was shelving returns when she noticed a small cart by the reading corner. On it sat a messy pile of books – but the checkout sheet was gone.

She sighed. “Every book must be logged,” she muttered, adjusting her glasses.

Just then, Anna – the early bird from the book club – walked in.

“Oh! I forgot to mention,” Anna said. “I saw Mr. Thomas from Year 5 taking some books for his morning reading group. He left clues on the bulletin board for you.”

Mrs. Keene walked over and found three scribbled notes, each written in thick green marker:

1. “If you take the number of fiction books and add twice the number of non-fiction books, the total is 21.”
2. “If you take three times the number of graphic novels and add the number of fiction books, you get 24.”
3. “Altogether, there were 20 books.”

Mrs. Keene smiled. “Now that’s the kind of mystery I like.”

She pulled out her notebook, sat down in her armchair, and began to solve the puzzle.