A Key Keepers Mystery is an educational child book set in Key West, Florida

Welcome to KeyKeepersMystery.com! Here readers and teachers will find loads of fun educational activities, a cyberhunt or web quest, photographs, and information related to the first book in the Key Keepers series, A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins by child educator Liz Shore. Each book in the series will be a regional mystery, but the story that begins it all is set in the author's home state of Florida.

With or without the book, this website will help you uncover interesting facts about Florida and the United States. If you're interested in discovering clues to the oldest settlement in the United States, the largest subtropical wilderness on the continent, and an island where Elvis might still be "king", then you have come to the right place! The Game Begins with a vacation to the historic forts of St. Augustine, but it soon leads the characters on a swamp tromp through the Everglades and then into the coral reefs of the Florida Keys and finally to Key West. What they discover there will change their lives forever. They hold the keys to this mystery. They are the Key Keepers.

A weird poem, an etched skylight, a 13-hour clock, a map with missing states, a cookbook of island recipes, a six-toed cat, and the dying wish of an eccentric old man. These are the keys that will unlock the mystery to a great family treasure, if only Maddie, Michael, & Emma can get to it first.

The mystery is set into motion when Great Uncle Jack falls ill quite suddenly and must entrust 12-year-old Emma with a clue to the whereabouts of his secret treasure. He swears her to secrecy and warns her there are enemies who will try to get to the treasure first. Two other children (Michael, a 10-year-old boy, and Maddie, his 12-year-old sister) have just come to live with Jack in his gothic manor after their parents disappear in a plane crash. Jack encourages a wary Emma to let only Maddie and Michael help her solve the mystery of his greatest treasure. After some intense sleuthing, the children realize they must travel to Key West, Florida. Read Chapter 1 now.

A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins is a wholesome and fun story with many exciting moments as the main characters learn what it means to be a family. Read comments and reviews. Read about author and educator Liz Shore.

Click here to purchase A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins (ISBN: 1424136881) from online bookstores, or request your local bookstore to order it for you. This book is appropriate for any child, age 9 and up.

ATTENTION TEACHERS! Be sure to check out the Teaching Ideas and Educational Activities and Student Projects pages.

ONLINE PRESS CLIPPINGS: The Johnson City Press

Link to my website Related Web Links

KEY KEEPERS KLUB ~~A writing workshop for homeschoolers in Gwinnett County, Georgia

	Cyberhunt / Web Quest	Here are links to help any child picture and understand what is happening in the book. Take a virtual tour of St. Augustine, the Everglades, the coral reef of the Florida Keys, and Key West.
	The Greatest Treasure	Track the clues from Uncle Jack's poem. Use it to make predictions and find the missing family treasure!
	Games and Puzzles	Play the same games that Maddie, Michael, and Emma do. Play memory games of animals found in South Florida. See if you can beat them at Jeopardy games about St. Augustine, South Florida (the Everglades), and the Florida Keys (Key West). Solve the mystery of Uncle Jack's odd map, and play interactive crossword puzzles using vocabulary words from each chapter of the book. Get together with your friends to play Smugglers, a game like "Clue" that uses characters, rooms, and props from A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins by Liz Shore.
	Sketch a Scene	Try your hand at sketching a passage from the story. Have your artwork posted here.
	Behind the Scenes	Look at the people and places that inspired the author to write the book. See photos of St. Augustine, the coral reef of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and other attractions of the Florida Keys, including the Ernest Hemingway house and its polydactyl cats in Key West. You can also go here to learn more about author Liz Shore and illustrators Marilyn Speakman and Adam Bowman.
	Greystone Manor	This diagram of the inside of Uncle Jack's 3-story mansion will help you track the characters' movements as they look for clues.
		Find places mentioned in the story.
	Keys to Good Character	Read the list of character qualities that guide Emma's conscience.
	Nicknames	Who are these characters that Maddie refers to in her nicknames for Michael?
	Glossary	Want to learn the meaning of a word from the story? Look here!
	You're the Critic	Write a book review on A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins by Liz Shore. Tell the author what you liked about the characters, setting, and plot. Tell her what you think could have been better. (Please send your review in an email and put "book review" in the subject line. Send email to shore@keykeepersmystery.com)
	Ideas & Suggestions	Help the author with her next book. Suggest interesting places for the characters to visit in the Appalachian Mountain region (North Georgia, Western North Carolina, and East Tennessee). (Put "ideas"* in the subject line of your email. Send it to: shore@keykeepersmystery.com.)*
	Student Projects	Meet the author's students and look at their projects based on A Key Keepers Mystery: The Game Begins. View their murals and reports of the Everglades and projects on the coral reef of the Florida Keys. Animal and plant research outlines are available here for you to use when gathering information for similar reports.
	For Teachers	Here are teaching ideas and handouts to use in the classroom. Educational activities related to the book are provided in an integrated curriculum. This includes vocabulary and many other language arts, social studies, science, and math lessons relating to the history and ecology of St. Augustine, the Everglades, and the Florida Keys, including Key West.

Copyright Policy: All material on this website is protected by copyright. Teachers and students may freely reproduce anything on this site for personal or classroom use. No material on this site may be used in commercial publication without the author's written consent. Feel free to link to this website.

*shore@keykeepersmystery.com* This website is written and maintained by the author. Email from readers and teachers is appreciated, but spam mail will be deleted. Please reference *www.KeyKeepersMystery.com* in the subject line of your email.

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