The Missing Snack Stash: A Decodable Mystery Chapter Book for Dyslexic and Struggling Readers (Dyslexia-Friendly Chapter Books)

Can a nose that never misses crack the case of the missing snacks?

Someone is raiding the snack shack at Camp Splash. Greg is sure he knows who did it (he’s wrong, as always). Jen has her notepad, her sharp eyes, and one thin gap in the back wall. Follow the clues, meet three suspects, and solve the mystery right alongside the Clue Crew.

The Missing Snack Stash is Book 1 of The Clue Crew at Mill Pond, a decodable mystery chapter book series for children who find reading hard, including readers with dyslexia. Every chapter practices specific phonics skills inside a story kids actually want to finish.

PHONICS SKILLS PRACTICED IN THIS BOOK

• Short vowels with consonant blends (stash, stump, plank, glum, drag)
• Digraphs sh, ch, th and wh (shack, chips, thin, when)
• Final -ck and -tch (snack, back, snatch, catch)
• Double final consonants (grill, mess, huff)
• -ng and -nk endings (thinking, plank)
• Adding -ing, including doubling the final consonant (tapping, grabbing, dragging, sitting)
• Closed-syllable exceptions (kind, find, old, gold)
• Contractions (can’t, didn’t, I’m, I’ll)

BUILT-IN PRACTICE IN EVERY CHAPTER

• High-frequency words listed before each chapter, so nothing surprises the reader
• “Words to Spot”: five -ing words to find in the text
• “Check It” comprehension questions, with an answer key at the back
• A “Clue Pad” activity that gets kids thinking like detectives
• A hidden-letter hunt that leads to a Master Word

FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS
A simple three-reading routine is included: sound it out, model fluency, then build fluency. Short chapters, comic-style illustrations, and a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter keep reluctant readers turning pages.

Written by Toni Stirtz, M.Ed., a certified academic language therapist and licensed dyslexia therapist with 25 years of experience. Designed for structured literacy and Orton-Gillingham-based instruction, and ideal for intervention, tutoring, homeschool, and reading at home. Recommended for grades 2 to 4, ages 7 to 10.

Spot the clues. Crack the case. Be a Clue Crew kid!