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Plus, I Love Mysteries
The Popcorn Burglar follows an aspiring chef with a passion for science who tries to solve the mystery of who broke into her father’s restaurant kitchen. How did the idea for Silvee Spoon first come to you?
So many kids are interested in cooking, I thought it might make a popular series. Plus, I love mysteries.
Silvee, Parker, and Trina each bring different talents to the investigation. How did you develop their personalities, and which character was the most enjoyable to write?
They were all fun to write. I wanted them each to have different interests, so I worked on deciding which characteristics would be appropriate for each one. I also wanted to add activities, so Silvee’s interest in cooking and science, Parker’s in puzzles, music, and drumming, and Trina’s in dance, art, and trivia lend themselves well to activities for the back of each book as well as Silvee’s website, silveespoon.com, where I offer free downloads of activity sheets and party ideas.
The book includes recipes, puzzles, and activities. What inspired you to create such an interactive experience?
I wanted a way to engage kids more in the books, beyond the mystery.
What adventures can readers expect from Silvee and her family in future books?
The factory-turned-apartment building will reveal more hidden secrets and Silvee will use her scientific knowledge and cooking skills to solve each mystery. The next book is all about cookies and surprising revelations about the family that lived there before it was changed into a factory. There may also be missing pets, a mysterious burglary, and, of course, lots of delicious recipes.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Silvee loves three things: cooking, science, and solving mysteries.
When she and her siblings, Parker and Trina, move into an apartment above their dad’s restaurant, The Fried Pickle, Silvee starts training as a junior chef and quickly discovers the science behind many of the recipes.
Then someone breaks into Chef Spoon’s locked kitchen and leaves behind a popcorn-filled disaster! The clues are strange, the suspects are few, and the triplets are determined to find out who the culprit could be.
First in the Silvee Spoon Junior Chef Mystery Series, The Popcorn Burglar is a tasty chapter-book mystery for ages 6-9 that features hands-on science, recipes, quirky characters, and their tag-a-long orange cat, Hashbrown.
The series also includes teacher-friendly S.T.E.A.M. connections and NGSS-aligned learning.
The Popcorn Burglar
The Popcorn Burglar by Gloria G. Adams is the first entry in the Silvee Spoon, Junior Chef Science Mysteries series. This middle-grade mystery follows ten-year-old Silvee Spoon and her triplet siblings, Parker and Trina, after strange noises echo through their converted factory apartment building and someone sneaks into their father’s restaurant kitchen. Missing food, two abandoned milk glasses, a hidden doorway, and a trail of popcorn give the young detectives plenty to investigate. The setup is easy to grasp, but it has enough twists and suspicious characters to keep the case moving.
Silvee makes an engaging narrator because her curiosity feels active rather than merely described. She notices details, tests theories, and turns her knowledge of cooking into practical detective work. Parker contributes math skills and quick observations, while trivia-loving Trina adds humor, imagination, and the occasional ghost theory. Their orange cat, Hashbrown, brings some welcome chaos to the investigation. Together, the siblings have the comfortable teasing and cooperation of a real family, and their different interests give this children’s mystery book a lively group dynamic.
The strongest feature of this STEM children’s book is the way food science becomes part of the mystery instead of interrupting it. Short science sections explain why popcorn pops, why chocolate melts, and why tonic water glows under a blacklight. Silvee then applies those ideas in the kitchen, most memorably when she makes glow-in-the-dark popcorn balls to track the culprit. Recipes, trivia, and puzzles extend the experience after the story, making the book feel like a blend of science mystery, culinary adventure, and hands-on activity book. The illustrations also help establish the old building’s shadowy spaces, the bustling restaurant kitchen, and the personalities of the Spoon family.
Underneath the clues and experiments, The Popcorn Burglar is a warm story about responsibility, curiosity, and kindness. Chef Spoon’s rules provide a natural moral framework, particularly the reminders to clean up after yourself, control your anger, and sprinkle kindness over everything. The solution adds emotional weight without becoming heavy, showing Silvee that understanding someone’s circumstances matters as much as identifying what happened. With short chapters, playful dialogue, accessible science, and a satisfying case, this educational chapter book should connect especially well with young readers who enjoy mysteries, cooking, experiments, or all three.
Pages: 76 | ASIN : B0H94SYS7B
