Who Broke Lincoln's Thumb?: Capital Mysteries #5    by Ron Roy Order:  USA  Can Random House, 2005 (2005) Hardcover      Reviewed by J. A. Kaszuba Locke The book opens to an adjacent, two-page spread of illustrator Timothy Bush's pencil sketch map, outlining Washington, D.C. and buildings of note. Ron Roy writes his fifth mystery starring investigators KC Corcoran and his friend Marshall Li. Teacher Mr. Alubicki has given students an assignment to write a report about a famous person. Marshall Li has chosen Spider-Man (Ha! Ha!), and KC has selected President Abraham Lincoln. President Zachary Thornton, (KC's stepfather) has chosen the day for recognition of Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French. People already gather on the lawn, near the Reflecting Pool, picnicking and playing games. As KC and Marshall approach the Memorial, they notice that Lincoln's left-hand thumb is missing. Two park rangers are working on tall ladders to clean the huge statue (Lincoln's statue took four years to sculpt; it measures nineteen feet high from head-to-toe, and that's in the sitting position, excluding the chair and base!). KC and Marshall have five hours to solve the mystery of the missing thumb. They gather clues, especially a red mark on the remaining stub, where the thumb was broken off. Their list of suspects includes two students from the University who were tossing a red Frisbee near the statue, a woman on a park bench painting her finger nails with red polish, a man in the park dressed as Lincoln and walking on red stilts. KC and Marshall maneuver to get a red sample from each of the items on their suspect list. Ron Roy's Capital Mysteries series are not only fun to read, but interesting as well in historical background. The author has written over fifty children's books, including the bestselling A to Z Mysteries®. Who Broke Lincoln's Thumb? is a perfect chapter book read for youngsters. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Kids books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews