Wanted...Mud Blossom

Pap's dog Mud has apparently eaten the hamster that Junior borrowed from his classroom for the weekend, what can be done?

Cute story about an eccentric family, with believable characters and situations. I'll be looking for more books by this author.

“Wanted . . . Mud Blossom” written by Betsy Byars is a mystery set in rural America. The main character Junior brought home a school hamster and it has gone missing. In addition, Mad Maggie has also gone missing; Maggie Blossom and her boyfriend Ralphie find clues that may indicate Mad Maggie was taken against her will. The book is easy to read, and it revolves around an eccentric family who are trying very hard to behave like a “normal” family. However, there is a positive and a negative to being a Blossom; they may not live out predictable traditional roles, but they live interesting lives full of creativity. Junior gets to invent things such as wings for flying, coyote traps, and UFO’s. Anything goes in this story, and show more anything can happen in a world where characters are allowed to live outside the social mores.
Ages: 4th- 7th grade show less

When Junior brings home the classroom hamster, Scooty, he decides to build the best hamster tunnel ever. But when Scooty goes missing, all evidence points to Mud. In the meantime, Mad Mary is missing, too-although Maggie and Ralphie find her bag and cane near the highway. Have Scooty and Mad Mary been kidnapped-or worse? With a mystery around every bend, it's going to be anything but an ordinary weekend with the Blossoms!

Thrift store discovery. I've read several by Byars, but I never knew about the Blossom family stories. In this installment, my favorite character is Ralphie, a neighbor boy. I'm definitely going to try to go back and read the rest of the series.