Colonel Mustard in the library with a revolver.
Mrs. White in the dining room with a candlestick.
Solving mysteries and figuring out a whodunit or two was the theme of a tween-teen party held Saturday afternoon at the Traverse Area District Library.
The Get a Clue: A Mystery Party was geared to students in grades 6-8, an age the library is reaching out to serve. For two hours, the 21 participants played games, solved mysteries and challenged their brains — many had so much fun they were reluctant to leave at the end.
"I love mysteries because they keep you on the edge, there's always good stuff going on,” said Amanda Egerer, a seventh grade homeschooled student.
The event kicked off with a written mystery and a "guess how many are in there” game. Attendees then listened to a talk by Jake Jacobsen, a retired Leelanau County Sheriff's Deputy who is now a private computer forensics examiner. Jacobsen described his career, which began as a dog catcher and, after he attended the police academy and was hired by a department downstate, moved to road patrol and stints as a K-9 Officer. After he specialized in computer forensics, he spent his remaining years in law enforcement sleuthing through a suspect's hard drive for evidence of a crime.
"There's nothing more exciting than to find a smoking gun,” he told attendees. "Just remember, anything you put on a computer can be found.”
Jacobsen also discussed online safety and how to avoid predators, key information for an age group just spreading their wings on the world wide web.
"A lot of good things can happen with computers, I don't want you to be afraid, but be very careful of the information you give out,” he warned. "Online predators are bad people, you do not know who you are chatting with.”
After his talk it was game time and attendees divided among various activities, including games of Clue, memory matching, a mystery puzzle, one-minute mysteries and Memory Trap. While playing, students munched pizza and other snacks and drank lemonade provided by the library.
"This is fun, I like playing games with friends,” said Izzy Cooper, an eighth grade student at Traverse City East Junior High.
Cooper and five or six classmates attended the event, drawn in part by the lure of extra credit points in a class but getting enthused by the games as they went.
"I like mysteries, I like how they're kind of creepy,” said Grace Duensing, also an eighth grader from East Junior High. "I haven't played Clue in so long, it's fun to get back into it, it brings back good memories.”
The library's Youth Services Department hosted the Get a Clue: A Mystery Party, part of their ongoing outreach to a demographic too old for story time. Previous theme parties include those based on Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket and Lord of the Rings.
"It's a challenge to find something that will be of interest,” said Bernadette Groppuso, Youth Services coordinator. "The kids are at a lot of levels, here, with sixth, seventh and eighth grades — that's a pretty big range of interest and physical development.”
Groppuso noted that the party also provided a sneak preview of the annual Summer Reading Program, which this year will sport a mystery theme. Launching after school ends and running through August, the program usually attracts readers younger than the party attendees but all ages are welcome to enroll.