One chilly fall evening, Mira, an  8 year old girl went to the neighborhood Vineland library with her puppy Fluffy. Mira loved solving mysteries and problems in her free time. The library looked beautiful with the crunchy leaves and bright orange pumpkins outside the library. Mira also saw some water dripping from the old rusty roof of the library.  
When she walked in the library, she noticed some of her favorite books like Marvin Redpost and Pixie Tricks were missing from the bookshelves in the kids area. At first, she thought that the librarian simply moved them to another area. So she decided to return back to the library a few days later.  
 
But when she came back, she could even see some more books were missing. Mira asked the librarian if she had noticed that the books had been missing. The librarian said it was a mystery to her too! Mira was so excited.  
 
Mira and Fluffy started looking for clues immediately. When she had walked for a while around the library, she suddenly noticed something that made her stop. There were green slimy footprints on the floor.  
 
"Fluffy, look !" Mira whispered. Fluffy sniffed the footprints and followed them across the library. The footprints led to a bookshelf. Mira looked behind the bookshelf but there was nothing there. Then she heard a strange noise .  
 
"scratch.....scratch" 
 
Mira and Fluffy turned around quickly. For a moment, Mira thought she saw a scary, slimy goblin head peeking from one of the bookshelves. But  when she looked around again, it had vanished.  
 
She made a guess. Maybe a kid had been sneaking into the library and taking the books. Mira watched the library for a while, but her guess did not work. No kid had come to take any book in the past few hours.  
 
She knew she had to keep looking, so the next day, Mira and Fluffy came back to the library. This time, the footprints led past the bookshelf and towards the backdoor. Mira carefully opened the door. Outside the footprints continued towards an old shed behind the library. Fluffy barked excitedly. Mira followed him and opened the  creaky door to step inside. There, stacked in a corner were all the missing books. Mira could hardly believe her eyes. Then she heard a soft voice.  
 
"Please don't take them away".  
Mira turned around. A little green goblin was hiding behind the books.  
"You took all these cool books?"  
 
The goblin nodded sadly. "I didn't want to hurt anyone" , he said. "I found this little quiet place in the shed and I wanted to learn and read. But I was too frightened to ask anyone". 
Mira understood that the goblin wanted them in his isolated little room in the old shed. Mira grinned.  
 
"You should have asked ", she said "We can find a better way". The goblin looked surprised.  
"Really?" 
"Really", Mira said.  
 
Together , Mira, Fluffy and the goblin carried the books back to the shelves of the Vineland library. The librarian was relieved to see the missing books again. When Mira explained what had happened, everyone was amazed. The goblin promised never to take the books without asking and the librarian even gave the goblin his own library card.  
 
Mira felt grateful and amazed that she had solved the mystery. As she walked home with Fluffy, Mira smiled. She had learnt that solving a mystery takes patience, careful thinking and perseverance, and sometimes the answer is not what you expect!