Title Page

This book was created

especially for

Michael Jeremy Smith

at the age of 8

With love from

Grandma and Grandpa

September 2, 2000

Page 3

"Rooster is up to his old tricks

again," sighed Harriet Holstein. "If

we don't find him soon, it will be one

of those days again. By the way, who's

that boy standing over there?"

Dasher Hound, who knew absolutely

everything about what happened on the

farm, looked over and saw a young boy

walking around the barn.

"If my eyes don't deceive me,"

said Dasher excitedly, "I think it's

Mike Smith, that famous child

detective. I've heard that he has

solved more mysteries in 8 years than

Sherlock Holmes solved in his lifetime.

This could be our lucky day."

Page 4

"Lucky day!" sighed Harriet

Holstein again. "You must be kidding.

Do you remember the last time Rooster

disappeared? Why, Penny Pig was so

angry about missing her breakfast that

she didn't speak to Rooster for 3 days,

and you know how much Penny Pig likes to talk!"

"Hey, here comes Mike," said

Dasher. "He looks cool."

Page 7

The animals turned to greet Mike.

"Welcome to our farm," said Dasher.

"I've heard that you are one of the

best detectives in the whole world. I

have a nose for these things, you know."

"You have a nose for everything,"

kidded Penny. "In fact, there's enough

nose on you to share with everyone on the farm."

Dasher didn't mind making jokes

about his own nose. However, he did

mind it when others made jokes at his expense.

"Silence!" he shouted at Penny.

"At least I have a nose."

Page 8

Dasher turned back to Mike. "We

have a major problem here," he

explained. "You see, Rooster has

disappeared and when that happens the

farm, well, the farm kind of falls

apart. Rooster knows this and he likes

to hide and make everyone look for him.

But no one has ever found him - he's

just too clever. Perhaps a world

famous detective, such as yourself, could find him."

Page 11

Mike looked at the worried faces

of Dasher, Penny and Harriet. "But why

don't you just wait for Rooster to come

out of his hiding place?" he asked, puzzled.

"And you call yourself a

detective!" wailed Charlene Chicken

who had just arrived to join the

conversation. "We can't wait. Don't

you know what happens when Rooster isn't here?"

Mike didn't know. But that didn't

matter. "I'd love to help," said Mike

happily. "And so will Scott, Todd and Kenny."

"If only I knew why this is so

important," he whispered to himself.

Page 12

Mike asked Dasher to gather the

farm animals for an important meeting.

Everyone was soon in attendance. There

was Charlene Chicken, Penny Pig,

Harriet Holstein, Rhonda Rabbit,

Cheshire Charlie, Hoot Owl and Clydesdale.

Dasher didn't waste any time

getting to the point. "Rooster is hiding," he said.

Page 15

"Not again!" shrieked Cheshire Charlie.

"Why us!" cried Rhonda Rabbit.

The other animals moaned and whined.

"No problem," said Hoot Owl. "I'll

do the job." This only made everyone moan

and whine louder.

Dasher finally shouted to get

everyone's attention. "We are going to

find Rooster," he said. "Right here,

right now, right on this farm, is Mike

Smith, the world famous detective. He has

come here from Fort Wayne and has promised to find

Rooster." "No I didn't," protested Mike to no

avail. "I said I'd try to find Rooster."

No one heard him. All the animals

were cheering wildly. The pressure was on Mike.

Page 16

Detective Mike put on his thinking

cap. Well, it wasn't really a thinking

cap, just his favorite old hat, but he

always had better ideas when he wore

it. More importantly, he looked awesome in it.

Mike turned slowly to Scott, Todd

and Kenny. "I have a plan," he said.

"Let's go to the pond."

Page 19

Four ducks were swimming in the

pond. Mike looked at them very, very

closely. Three ducks were good

swimmers, while one seemed to be

struggling to stay afloat.

"Do you know where I can find

Rooster?" he asked.

"It's not possible to find

Rooster," the duck replied. "No one

ever has, and no one ever will find

him. He's too clever."

Mike's eyebrows twitched. This

always happened when he discovered a clue.

Page 20

Next they walked to a field where

some crows were hurriedly eating their

dinner, while Scarecrow took one of his frequent naps.

"Can I ask you crows a question?"

began Mike. "Does anyone know where Rooster is?"

"Everything is not always as it

seems," said one crow.

Just then Scarecrow opened his

eyes. All the crows flew away, except

the one who had talked to Mike. He ran away.

Mike's eyebrows twitched.

Page 23

Then Mike went with Scott, Todd

and Kenny to visit the pig pen. Penny

Pig was glad to see them and started

talking excitedly. Mike scanned the

pen and turned attention to a rather

thin looking pig.

"Do you know where I can find

Rooster?" he asked.

"No one on this farm knows where

Rooster is," the pig answered. "But

I'll give you a clue. Rooster is never

far from the action."

Mike's eyebrows twitched.

Page 24

The next stop was the barn where

all the cows were settling down for the

night. Mike walked around the stalls,

carefully watching where he stepped.

He turned to a cow standing close to

Harriet Holstein and asked, "Why is

everyone so upset about Rooster not being here?"

"That would be obvious," the cow

replied, "if you lived on a farm. Why,

without Rooster, these poor cows,

whoops, I mean, us poor cows would have

too long a night's sleep, our udders

would fill up with milk, and we would

be very uncomfortable."

Mike's eyebrows twitched again.

Page 27

"Where are we going next?" asked

Scott, Todd and Kenny.

"To visit the horses," replied

Mike, "and watch where you step when we

get there." Mike did not know

everything about life on a farm, but he

did know about watching his step around cows and horses.

Page 28

The horses seemed restless.

Clydesdale was nervously pacing back

and forth, his big hooves making large

footprints in the dirt. Another horse

was pecking corn off the ground.

Mike's eyebrows twitched rapidly.

The horse, who was eating corn,

suddenly realized that Mike was

watching. Quickly he turned his

attention to a pile of hay.

Mike turned to Dasher. "Please

ask the other animals to meet me in

front of the barn, and make sure the sheep are there."

"I will," replied Dasher, "if they

are not in the baa-throom." Dasher

laughed at his own joke as he went out

to gather the animals.

Page 31

All the animals gathered in front

of the barn, but Mike was nowhere to be

seen. The sheep were very calm, except

for one, who kept looking nervously

back and forth.

Suddenly, one of the sheep stood

up on two legs. "This is unusual,"

said Clydesdale in a slow drawl.

"Sheep can't stand on two legs."

He was right. It was really Mike

in disguise. "Guess what," he said.

"Someone else is also in disguise." He

pulled a mask off a startled Rooster.

He had been caught!

Page 32

"How did you solve the case?"

asked a disappointed Rooster. "No one

has ever done that before."

"It was easy," replied Mike. "You

had trouble swimming like a duck, you

didn't fly away like the other crows,

you were too thin to be a pig, and

horses don't peck corn. Case closed."

"Rooster is found!" shouted the

farm animals. "Now he will wake us up

tomorrow. He has the most important

job on the farm."

Detective Mike had saved the farm.

He had also discovered why Rooster was so important.

Page 35

The next morning at 5:37 a.m.

Rooster woke up. Several minutes

later, everyone else was awake thanks

to a rather vigorous cock-a-doodle-doo.

Owl closed his eyes and went to

sleep. "I could have done that," he

said. "No one gives a hoot about my feelings."

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