Precious wants to be a detective when she grows up. She is always practicing at being a detective by asking questions and finding out about other people’s lives. There are two new students in her class, a girl called Teb and a boy called Pontsho. She learns that they are brother and sister, and—even more exciting—that Pontsho has a clever pet meerkat named Kosi.   One day, Teb and Pontsho’s family’s cow disappears. Precious helps them look for clues to find the cow. But getting the cow back home will require some quick thinking and help from an unexpected source. *Starred Review* If a young reader—or an older one, for that matter—were to flip through this chapter book, that reader would likely be drawn in by McIntosh’s witty line drawings, the same kind of illustrations that inform and amuse in previous McCall Smith books. For example, a map of Africa with a Monty Python–esque finger pointing south at Botswana; a meerkat perched atop of a lady’s head; and two pages bordered by cow, rabbit, elephant, and snake tracks. But, of course, there is so much more in store. This third book starring the future proprietor of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Precious Ramotswe, begins with the arrival of two new schoolkids, a brother and sister so poor that they must walk barefoot through the brush. They do, however, possess a treasure: an inquisitive, funny pet meerkat. McCall Smith weaves into the mystery charming and exciting side adventures, like how Precious’ father uses a hat and stick to keep an angry ostrich from attacking, or how the meerkat cleverly defeats a cobra. The central mystery is the disappearance of the poor family’s cow, and Precious uses her soon-to-be-patented skills to find it. A marvelous chapter book ideal for young readers, and, really, all fans of McCall Smith. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: McCall Smith is a publishing powerhouse, and his efforts on the youth side are starting to gain the kind of momentum he has with adults. Grades 3-6. --Connie Fletcher "If you’re lucky, you’ve met sleuth Precious Ramotswe in Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency mysteries for adults. Now in  The Mystery of Meerkat Hill,  second in Smith’s series for children, young readers get a chance to follow her adventures.... The book is written with the ease of a consummate storyteller, while Iain McInstosh’s woodcuts enliven the text and handsomely depict the terrain, people and animal life of Botswana."      -- BookPage "A marvelous chapter book ideal for young readers, and, really, all fans of McCall Smith."       -- Booklist  (starred review) “Kids will love this kind and clever new detective.”—Patricia Reilly Giff, Newbery Honor–winning author of Lily’s Crossing Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, the 44 Scotland Street series, and the Corduroy Mansions series. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra). Excerpted from Chapter One THIS IS THE STORY of a girl called Precious. It is also the story of a boy whose name was Pontsho, and of another girl who had a very long name. Sometimes people who have a very long name fi nd it easier to shorten it. So this other girl was called Teb. There is no room here, I’m afraid, to give her full name, as that would take up quite a few lines. So, like everybody else, we’ll call her Teb. Precious’s last name was Ramotswe,  which sounds like this—RAM—OT—SWEE. There: try it yourself—it’s not hard to say. She lived in a country called Botswana, which is in Africa. Botswana is very beautiful—it has wide plains that seem to go on and on as far as the eye can see, until they join the sky, which is high and empty. Sometimes, you know, when you look up at an empty sky, it seems as if it’s singing. It is very odd, but that is how it seems. There are hills that pop up on these plains. The hills look rather like islands, and the plains look a bit like the sea. Precious lived with her father, Obed, in a small house outside a village. Obed was a good, kind man who wore a rather battered old hat. That hat was well-known in the village and even further away. “Here he comes!” people would say when they saw his hat in the distance. “Here comes Obed!” On one occasion Obed lost his hat while walking home in the dark. A wind blew up and lifted it right off his head, and because there was no light he was unable to find it. The next day, when he went back to the place where he had lost the hat, there was still no sign of it. He searched and searched, but without success. “You could buy a new one, Daddy,” Precious suggested. Obed shook his head. “A new hat is never as comfortable as an old one,” he said. “And I loved that hat.” He paused, looking up at his daughter. “It saved my life, you know.” Precious wondered how a hat could save your li