Hana Walker Junior High School Mysteries

My name is Hana Walker. I am 13 years old. My Mum is Japanese, my Dad is English. Japanese call me “half”. But I am not 50/50. I am 100 percent me. I speak English, but I don’t speak Japanese. I go to a Japanese Junior High School. I solve mysteries by looking and thinking. Every day is a new mystery…

This series of Hana Walker mystery short stories is designed to engage students of English as a foreign language who typically are in their first year of junior high school. Every book features an engaging mystery with the same cast of characters, a vocabulary section and set of questions. The books can be used as a focus of a reading and discussion lesson or given as homework for students to work on by themselves.

The ebooks and paperbacks are available from every Amazon site worldwide including Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp and Amazon.co.uk.

Hana Walker and the Dead Flowers (#1)

Every day Aiko brings fresh flowers to school because every day the flowers are dead. “There is a killer,” I say. But who is it? And why do they kill?
Word Count: 1,427 Tenses: Simple present Target language: Third person vs first person verbs

Hana Walker and the Shogi Champion (#2)

Takuma is the shogi champion. But Haruto beats him. The Japanese chess final is only days away. Haruto isn’t a good shogi player. What’s wrong? Hana suspects foul play.
Word Count: 1,694 Tenses: Simple present Target language: Third person vs first person verbs

Hana Walker and the New President (#3)

Nanaki is sure to be the new class president. But then Haruto joins the election. Hana watches. Haruto likes winning. And he has a new slogan: “Build the wall!”
Word Count: 1,525 Tenses: Simple present Target language: Third person vs first person verbs

Hana Walker and the Lunchbox Thief (#4)

Aiko cries: “Where’s my lunchbox?” There is a thief stealing gyoza dumplings. Everyone suspects Takuma. Hana must find the thief to save her friend from big trouble.
Word Count: 1,758 Tenses: Simple present, present continuous Target language: Modals of can and want

Hana Walker and the Impossible Maths (#5)

Hana promises to help Nanaki and Yuto compete against the best school in a maths competition. There’s only one problem: Hana is no good at maths.
Word Count: 2,370Tenses: Simple present, present continuous Target language: Maths vocabulary

Hana Walker and the Hospital Escape (#6)

Hana gets a secret note from Takuma. He wants to escape from hospital. But Why? And can Hana help?
Word Count: 2,161 Tenses: Simple present, present continuous Target language: Why questions, answers; hospital vocabulary

Hana Walker and the Masked Woman (#7)

A woman in a red mask is spying on Hana and her friends. Who is she? What does she want? Can Hana ind out before it’s too late?
Word Count: 2,156 words. Tenses: Simple present and present continuous. Target language: Questions and answers.

Hana Walker and the London Mystery (#8)

Mr Saito set an impossible mystery while the students were on a study tour of London. If Hana couldn’t solve it, everyone would get 12 hours of homework.
Word Count: 2,052. Tenses: Simple past, simple present. Target language: Using simple past tense.

Hana Walker and the Poisoned Pets (#9)

Hana is at city hall for a week of work experience when Aiko runs to get Hana: “Taro’s body is floating in the city hall pond!” Can she solve the mystery before other animals die?
Word Count: 1,820 words. Tenses: Simple present, simple past. Target language: Animal vocabulary, past tense.

Hana Walker and the Christmas Killer (#10)

Mr Saito invited everyone to a Christmas party but he kills the party unless Hana, Haruto and Nanaki get 80% in their worst subjects in the end-of-year tests. How can Hana save Christmas?
Word Count: 2,094 Tenses: Simple present, present continuous and simple past Target language: Using simple past tense

Hana Walker and the Stolen Dream (#11)

Why is Aiko crying? “I’m crying because somebody stole my dream!” Hana wrinkles her nose and thinks: How can someone steal a dream? And who is the prime suspect? Word Count: 1,840. Tenses: Simple present, present continuous and simple past.Target language: Using third person simple present.

Hana Walker and the Perfect Dream (#12)

Hana’s best friend accused her of stealing money from the students while they practised for the graduation ceremony. Who stole the money? Why did they steal? Could Hana clear her name before the end of lunch?
Word Count: 2,125. Tenses: Simple present, simple past. Target language: Use of simple past verbs.

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