THE BOX IN THE WOODS

Coming September 8, 2026 from Reycraft Books (Benchmark Education), the first book in this STEM focused chapter book series.

Now available for pre-order.

An exciting STEM-Powered mystery adventure for young detectives!

The Box in the Woods is the first book in the Ari and Cricket series--a thrilling journey that combines mystery, adventure, science, math and friendship, inspiring young minds to explore, experiment, and discover.

The Box in the Woods (Ari and Cricket, Book #1) shows the practical side of math and the real-world use of science research. This is all wrapped up in a laugh-out-loud story about two spunky main characters and their quirky families, along with a bit of magic.

Ari and Cricket don’t know who, or what, buried the mysterious box in the woods, but they are sure of a few things. When the red flag appears, it means there is a note in the box. Written on the note will be an assignment, a problem they have to solve in order to save a neighborhood animal from danger.

Ari’s family is into science. Science experiments in his mother’s basement laboratory are fun and sometimes explosive! Cricket’s family is into math. They tend to talk in numbers and solve-in-your-head math problems are a normal part of dinner conversation. In order to rescue the animals, they will need to use Ari’s science and Cricket’s math skills. True, they always get into lots of trouble for their creative solutions, but the pet owners and the animals do end up happy in the end.

Ages 8 — 11