The Great Louvre Heist: A Real-Life Detective Story!

When you have a real unsolved case to analyze, it is definitely exciting! The tween members of the club actively participated in analyzing the case and drafting theories.

Photo by DAT VO on Unsplash

A YouTube video on CBS News Channel gave us all the information we needed to get started. The tween writers on the Young Writers’ Club (Jr.) don’t always take anything they read or see at face value but like to probe further. They clearly were not going to get carried away with the information on the surface. They had questions for which there are no clear answers yet.

“Why broad daylight?” was one of the first questions that emerged. Almost in every mystery story that one might have read or movie one might have watched, robberies such as this one, generally happens in the night. Alarms disengaged and theatrics follow.

“Could it be for publicity? After all, The Mona Lisa shot to fame because it went missing!”

“Since it was carried out in broad day light, could it have been a spur of the moment decision? That could explain the crown being left behind in a hurry. This wasn’t a well planned robbery.”

“Their plan seems pretty straightforward. Dressed in special uniforms they could go unnoticed. But how did they break open the glass in which these crown jewels were showcased? What about the alarms?”

“The alarms must have gone off prompting the security personnel to arrive at the scene. But they were threatened with the glass cutting tool and hence had to backoff. Plus they had to keep in mind the security of the visitors to the museum.”

“What could be the purpose of stealing these royal items? To sell? But they would get caught!”

“To sell they would have to cut the pieces of jewelry, change its form, cut the stones…but that would diminish the value immensely. So what’s the point?”

“Even if the stones are cut and new pieces made, it still would fetch a lot of money.”

“Somehow, The Mona Lisa story keeps coming up in my mind. An inconspicuous painting somewhere in Louvre, shot to fame when it went missing. The thief was nabbed trying to sell the painting later.”

“A valuable painting cannot be split into pieces but jewelry can. So perhaps these pieces are lost forever. Somehow the lapse in security in such a big museum is hard to ignore. Something doesn’t sit right!”

The discussion ended on that note. It would be interesting to keep track of the case and see if we get more clues to our little real life based mystery discussion!

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Every week, the tween writers on the club participated in a group discussion that is based on current news or a writing aspect or a visual/critical thinking activity. At times news such as this one enables them to observe the same matter from different angles and make connections with what they have read or seen earlier.

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The Young Readers' Club is a book club for the 8-12 age group. We also offer vocabulary-building activities and mini writing lessons for a little variety!

For those aged 9-12, check out our writing programs at Young Writers' Club Jr..

The Young Writers' Club program for ages 13-16 provides a weekly platform to read and discuss curated articles from the news, observe writing techniques, and practice writing skills.

Tween Tribune is an online magazine for the Young Writers' Club (Jr.) program for tweens. Weekly updates of our discussions are published, and every six months, the best writing by our tween members is showcased.

Musings from the Young Writers' Club is an online magazine that highlights the work we do at the Young Writers' Club.