Watching the Watcher

By: Riley, Ryan

Five friends decided the quiet man on the corner wasn't what he seemed. They were right. They were also wrong.

It started with one kid walking off a field mid-game. No tag. No reason. Just gone. Nobody else noticed. The gang did. And by the time they figured out what they were actually looking at, they had built a story so solid that nobody stopped to ask if it was true. One detail became a pattern. One pattern became a theory. One theory became a plan. The story ran ahead of the facts, and they followed it.

That's the trap.

This is the story of five friends who learned how fast a story can form, how good certainty feels, and how much it costs to be sure of something that isn't. What they find out about the man they've been watching will force them to question everything. Including the one thing they thought they were doing right.

Leadership doesn't start when you figure it out. It starts when you're willing to find out you were wrong. Somebody's watching. The question is whether you're watching the right thing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1967386765
• ISBN13: 9781967386765
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Lil Smith a Division of Silversmith Press
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7