That intrepid hitchhiking doll is back—and gone, as his repeat trek from South Carolina to California goes terribly awry, and Tameka enlists the help of Paige Hall, an investigative reporter, to track him down. With the help of Tameka’s Uncle Ray, Paige sets a new wooden figure, Ms. Imogene Poplar, P.I., to tail him. The caper’s format follows very closely in the pattern set in the first outing, featuring letters and postcards sent back and forth between Tameka and Paige, and updates from characters Imogene encounters on the road as she is borne along on Oliver’s trail from Rock Hill to Alaska. (How Oliver ends up in Alaska instead of California is revealed in a sequence that unfolds on the title and copyright pages.) Cepeda’s signature oils-over-acrylic illustrations fairly fizz with energy and good humor, sliding occasional glimpses of Oliver into the backgrounds as Imogene pursues him across the great American landscape. Pattison’s epistolary text does yeomanly work, giving each of Imogene’s helpers a distinctive character and developing a romance subplot between Paige and Uncle Ray. As with its predecessor, understatement and ambiguity are everything; Oliver’s fans will happily embrace both. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-15-205184-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2005
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room.
Second-grade twins prepare to leave the country, but not without first solving a time-sensitive mystery.
Ella and Ethan Briar are devastated by their parents’ announcement that the family is leaving their beloved hometown. Mrs. Briar has accepted a new job as a travel writer, a job that will send the family to new places all over the globe on a weekly basis. In an attempt to soothe the twins’ unhappiness about the move (“What about school? And soccer?” they ask), their grandfather—a retired, globe-trotting archaeologist himself—gives each a special gift for their travels. Mystery-writing Ella gets a journal; Ethan gets a special gold coin. On their last morning in town, Ethan realizes that his gold coin is missing—and they only have a few hours before they have to leave for the airport. While their grandfather does their chores, the twins methodically determine when Ethan last had the coin—the previous day—and make a list of places he visited to retrace his steps. This allows the twins to say goodbye to friendly faces throughout the town. This series-launching installment’s light on mystery, but it’s welcoming and accessible through expressive, frequent illustrations. The Mystery of the Mosaic, publishing simultaneously, takes the kids to Venice for their first overseas adventure.
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room. (Mystery. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9719-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kellogg (Give the Dog a Bone, see above, etc.) remakes his Mystery of the Missing Red Mitten (1974) into a larger, longer, and more colorful ramble through snow-covered landscapes. Suddenly aware that she’s short a mitten after a long day of play, Annie sets off on a frantic hunt. Her panic gives way to joie de vivre, though, as she finds articles of clothing left in the snow by her playmates, builds fantasies about where her mitten might have gotten to, and thinks about planting a mitten tree, so she’ll always have mittens to give away. In the wide-angle illustrations, a low winter sun sheds buttery light over rolling hills, snowdrifts, the wandering child, and her serious-looking dog. Any reader who has ever worried about getting in trouble for losing something will be drawn into Annie’s search—which ends joyfully, after a brief rain shower washes her snowman’s outer layer away to expose the red “heart” within. The plot and pictures have undergone considerable change, but this is still suffused with Kellogg’s characteristic warmth and charm and all the better for being easier to read to a group. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8037-2566-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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