Start with a clever premise: the title. Go to Chickadee Court, where each holiday season, a dozen houses decorate the yards with a stanza from the favorite carol and someone is stealing the birds from the displays. Cast Alex Parakeet and his best friend Yasmeen as junior detectives, Luau the cat as an ace detective, and Alex’s mom, as a real police detective. Add a collectible-toy fad of Super Macho Military Mice (Ulysses S. Mouse, General Douglas MacMouse, etc.), and ho, ho, ho, you’ve got a super-charged, easy mystery that’s genuine fun. Who’s the culprit—the old guy who doesn’t celebrate Christmas? or the kid who can’t have Mice? or the owner of the toy store, robbed of all its Mice? And what do the Mice have to do with the birds? Readers will pick up clues along with Alex and Yasmeen and the ending leaves room for another mystery with them. Breezy and humorous, with chatty dialogue and huge kid appeal, this holiday-themed story guarantees laughs for every season. (Fiction. 8-11)
