Light encouragement for developing literary as well as logical chops.
Following on Sleuth & Solve (2019), nine more mystery scenarios designed to test powers of observation and deduction.
“Malevolent beings” of one type or another—some drawn from classics like “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” or Jane Loudon’s The Mummy! (1827), others being generic creepy creatures like witches and ghosts—add mild chills to each short incident. Along with the occasional visual clue, Escandell’s cartoon illustrations add properly gothic shadows and leering, toothy figures. Following up on introductory instructions for young detectives on how to winkle clues out of narratives and pictures, Gallo concludes each of her briefly told plot summaries or setups with a question: “Which of the three men is the werewolf?”; “Who was the dog that Andrei met on the road?” Solutions, for those who need them, can be deciphered by use of a simple substitution code provided on the inside front cover. (Really clueless readers can turn to the back for the answers in clear prose.) She also suggests ways of making all of this a competitive game, offering arbitrary difficulty ratings for each mystery as a means of keeping score. The art is colored, but faces, being just line drawings, are paper white throughout with little to no attempt to indicate racial diversity.
Light encouragement for developing literary as well as logical chops. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7972-0590-8
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Everyone wants to be a Goofball in this little town, and readers will want to follow their cases in the future. That #1 on...
Best friends, Mara, Kelly, Brian and Jeff are self-styled Goofball private eyes who solve unusual mysteries.
A private eye has to notice everything, and narrator Jeff and his three goofy friends notice every clue, even when they don’t realize its importance. Jeff just notes it down in his trusty clue book, because you never know when something might matter. When Randall Crandall calls the Goofballs to solve the mystery of his missing horse, Thunder, they call on all their detective skills in order to find Randall’s equine buddy. Short sentences, ample white space, oversized font, silly situations and punny wordplay make this a good choice for readers just ready for chapter books. Though some of the plot twists are downright ridiculous—the Goofballs successfully turn themselves into bushes, for instance—the overall story will satisfy young mystery readers with a funny bone. Charming black-and-white illustrations dot most spreads, helping new readers follow the tricky parts. According to the illustrations, Brian is African-American, a welcome touch in a genre where kids of color are often absent.
Everyone wants to be a Goofball in this little town, and readers will want to follow their cases in the future. That #1 on the spine ensures that there will be many more adventures from these goofy friends. (Mystery. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60684-164-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011
A weak outing in a worthy series, with camp safety plainly playing second fiddle to science instruction.
The latest graphic Summer Camp Science Mystery fills readers in on the ups and downs of acoustics—but not without sounding some sour notes.
A pair of thunderstorms provide opportunities for camp counselors to explain the rule of thumb for approximating lightning’s distance and to reveal the cause of mysterious murmurs heard down by the lake. (They aren’t ghosts but noises carrying across from another camp on the opposite shore.) In between, young campers see how an umbrella can be turned into an amplifier for an old cassette recorder, encounter bats, learn how a sonar fish finder works and make cardboard-tube flutes as another counselor tells an unsourced (Lakota, she claims) legend about the instrument’s invention. Also, in what amounts to a direct tutorial in risky behavior, two children linger at the water’s edge as the second storm rolls in, then flee into the woods in panic until they are lost and plunge blindly into a dark cave for shelter. They are quickly rescued, and a weak joke leaves everyone laughing. Interspersed with explanatory glosses, Torres’ dispensable panels depict bug-eyed figures looking over one another’s shoulders and pointing.
A weak outing in a worthy series, with camp safety plainly playing second fiddle to science instruction. (glossary, recap, experiments) (Graphic fiction/nonfiction hybrid. 8-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4677-0734-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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