Green-scaled gumshoe Chet Gecko hits his stride in this hard-boiled follow-up to The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse (p. 475). What with a plug-ugly new janitor, new Assistant Principal Clint Squint’s “PEN [sic] STATE” tattoo and a formerly sourpuss Principal Zero suddenly turned eerily sweet-tempered, there is definitely something rotten at Emerson Hickey Elementary School. Leave it to Chet, his mockingbird sidekick Natalie Attired, and little Popper, a tree frog schoolmate on hyperdrive, to dig up the dirt: the real Principal Zero has been kidnapped by thugs who plan to smooth-talk the PTA into turning Emerson Hickey into a vocational school—for young crooks. Hale throws in wisecracks by the handful, terrible jokes (“Why was the tuna so sad when he lost his wife? He lobster and couldn’t flounder! Ha ha!”), and daffy clues, tucks in an occasional broadly comic pen-and-ink sketch of his trenchcoat-clad shamus and associates, and brings the pot, er, plot, to a boil at a raucous PTA meeting that sees the crooks nabbed in the nick. Hold on to your fedoras: this gecko’s going places. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-202271-6
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
PLB 0-688-15338-0 Sometimes the way the cookie crumbles is a saving grace, particularly in this clever spoof on a hard-boiled detective tale, set inside the cookie jar. The “tough cookie” who narrates is a trenchcoat-wearing, gruff detective who came from a good family—“Lots of dough. Lived the high life. Top of the Jar.” But when he hit bottom, he became a P.I. Now he’s tracking the culprit who’s making mayhem out of the cookie jar by snatching away cookies such as the Pfefferneuses, and roughing up the tough cookie’s partner, Chips. Some quick thinking on the part of the P.I.’s delicious (a politically correct adjective, in this case) former girlfriend, Pecan Sandy, and a crowd of cookie crumbs thwarts the greedy fingers once and for all. The hero gets his man—or hand—and the girl. Wisniewski (The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups, 1998, etc.) is dead-on witty, while his torn-paper collages have a authentically crumbly look. The puns are numerous, but good, and visual details’such as the map of the Jar, a wanted poster showing the shadowy outline “Fingers,” and more—guarantee lots of giggles for onlookers young and old. (Picture book. 4-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-15337-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
Vacationing penguins Gertie and Gus arrive at Holiday Island dressed in their best, only to find themselves at seedy OTEL, where the Bad Guys Club meets, rather than the elegant Hotel de View, which they’d booked. It’s not long before the “rascally rowdies, wretched wharf rats, riffraff, and ruffians,” including the wily weasel, the agile alligator, and other alliterative animals, rip off Gertie’s “beautiful, valuable deep sea pearl.” Enter the Law, spectacularly depicted as a mirror-sunglassed, motorcycle-riding, mean-looking warthog. Questioning ensues, during which readers can spot the miscreant in an array of arresting, clue-filled watercolors based on camera-happy Gus’s Polaroids: “See this picture of a cowboy boot with a bulge in it?” Gus asks, and the chase is on. Far be it from bad guys to pass up a ride in an officer’s sidecar, but Gertie wants speed and tosses them out. The “scummy scallywags” pursue the Law to the Hotel de View and help catch the thief, adding to a high-spirited denouement, in which deGroat (One Small Dog, p. 1118, etc.) illustrates her ability to lampoon snobs as well as lowlifes, a satisfying conclusion to an adventure that shows there’s no place like home. Here is high action, deft characterization to the depth needed, lots of brightly colored pictures, and built-in interactivity in a first chapter book for young mystery fans. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-58717-022-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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