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THE CRUMBLY COAST by David Lyon

THE CRUMBLY COAST

by David Lyon

Pub Date: Aug. 1st, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-32079-5
Publisher: Doubleday

A slightly surreal tale by Lyon (The Runaway Duck, 1985, etc.), about a sleuth and her mink sidekick on the trail of cookie thieves. Olivia Smith and Slinky stop for milk and cookies at a roadside cafÇ run by the residents of the Home Away From Home Orphanage, but the children burst into tears, explaining that their cookies have all been spirited away. Slinky and Olivia follow a trail of exotic birds pecking at crumbs, coming at last upon a group of tunic-clad bears performing mystical rites to a ``strange but compelling tune.'' They think the cookies were made for them by little troll bakers; when their error is explained, they remorsefully return the cookies, and in a happy final scene, orphans and bears celebrate together. A satiric touch or two (the bears, for example, appoint a fact-finding commission to investigate the accusation of theft) spices this oddball offering. (Picture book. 7-9)