Even readers who aren’t sports fans will get a kick out of it.
Pawston Elementary’s dog detectives return for the case of a sabotaged soccer match.
With the Pawston Dynamos facing off against the Catskills Cougars in the soccer championship, Ziggy and Rora argue who will be named MVP. Ziggy backs Pawston’s own David Geckom while Rora predicts it will be Cougar Lion L. Messy. Rider, not a soccer fan, watches their fanaticism with bemusement. Readers who don’t follow international soccer will relate to his obliviousness, and they don’t need the references to enjoy the lizard and feline character designs. Before the game, mysterious acts of sabotage threaten it—starting when a giant soccer-ball monster abducts Pawston’s beloved mascot, Dynamo Dog! The pup detectives search for clues and suspects while the saboteur tries to stay a step ahead. There’s also a supernatural red herring played for laughs. In the climax, the soccer-ball monster returns, and the pups fight it, accidentally disrupting the unlikely true culprit, who delivers a deliciously villainous monologue (complete with flashbacks) to explain motives and methods. Although the heroes end up stumbling onto their answer (leaning heavily on deus ex machina inventions), the fast pace, expressively funny illustrations, and action sequences—both soccer and fighting—will keep readers moving from joke to joke.
Even readers who aren’t sports fans will get a kick out of it. (Graphic mystery. 5-9)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7870-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
All the fun of a mystery carried on the rhythm of the tropics.
Murilla the gorilla employs her detecting talents to track down a missing parasol.
Not surprisingly, it is raining in the African rain forest. It has rained right through Murilla’s roof, so she makes her way to the market, which, despite the rain, is all sunny colors, like the inside of a cupcake shop. Before Murilla can buy a new mop, Parrot requests help in tracking down a missing parasol from his shop. (In the rain forest, parasols are a hot commodity.) Dear Murilla, who, as the forest’s resident detective, has as much focusing power as Mr. Magoo, bumbles her way to the solution—elementary, but as gratifying as a ray of light breaking through the clouds, and one that allows all the citizens of the forest to remain innocent. This early reader is a pleasure but no gimme. There is plenty to challenge, starting with parasol but also magnifying glass, mandrill, okapi, chimpanzee and hammocks. This on top of Lee’s illustrations, which are not so much busy as full, especially with the mayhem of Murilla’s life. Despite that, there is a sense of equanimity; Murilla won’t, can’t, is utterly clueless about being hurried, and it is easy to imagine holding her hand and sauntering along as she uncovers what happened.
All the fun of a mystery carried on the rhythm of the tropics. (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-927018-23-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simply Read Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Scrappy song lyrics, energetic illustrations and plenty of potty humor keep the hilarity high for reluctant readers.
A new chapter-book series about do-gooder thieves kicks off with a monkeynapping.
While most parents want their children to be law-abiding citizens, bacon-loving Billy Crook and his inventor twin sister, Jillian, are home-schooled by their professional thief parents to keep their covers safe and practice the skills of the “trade.” Billy’s easygoing, quick-paced narration describes the blunders he and Jillian face when they decide to secretly do good deeds. In their first “caper,” the twins go in disguise to a clean-up day at the zoo. When their parents follow them and steal a monkey in the process, Billy and Jillian attempt a series of unsuccessful yet humorous schemes to return the monkey without their parents’ knowledge. In the second, simultaneously publishing story, Dog Gone! (978-1-60684-397-0; 978-1-60684-510-3 paper), the pair faces a similar scenario when they decide to raise money for an animal shelter by earning the money through a bake sale. Once again, their parents steal an animal, this time Poochie Smoochie, the poodle star of a popular TV show. A concluding twist in the twins’ true identities saves the second volume from being just a rehash of the first and sets the scene for more titles.
Scrappy song lyrics, energetic illustrations and plenty of potty humor keep the hilarity high for reluctant readers. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60684-396-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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