The simplistic mysteries and silly jokes are in line with other series outings, “special edition” status notwithstanding.
Geronimo Stilton teams up with his sister, Thea, and cousin Trap to solve the mystery of a long-lost castle recently rediscovered in spooky woods.
Right after his grandfather wakes him to demand that Geronimo write a special new book for the students of New Mouse City Elementary School to celebrate their 100th day of school, Thea and Trap have a bigger surprise for Geronimo. Their city’s founder, Grant Gentlemouse, was rumored to have built a secret castle for his mystery bride, and now Thea’s found it, surrounded by a giant hedge of thorny, white roses. She and Trap want to film a television special on it, but they need an assistant to carry equipment and bankroll it, so they call Geronimo. They explore the creepy castle, with Trap pranking scaredy-mouse Geronimo, and discover the mystery bride to be yet another scrivening Stilton, Rose. The rose theme and creepy setting work well in illustrations, especially full-page spreads with art or games, though the series’ trademark design flourish of printing words and phrases in colorful display type within the narrative jars the reading rhythm. Following this book, there’s a bonus story almost as long in which Geronimo wins a cruise trip. There’s a thief on board, and some things seem odd with the beautiful mouse flirting with him. The last feature is a few pages of jokes as delightfully cheesy as ought to be expected from a mouse named Stilton.
The simplistic mysteries and silly jokes are in line with other series outings, “special edition” status notwithstanding. (Graphic adventure. 6-9)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-08778-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts.
Beachcombers and shell seekers, gather ’round and meet Shelby and Watts, Planetary Investigators.
When Fred the hermit crab can’t find a new, larger shell to move into, he seeks out the “brilliant brains” of Shelby and Watts. Shelby, a fox, is the detective in the duo, and Watts, a badger, loves facts, adding simple fun ones—about hermit crabs, tides, tide-pool dwellers, how shells are used, etc.—throughout the story. Watts also loves to catalog clues in his notebook. In fact, the first mystery that Shelby solves is that of Watts’ lost notebook. Young readers can watch Shelby investigate, solve, and explain her deductive process, all while learning to carefully examine all the details in each graphic panel. Once the missing shells are found, it’s “time for the hermit crab shuffle,” in which the members of a colony of hermit crabs all line up and trade up to larger homes. Final pages include “Earth-Saving Tips from Shelby & Watts,” such as taking pictures of shells instead of collecting them, eating seafood from sustainable sources, and cleaning up the beach. The seven chapters are of varying length, but with several one-panel pages and many pages with low word count, the book is shorter than it appears, which should be a confidence boost for young readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts. (Graphic early reader/mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20531-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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