Wordplay, smart solution, a fantastic mystery, and shrew facts? Meet your new favorite detective!
A “shrewd” detective gets sucked into a mystery filled with peril (and delicious snacks) at every turn.
Minerva Shrew is clever, but she’s more interested in solving “the Big Mysteries of Life and the Universe” than anything else. Yet when her cousin Tenacity shows up begging her to prevent a murder before it occurs (“the mystery is whether my friends and I will still be alive tomorrow,” says Tenacity), she’s compelled to help, even if that means stepping into the treacherous home of human beings. It seems that the lady of the house has lost a precious pearl necklace, and she blames the woodland creatures that have taken up residence. Worse still, unless Minerva solves the case, exterminators will gas every living creature present. Minerva has wallpapered her home with dictionary pages, and Preus throws out words like insouciantly and au courant while defining them along the way. The author excels at verbal punnery, making reference to “Shrewlock Holmes” and “Nancy Shrew”; Minerva enjoys meals of “cockroach au vin,” “pest-o sauce,” and “mashed potato bug.” Scientific facts are deftly integrated, as when we’re told that Minerva must eat every 15 to 30 minutes (as the impressive informational backmatter attests). Best of all, the mystery is cleverly laid out and peppered with clues, while Wu’s charming art brings Minerva and her ravenous detective mind to life. In the illustrations, humans have paper-white skin.
Wordplay, smart solution, a fantastic mystery, and shrew facts? Meet your new favorite detective! (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781419778025
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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