THE REZ DETECTIVES

Choctaw youngsters and amateur sleuths tackle their first case—missing ice cream—in this irresistible middle-grade graphic novel.

When summer brings the blistering heat, people in a small community on an unnamed reservation scrounge for loose change for frozen treats. This year, however, the ice cream truck is a no-show. Fifth grader Tasembo would prefer staying indoors with video games. But when his crush, Okchanlush, wants to know what happened to the ice cream man, Tasembo sees a chance to prove himself as a card-carrying detective. He doesn’t have much beyond a hand-scrawled card, but he quickly recruits his brainy neighbor, Nuseka, into the Rez Dog Detective Agency. Finding the ice cream man is easy but only deepens the mystery; someone swiped his inventory, leaving Tasembo, Nuseka, and Tasembo’s trusty dog, Billy Jack, to trail a thief. As an investigator, the lovably goofy Tasembo is clueless, but Nuseka has the know-how and the lab (aka her bedroom) to point right to a culprit. Judd and Jacob’s story is endlessly fun and funny. Nuseka gathers legit evidence (e.g., fingerprints) and schools Tasembo on all the gumshoe lingo. While Tasembo seemingly annoys Nuseka, they’re unquestionably good friends. There’s likewise educational value for younger readers, from translated Choctaw words (e.g. keyu, meaning no) to the mild, solvable mystery. The book teems with comedy told through visuals, and illustrator Perker, who’s drawn for Marvel, DC, and the New Yorker, layers details onto every character and colorful backdrop. The ice cream man, for one, looks like an ice cream cone, complete with a perfectly round head like the scoop on top. The writers and the illustrator round out this novel with hilarious faux ads. Includes instructions for making a tin-cup phone and a mini air conditioner.

Unforgettable kid detectives plus dazzling artwork make this book a must-have.