Short and sweet, this book is a good choice for reluctant and early readers, while its humorous content will appeal to fans...
A bilingual early chapter book inducts a new character into the pantheon of precocious child detectives.
Detective Flaca is an 8-year-old gumshoe. In this first offering, readers are privy to three of her cases, involving a missing chancleta (or flip-flop), deadly oranges and disappearing salsa (of the dance, not the food, variety), respectively. Geared toward an audience that appreciates snarky humor rather than hard-core mystery fans, all three cases are the result of comedic misunderstandings on the part of Detective Flaca and are “solved” by her learning the truth in each situation. Vicente does a commendable job of including the meanings of Spanish words within the text in such a manner that non-Spanish speakers should easily be able to understand them without the need for a glossary (which is good, since there isn’t one). While Detective Flaca’s language and thought processes belie her age, the stories themselves are entertaining enough to allow readers to suspend disbelief. Baeza Ventura’s Spanish translation of the story follows the English rendition.
Short and sweet, this book is a good choice for reluctant and early readers, while its humorous content will appeal to fans of comedy. Chuckle-inducing fun. (Mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55885-779-7
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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
Nicely paced, with just the right number of red herrings to keep readers thinking; they will hope the number 1 on the spine...
Jerry and Maya, classmates and friends, spend their spare time solving mysteries in their hometown of Pleasant Valley in this Swedish import.
Things are not so pleasant for Mohammed Carat, the richest man in Pleasant Valley. His world-famous jewelry store is losing money; apparently, one of his employees is stealing valuable diamonds and gems. The police are no help, so Mr. Carat turns to the youngsters for help. Each employee is a suspect: Vivian is in money trouble, former owner Danny wants his store back, and Luke’s flashy spending is suspicious. Jerry and Maya are hired to help out around the shop—washing windows, taking out the trash and so forth—but really they are there to watch the employees, both from inside the shop and from the church tower next door. Young mystery aficionados will enjoy solving the puzzle along with Maya and Jerry and will admire their observational powers. Full-color cartoon illustrations add much to the story, helping readers to see what the young gumshoes do. A map of Pleasant Valley and an illustrated cast of characters are provided in the early pages, allowing new readers an excellent reference tool to keep the many characters straight.
Nicely paced, with just the right number of red herrings to keep readers thinking; they will hope the number 1 on the spine indicates that this is the first of many Maya and Jerry mysteries. (Mystery. 7-9)Pub Date: July 31, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48067-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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