With its admirable protagonist, this is delightful easy reading with equal parts humor and heart.
Following their introduction in Poppy & Sam and the Leaf Thief (2018), miniature girl Poppy and her diminutive panda friend, Sam, are back, with another mystery to solve.
It’s a lovely day for a stroll among the flowers, and Poppy and Sam decide to pay a visit to Snuggles the mole. Snuggles’ home is full of freshly baked pies, which attract Sam’s focus, but Snuggles’ glasses have gone missing, so the nearsighted animal can’t read. Sam gets right to work investigating the pies for the glasses while Poppy asks Snuggles what else the mole has done today so they can retrace steps and hopefully find the missing specs. Their efforts take the trio to the riverside, a spider web, a mushroom, and up a tree. In each place, they find lost items belonging to other creatures, and they begin quite a collection. After much walking and interviewing, they finally find what they are seeking and manage to return all the items they found—a tiring but satisfying adventure that ends in bed. Cathon’s sweet illustrations feature spring colors and nature scenes; various small, smiling creatures that fly or crawl and have bit parts are a fun addition to the main story. Comics panels are interspersed with full-page illustrations. Poppy, who presents as a girl of color, is a thoughtful, creative, caring leader.
With its admirable protagonist, this is delightful easy reading with equal parts humor and heart. (Graphic mystery. 4-9)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77147-379-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room.
Second-grade twins prepare to leave the country, but not without first solving a time-sensitive mystery.
Ella and Ethan Briar are devastated by their parents’ announcement that the family is leaving their beloved hometown. Mrs. Briar has accepted a new job as a travel writer, a job that will send the family to new places all over the globe on a weekly basis. In an attempt to soothe the twins’ unhappiness about the move (“What about school? And soccer?” they ask), their grandfather—a retired, globe-trotting archaeologist himself—gives each a special gift for their travels. Mystery-writing Ella gets a journal; Ethan gets a special gold coin. On their last morning in town, Ethan realizes that his gold coin is missing—and they only have a few hours before they have to leave for the airport. While their grandfather does their chores, the twins methodically determine when Ethan last had the coin—the previous day—and make a list of places he visited to retrace his steps. This allows the twins to say goodbye to friendly faces throughout the town. This series-launching installment’s light on mystery, but it’s welcoming and accessible through expressive, frequent illustrations. The Mystery of the Mosaic, publishing simultaneously, takes the kids to Venice for their first overseas adventure.
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room. (Mystery. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9719-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
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