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
A fun series opener with a feisty protagonist who’ll keep readers on their toes.
Bowling introduces the outspoken, armless narrator of her Life as a Cactus series to younger readers.
Eight-year-old Aven Green doesn’t need arms to be a good private investigator; her feet work just fine. In fact, all those extra arm cells went to her brain instead—at least, that’s her hypothesis. So when somebody starts stealing food at school, she’s on the case. But then her great-grandma’s dog, Smitty, goes missing, and then new student Sujata arrives—looking mysteriously sad. Can Aven’s “super-powered brain” solve three cases at the same time? The simple plot, peppered with humorous malapropisms and leaps of kid logic, is primarily a showcase for Aven’s precocious personality. Witty, stubborn, and self-confident (“I was shy once. It was on a Wednesday afternoon in kindergarten”), Aven takes her disability in stride; her classmates are also accepting. She and her friends share rowdy and gleefully gross activities, complete with “ninja” chops, flatulence, and “rainbow barf.” Her (adoptive) parents are warmly supportive, but her long-suffering teacher is perhaps too much so; her remarkable tolerance for Aven’s occasionally disruptive antics may raise some eyebrows. Perry’s black-and-white cartoon illustrations energetically depict Aven’s agile feet and mischievous grin. The tidy ending sets up another adventure; a list of Aven’s “sleuthing words” is appended. Most characters, including Aven, appear to be White; Sujata is Indian American.
A fun series opener with a feisty protagonist who’ll keep readers on their toes. (Mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4549-4221-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Sterling Children's Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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