INSPECTOR HOPPER

The accent in Cushman's beginning reader is decidedly on the act of reading, as the story itself, broken into three fleeting chapters, has little momentum or interest of its own, let alone the brio or dash any detective story should. Inspector Hopper, all legs and slouch hat, along with his sidekick, the mustachioed, ever-hungry McBugg, solve three benign capers. The first of these is the disappearance of Mrs. Ladybug, who is found in a berry patch where McBugg has stopped for a snack; the second is the disappearance of Skeet the mailman's boat, a leaf that has been inadvertently eaten by a caterpillar. Last is the uncovering of the stalker in the alley, who turns out to be the Moon and not a bad detective in his own right when it comes to uncovering the dastardly rat. The sentences are clipped as tight as a buzz cut, which makes for easy reading, but if the stories had been just a bit more challenging they would also have been a bit more satisfying. With each sentence being a paragraph unto itself, it is difficult to get any sense of the text's timing, or the inflection of the words. What does charm in these pages is the artwork, with its warm colors, landscapes as seen from insect level, and its atmosphere of adventure, even if it materializes only in the slightest of measures. (Easy reader. 6-8)