CLUELESS MCGEE

Listen up frog-smackers, PJ McGee is ready to solve any mystery!

Fifth-grader PJ McGee wants to be a private detective like his father, who is away on a SECRET MISSION (or at least that’s what PJ thinks). PJ knows he’ll make a great detective because he has been studying ninja moves; plus, he’s incredibly brave, amazingly fast and has a brain five times as big as normal. When PJ’s favorite school lunch (mac and cheese…he’s written a love song to lunch lady Mrs. Browny’s cheesy mac) turns up missing, PI PJ is on the case with his trusty sidekick, third-grader Dante. PJ follows the clues (even though he is sure school bully Jack B is the culprit). Then Jack hires PJ to clear his name! Only a super detective like PJ could solve such a sticky case. Illustrator Mack’s first foray into the cartoon-driven chapter book will be well received by the clueless and the clue-full alike. Each chapter’s a letter from PJ to his absent father detailing progress on the mac-and-cheese case. PJ is charmingly out of touch with reality. His supporting cast—needy little sister, long-suffering mother, mysteriously absent father and a quirky collection of teachers—adds to the laughs. The scribbly cartoons and illustrations are part of the tale and parcel of the fun.

Happily, returns to Woods Road Elementary are assured, thanks to the big “1” on the spine. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-10)