A humorous and tasty whodunit for budding detectives—or burgeoning chefs.
Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast have a mystery on their hands.
The beloved duo are invited to a holiday eve party at a “secret address” where renowned author Agatha Crispy will read from her latest, The Mystery Mistletoast Crook. But as they and several other food-themed guests sit down to hear Agatha speak, the lights go dark, and when they come back on, Agatha is empty-handed. Someone has stolen her book. It’s the only copy, and Agatha refuses to let anyone leave until the culprit’s been held accountable. Could it be Baron von Waffle? (He’d “once been a foe.”) Or crafty Biscotti? Everyone’s a suspect—even Pancake and Toast, who are known to be mystery buffs. Can our heroes figure it out and save the day? Funk serves up a heaping helping of puns and wordplay; posters in the background advertise shows such as Beauty and the Beets, while eagle-eyed readers will spot a bust of “Egger Allan Poe” on a shelf in the library. Making use of rich vocabulary, Funk’s rhyming verse lends the tale a singsongy energy perfect for read-alouds. In Kearney’s crisp illustrations, the expressive foods have oversize heads and spindly limbs. Delectable details in the art make for fantastic worldbuilding—Agatha’s face is covered with sprinkles, and she wields a candy cane.
A humorous and tasty whodunit for budding detectives—or burgeoning chefs. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781454943655
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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