TURTLE TROUBLE

In their third outing, Pipsie and her best bud, Alfred Z. Turtle, solve the mystery of what might have caused Alfred to be sticky and smelly and have a red, sore bump on his foot after a morning outing at the park.

After a bath to cure the smelly part of Alfred’s affliction, the duo heads back to the park to retrace Alfred’s steps and try to puzzle out what might have bitten him. Along the way, they come across lots of different insects and an arachnid, Pipsie sharing with Alfred (and readers) cool facts about each. The friends find partial clues everywhere they turn (mosquitoes bite, but Alfred’s foot doesn’t itch, and there’s nothing sticky or stinky by the water) until they finally add up the clues and solve the mystery, which involves three different insects: one for the stinky, one for the sticky, and one for the sore foot. A final spread of fun facts provides more information about five of the species the two encounter, but these don’t include the one responsible for Alfred’s bite, a miss for readers. Also, it states that honeybees collect pollen on their wings, and the beehive is depicted inaccurately. Pale-skinned, dark-haired Pipsie has her magnifying glass and nature notebook ever at the ready in her backpack, prepared for anything Mother Nature presents her with.

A buzzworthy introduction to insects that may get kids outside looking at the bugs.