The First Case

January 29, 2021

Gr 3-5-In the first two installments of this new series, detective tropes are dumbed down and dished out to younger fans of graphic novels. Part Sherlock Holmes, part Harriet the Spy, Rider Woofson is Pawston Elementary School's self-appointed detective, although he does have a hall pass from Mrs. Plus, the math teacher, indicating his credibility as a sleuth. While seeking missing pencils, he joins forces with Rora Gooddog, hot on the trail of missing erasers. The search heats up with a path of pencil shavings to steer them in the right direction. The crime is solved, but that's not the end of the mysteries. Acquiring other classmates with sleuth sensibilities, they become the Pup Investigator Pack, stumbling across a heist in the second book, involving a snotty rich cat, Matty Meow, and a troupe of mute monkeys in this universe of all-talking, all-anthropomorphized animals. The monkeys are a front, and the double-cross comes in just in time-it looks like a hall pass (again with the hall pass) may have tripped up the scheme. Add in Rotten Ruffhouse, the bully dog from the first book, and you have tiresome antics, a meager mystery, shameless wordplay that is not always funny, a cast of characters who sound alike, slapstick horseplay, and lots of detective tropes. VERDICT With groan-worthy puns, light action, and loose, predictable plotting, these read more like books-by-committee than a youthful take on detective stories.-Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2020
Puppy sleuths at an all-animal elementary school unite to stop the Lunchtime Bandit in this series opener. Pawston Elementary School is filled with bright-eyed and often literally bushy-tailed young students, all of whom are young animals of a wide variety of species. Rider Woofson, self-declared "greatest puppy detective in the whole school," meets Rora Gooddog when they find themselves working the same case from different sides: a ring of toughs who fight with pencils, cracked in a deliciously pun-filled double-page spread. A super-science mishap introduces them to bespectacled, lab coat-clad inventor Westie Barker, and then the doggy detective team is rounded out by the ever hungry Ziggy Fluffenstuff, already on the trail of the Lunchtime Bandit. The foursome sets off to stop the "cafeteria crook." When the sneaky scoundrel evades their clever-yet-stinky trap, the detectives and their quarry engage in a battle of wits, schemes, and counterschemes. In the end, they corner and identify the culprit only for him to remain a hop ahead--until his own hubris and bad deeds catch up with him, allowing the heroes to make the catch. The plentiful humor mostly relies on wordplay and alliteration, diversions into gross-out territory landing on stinky beans and garbage rather than potty humor. Character designs are rounded and bright; the neat panels use clear linework and standard comic-book conventions for readability and expressiveness. A fast-paced, shenanigans-packed winner; readers will howl for the next one. (Graphic mystery/comedy. 5-9)

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