Joey Fly, Private Eye, in Big Hairy Drama by Aaron Reynolds

Joey Fly, Private Eye, is back in this hilarious sequel to Creepy Crawly Crime.  This time Joey and his sidekick, Sammy Stingtail the scorpion, are in a "rough and tumble dive" just about to dig in to some lunch when a huge shadow falls over their table. The shadow turns out to belong to none other than Harry Spyderson, the aptly-named tarantula who is owner of the Scarab Beetle Theatre or, as Joey notes, "...the first bug I'd ever seen who could probably braid his back hair."

The theatre is in dire straights, as their big star, Greta Divawing, has gone missing just one week before the opening of their latest production, Bugliacci.  Harry suspects kidnapping, and money is no object!  They simply must find Greta, and quick!

Joey, with Sammy in tow, heads for the theatre to investigate its odd cast of misfits: Fleeago the stinkbug, an arrogant tortured-artist type; Skeeter, the crotchety theater janitor; Trixie Featherfeelers, the femme fatale luna moth who steals Sammy's heart; and the Bedbug Chorus, fifteen nameless nobodies who like to bite ankles.

Joey is a Sam Spade-like fella, a tough talkin', wise crackin', no nonsense guy.  Sammy, however, is my favorite character, a little guy who can't keep his big stinger out of trouble!  Whenever Trixie is nearby his eyes turn to hearts, but (as you can probably guess) the romance turns out to be ill fated. Poor Sammy!

If you like mystery and humor you will love Joey Fly.  Even if you haven't seen the old movies this is playing off of you can still have chuckle over the goofy artwork and snappy dialogue.

Emily's Fortune by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

I was up late last night finishing Emily's Fortune--it is that kind of book!  A rip roaring adventure with lots of historical detail, twists, turns, and chuckles.

Emily is 10 years old when her mother dies, leaving her with just two living a relatives: Aunt Hilda, who Emily remembers as having a kind face and lots of hugs, and Uncle Victor, who took her mother's money and made her cry.  Not much of a decision for Emily, but since Uncle Victor is a blood relative and Aunt Hilda is not, it is not clear if Emily will be allowed to go to Hilda, even though Hilda writes to say she will  be happy to take Emily. Emily's neighbors, Miss Ready, Miss Aim, and Miss Fire (yes, it is that kind of book too), decide to take the bull by the horns and pack Emily off on her way to Aunt Hilda in Redbud.

Emily, accompanied only by her adored pet turtle, Rufus, starts out on the train, then switches to the stage coach, all the while being pursued by the Catchum Child-Catching Services, who get a "super-duper-dinger-zinger bonus" for every orphan they place with a blood relative. Soon Emily meets up with Jackson, a more-experienced orphan who takes her under his wing.With his help she avoids the child-catching service, but soon the trouble multiplies in spades when Uncle Victor appears looking for Emily. It turns out Emily has inherited ten million dollars from her mother's employer (hence the book's title).

It would be hard to find a darker villain than Uncle Victor.  Emily has no illusions about why he is pursuing her--he either wants to get his hands on her and her money, or do away with her entirely since then he would inherit the millions!  Jackson, always quick-thinking, derives a plan in which Emily dresses as a boy and pretend to be his mute, half-witted brother, Eli.  Thus attired, Emily is forced to ride for days in the stagecoach with a suspicious Uncle Victor, being bounced, jostled, stuck in mud, mired in sand, and many other uncomfortable situations.

I won't tell any more, but suffice it to say that Emily is a great character who finds courage and fortitude when she needs to.  The book has wonderful language, and every chapter ends with a bold question such as "WHAT IN SHOOTIN' SHIVERS WOULD EMILY DO NOW?"  Emily's Fortune would make a superb read aloud and would be enjoyed by any kid with half a dose of sense, for Pete's sake! So read it!

Edgar Allan's Official Crime Investigation Notebook by Mary Amato

Yep, Mary Amato continues her tradition of writing funny books that kids will love with this one.  Fifth grade Edgar is a regular old kid-too regular!  He can't measure up to his older brother and can't think of a single thing he is good at.  When Edgar arrives at school one day to find that a thief has stolen his class goldfish AND left behind a poem as a clue he decides that this will be his moment of glory--Edgar will find the thief and everyone will think he is the greatest thing ever! There are a couple of problems with this plan: 1. His goody-two-shoes classmate Patrick is also trying to solve the crime, and seems to be making more progress than Edgar. 2. Every "lead" Edgar follows turns out to be a dead end.

The story is told in excerpts from Edgar's "crime investigation" notebook, hence the title.  More mysterious thefts complicate the investigation, along with more cryptic poems left by the thief.  As Edgar begins to look more closely at his teachers and classmates as suspects, he comes to discover other things about them that he never noticed before.  Destiny, a quiet girl he never talks to, no longer hangs out with her former best friend and seems to be withdrawn and sad.  Taz, the obnoxious class clown, spends an unusual amount of time talking about dogs and also seems a little sad.  One of his teachers seems to be in love with the school custodian.  Patrick is watching Edgar all the time and trying to steal his leads in order to crack the case first. The more Patrick learns about the people around him the more he begins to care about them, and ultimately this winds up being more important than whodunit.

Interwoven with the story are many lessons about poetry.  All the thief's poems are in fact based on famous poems.  It is fun to read the poems and try to figure out where Amato got them from.  This book presents a great opportunity to learn about poetry, and is also a darn fun read!

Switching on the Moon: a Very First Book of Bedtime Poems

It is so unfortunate that the publishers (or whoever) made the decision to subtitle this book "A very first book of Bedtime Poems."  This gives the impression that the book is for toddlers.  Does this strike you as toddler fare?: When the bat's on the wing and the bird's in the tree,

Comes the old Starlighter, whom none may see,

First in the West, where the low hills are,

He touches his wand to the evening star,

Then swiftly he runs on his rounds on high

Till he's lit every lamp in the dark blue sky.

This is The Starlighter by Arthur Guiterman.  Isn't it lovely?  Of course, there are some sillier poems included as well, such as:

My bed is like a little boat

Floating out to sea.

And now it's like an island

with a coconut tree.

That is from My Bed by Tony Mitton. This poem will certainly be appreciated by toddlers and preschoolers, but every bit as much by 5, 6, 7, and 40-year-olds!  This is such a super collection of night poems--I love every one--selected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters.  Some are silly, some are wistful, some short, some longer.  It is just the right book for settling into bed at the end of the day. 

And I must mention the pictures, for me the BEST part of all!  In my opinion G. Brian Karas should have won the Caldecott Medal for this book.  Using his characteristic scribbly pencil drawings with plenty of color  Karas has created an absolutely magical world inside these pages.  I am going to start my Caldecott campaign for G. Brian Karas.  I have loved him ever since I first saw Muncha Muncha Muncha and Like Butter on Pancakes. Let me know if you agree!

Anyhow, you should check out Switching on the Moon, whether you are 2 or 100.  It is one of my favorite poetry books of all time, and that's saying something!

The Danger Box by Blue Balliet

This is a very unusual story.  The protagonist is a 12-year-old boy named Zippy, who lives with his grandparents in a Michigan small town.  Zippy doesn't know his father, Buckeye, who left town years ago and has not returned. 

Zippy is different from most kids in many ways.  First, he has pathological myopia, a condition that means he is legally blind.  He can see things up close, but farther than that everything is a big blur.  Zippy is also a compulsive list maker who lists almost everything he does and thinks about in notebooks.  Writing in the notebooks helps Zippy to relax--without them he suffers from serious anxiety attacks.

Life with his grandparents is pretty happy, except for the fact that Zippy has no friends.  It is summer and he is spending his time helping Gramps and Gran around the house and at their antique store.  Then one day Buckeye turns up.  He leaves a box in the garage in which they find a mysterious, old notebook.  Being a big fan of notebooks, Zippy decides to try and figure out just what this one is and who made it.  It appears to be a log of a sea journey made a long time ago.

I don't want to give anything away, but suffice it to say that the notebook turns out to be very interesting and valuable, AND there is a bad guy who wants it.  In the course of the story Zippy makes a friend and finds courage he didn't knew he had.  I enjoyed the story a lot, although the ending wraps up a bit too neatly for me.  Zippy is a quirky, endearing character who is fun to get to know.