Pup Detectives: The first case by Felix Gumpaw, illustrated by Walmir Archanjo

 Little Simon has joined several other publishers and imprints in launching graphic novel adaptations of some of their popular beginning chapters. Some of them are faithful adaptations, simply expanding the original illustrated prose into colorized comics. Others, like this one, introduce new stories.

The original Rider Woofson series was published in 2016 and, despite an annoying lack of gender diversity, has been quite popular with my audience. It features a band of mystery-solving dogs, led by Rider Woofson, and with a faux-noir flavor. This graphic adaptation of the series moves the gang back into elementary school and introduces a new story that explains how they came to be friends.

Rider Woofson, a student at Pawston Elementary school, is busy investigating the sudden loss of pencils when he runs into Rora Gooddog, a stylish puppy who's also on the case. The two team up and solve the mystery quickly, breaking up a secret pencil-fighting club. Their next case takes them to the science lab and introduces geeky Westie Barker, who's got plenty of science smarts but whose experiments sometimes go awry. As the three investigate a mystery in the cafeteria, they meet yet another mystery-loving pup, the ever-hungry Ziggy, and by the end of the story all the mysteries are solved and the four friends have formed the P.I. Pack.

The art is done by Glass House Graphics, a group that provides art for many publishers and comics, and is slick and colorful. The characters have had a makeover - Rora, who is a curly-headed poodle in the original now has a long sweep of brown hair and stylish accessories. Ziggy, originally a short and scruffy mutt, is the same size as Rora and Rider and has a more individual look, white with black patches and a circle around one eye. This isn't as smoothly created as some of the other titles I've looked at in this venture - some of the dialogue bubbles seem out of order and the art is a little too crowded in several places for a beginning chapter reader.

The main thing to bear in mind about these new graphic adaptations though is that they are not the same size as the original books! I keep all my paperback beginning chapters in tubs and was completely taken aback when I discovered these were nearly twice as tall and just wide enough to not fit. I worked it out, but if you were planning to keep them with the original paperbacks, this may not work.

Verdict: It's hopeful that this new prequel seems to be a little less stereotyped, especially in regard to Rora and I hope that this will continue as the next adaptation takes on the first original Rider Woofson, Case of the missing tiger's eye. Not an absolutely necessary purchase, but a fun addition if you have fans of the original and we can always use more intermediate graphic novel.

ISBN: 9781534474949; Published February 2021 by Little Simon; Purchased for the library