Originally published in the UK in 2017, this wacky book introduces the eccentric Mr. Penguin, who longs to be an adventurer and detective, but is hampered by his equally strong love of comfort (and lack of experience). However, when he gets a call from Miss Bones and her brother Montague, who need his help to find a treasure to save the Museum of Extraordinary Objects, he is on the case, along with his sidekick and assistant, Colin the spider! After many weird and wacky adventures, and with the help of their friend Edith Hedge "who lived in the park" Mr. Penguin successfully solves the case.
SPOILERS
It turns out that the real Miss Bones has been kidnapped and the Miss Bones and her brother Montague are two (male) villains, jewel thieves in disguise. I didn't care for the plot point of having "Miss Bones" be disguised as a woman and the only person of color is Edith, who is mostly pushed aside at the end (despite having really solved the case herself). As Kirkus says, it reinforces "dominant race, gender, and class norms". This is also pretty long for the theme and plot - a little over 200 pages - while the book reads much younger, about 2nd grade.
The main reason I'm attracted to this series is that it reminds me irresistibly of Angleberger's weird but oddly popular Inspector Flytrap and also Rider Woofson, which I don't care for myself but which has several dedicated readers. Mr. Penguin is longer and more challenging and certainly won't be for every kid, but I can see my Flytrap fans, who keep begging me for more books that don't exist, falling all over this one!
Verdict: Not for every kid or library, but if you have fluent young readers who like the weird and wonderful, with a side of goofy humor, this should go over well.
ISBN: 9781682631201; Published April 2019 by Peachtree; ARC provided by publisher
No comments:
Post a Comment