The Case of the Poached Egg: A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery
When Penny goes missing from the nest, Wilcox and Griswold are called in to track her down. Was the egg stolen by a rival for The Most Round in the Spring Egg-stravaganza? Was she used in a carrot cake or scrambled by a hungry porker? Or was she held for a hefty corn ransom? Who took Penny and can the detectives find her before trouble hatches?
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"In their second case (The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, 2015), missing-food investigators (MFIs) Wilcox and Griswold have a poached--as in stolen--egg to find: 'Whatever the food, whatever the crime, MFIs make the bad guys do the time.' On the eve of Farmer Ed's Big Speggtacular, Henrietta Hen awakens to discover her egg Penny is missing. Wilcox and Griswold hurry down to the chicken coop, where they find a distinctively written ransom note. The detective duo make the rounds on the farm, interviewing suspects and collecting writing samples. Was Gabby Goose jealous of Henrietta's prize-winning eggs? Did Miss Rabbit snatch an egg for her carrot cake recipe? Something is definitely afoot, but it's not until the next day at the Big Speggtacular that the case cracks wide open. The short chapters, good use of white space, and plentiful illustrations make this series a great choice for newly independent readers. The egg-based mystery is appropriately hard-boiled in its style and well-stocked with groan-worthy puns that will draw kids in."--Booklist
-- (3/9/2020 12:00:00 AM)"Eggspect plenty of 'fowl play' and a healthy dose of puns as another Wilcox and Griswold Mystery unfolds in Robin Newman's The Case of the Poached Egg, a Geronimo Stilton crime caper where two police mice follow the clues, interview suspects, and crack a few eggs and jokes along with the case, this time finding a ransomed egg named Penny. Adding to the merriment, Deborah Zemke's illustrations depict a comically expressive barnyard full of memorable characters."--Foreword Reviews
-- (3/9/2020 12:00:00 AM)"Awhodunit for newly independent readers with wordplay galore.
Detective Wilcox and Capt. Griswold are two anthropomorphic mice on the crime beat at the farm. They are 'Missing Food Investigators.' The text that follows their story is broken up into some sections that emulate police logs and short chapters with narrative text and dialogue. Both parts, however, are laden with puns. 'The poached egg' of the title is a stolen egg belonging to one Henrietta Hen. When she calls to report the crime Wilcox asks, 'Did she fly the coop?' The MFIs interrogate various suspects about potential 'fowl play' around the farm, including the loquacious Gabby Goose and Col. Peck, the rooster. Handwriting analysis and the thief's slip-up at an egg contest lead the rodent gumshoes to the culprit, a 'rotten egg' indeed, by the end of the book. Cartoon illustrations bolster the humor of the text and will provide some context clues, though the layout is rather cluttered and the text is likely too complex in large, overwhelming text blocks for many new readers; kids readying themselves to move on to chapter books should find it a suitable challenge.
A hard-boiled text for determined new readers in pursuit of wordplay."--Kirkus Reviews
