Sly the Sleuth and the Food Mysteries

by Donna Jo Napoli, Heather Maione (Illustrator)

Overview

Sly (aka Sylvia) is now famous around the neighborhood for her problem-solving abilities. With her Sherlock Holmes type observations, Sly solves three new cases, each with a foody theme. And there are always lots of funny moments to keep kids laughing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101503058
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/05/2007
Series:	Ghost Walkers
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Donna Jo Napoli is the author of many distinguished books for young readers, among them The Great God Pan, Daughter of Venice, The Magic Circle, Zel, Breath, Bound, Stones in Water, The King of Mulberry Street, and Alligator Bayou. She has a BA in mathematics and a PhD in Romance linguistics from Harvard University and has taught widely at major universities in America and abroad. She lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where she is a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College.

Editorial Reviews

The heroine of this perky little series, each a collection of interrelated stories, is named Sylvia, but everyone calls her Sly. It started, as readers of the first title (Sly the Sleuth and the Pet Mysteries) know, with four-year-old Brian next door who couldn't say "Sylvia." She's no ordinary kid, this Sly. She's a PI, with an agency, and a sign, and she looks for cases to solve. Napoli and Furrow hatch kiddie versions of cozies here, with Sly cracking puzzles like why Brian's breath smells of fish, in between exploring a couple of other neighborhood mysteries, all of which turn out to be about food in some way. It's all very kid-sized and friendly. The wind-up is a little slower than is entirely satisfactory, but the small plot turns that follow crank up the pace to make for a funny, swift read. Each of the three cases is subdivided into short, unnumbered chapters. A range of friends and classmates complicate Sly's sleuthing, making for a natural elementary-aged social context. Brian is something of a genius, and while his precociousness occasionally seems to overreach by a hair, he's still reminiscent of characters made memorable by authors like Johanna Hurwitz. Word-play abounds, dialogue is quick and snappy, and Sly is at the ready to run interference when Brian needs it. Relationships take primacy over mystery, which scales the genre down nicely to fit the small container of the chapter book. Black-and-white line drawings add whimsical flavor to this food-themed book.

Children's Literature - Uma Krishnaswami

Gr 2-4
Sly returns to help her friends by solving three new cases, all of which center around food. In the first story, Melody thinks someone scary is living in the bushes in her backyard, and Jack wonders why his cat has been eating the cookies-made by Brian's mother, a health nut-that they use as shuffleboard pucks. Sly figures everything out when she discovers that Mrs. Olsen has been putting fish oil in her treats, and that Brian has been hiding in the bushes to sneak junk food. In the second tale, the girls start a cooking club, but Princess is acting strangely. Sly deduces that she is trying to conceal the fact that she is allergic to wheat. Finally, Sly solves "Something Seedy" by finding out that Princess has been stealing oranges from Jack to save his life: the seeds contain arsenic (Sly also ascertains that the amount of arsenic in fruit seeds is not harmful). All three stories wrap up with corny plays on words. Amusing pen-and-ink drawings appear throughout. While not great literature, this book will serve transitional readers who like Ron Roy's "A to Z Mysteries" (Random) or David A. Adler's "Cam Jansen" series (Viking).
—Debbie WhitbeckCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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