Book Summary: Binky the Frog Detective is hot on the case- of a lot of famous fairy tale mysteries. He helps The Three Bears find Goldilocks, The witch's family from Hansel and Gretel, he gets to the bottom of who actually pushed Humpty Dumpty and why, he helped Snow White get to the hospital after her incident with the apple, and he also helped Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk.
APA Reference: Levinthal, David. (2012). Who pushed humpty dumpty: And other notorious nursery tale mysteries. New York, NY: Schwartz and Wade.
Impressions: I chose this book because I was curious to see what a mystery would look like in a smaller picture book. In a chapter book there is plenty of time to develop the mystery and through the use of familiar stories Levinthal is able to get quickly to the point in a picture book format- and I loved it- very clever. The voice of Binky the Frog Detective sounds like a detective on T.V.- someone well versed about their job and many years into it. Case after case is told in this book where Binky goes out to the site, sifts through the details and solves the case. I kind of felt that Binky would speak rather quickly like you would imagine an old-timey newspaper journalist. "Case Closed," pops up across the guilty person's face at the end of most adding in a creative element to ending one mystery before solving another. I liked how short each mystery was and how you wouldn't technically have to read the story from beginning to end in one setting. This could be something you skip around in as needed because each mystery has a subheading and there is a clear beginning and end to each. I enjoyed this one so much that I didn't just rent it for this assignment like a lot of these, I actually purchased it.
Professional Review: “There are eight million stories in the forest. This is one of them,” announces bullfrog Binky, the plainclothes cop who investigates situations like Humpty Dumpty’s demise and a witch’s disappearance in “Hansel and Gretel.” Binky starts his day with a call from Mrs. Bear, reporting a robbery. Once Goldilocks confesses, Binky unsentimentally reports, “They’ll feed her three meals a day where she’s going.” Another incident involves “that sweet girl who cleaned for the Seven Dwarfs.... Boy, what a knockout!” When Snow White is poisoned, suspicion falls on the royal judge of a beauty pageant. Following each procedural, a red “case closed” stamp appears across a picture of the jailed or handcuffed culprit. Levinthal, best known for his photography, nails the tone of the Dragnet-style escapades that make up his picture book debut, and Nickle’s (Hans My Hedgehog) obsessively detailed acrylics have a sinister edge that suits the mood. His panels are somewhat awkwardly framed in unadorned borders, and the no-frills, sans-serif typeface does little to complement the images or deadpan narration, but readers should still be tickled by these noirish retellings. Ages 4–8.
(2012). [Review of Who pushed humpty dumpty: And other notorious nursery tale mysteries]. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-375-84195-8
Library Uses: This would be an amazing quick read aloud to introduce elements of mysteries and build an interest in mysteries. There could be a conveniently located mystery display ready for the students after the read aloud to help them find a good mystery right away.
