Review by Booklist Review
Lieb drops readers into the middle of an energetic detective story, inspiring them to analyze and solve the mystery of the missing chapter. The bossy main character frantically narrates his torturous circumstances the show can't go on without chapter two! He quarrels with Milo, the huffy, sloppy janitor, who's at least a person of interest. Bumbling detective McGarrigan arrives on the scene, but she's not much help. Chaos ensues as the narrator tries to solve the case, the culprit takes liberties with the type, and Detective McGarrigan hilariously interprets just about everything literally. Cornell's illustrations are composed in a minimal palette of black, white, and orange and have a distinctly vintage feel. Though it's rather wordy, and some of the more subtle jokes (like a stolen period) might fly over the heads of a typical picture-book reader, the clever word games and metaliterary approach will likely appeal to kids with a solid sense of irony. Hand to fans of Tara Lazar's 7 Ate 9: The Untold Story (2017) or Adam Rubin's High Five (2019).--Vivian Alvarez Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When the young hero of this energetic meta tale discovers that the second chapter of the book he populates has gone missing, he sounds the alarm, teams up with the hapless Detective McGarrigan to find the culprit, and urges readers to join the hunt (listing an actual phone number, email address, and Twitter handle to leave tips--prompts that are repeated several times throughout). As the mystery of the missing chapter progresses, fever-pitched dialogue by Lieb (Ratscalibur) accompanies a suspicious janitor who can eliminate punctuation and consonants with the swish of his mop; a several-page sequence in which the frustrated protagonist does nothing but think; and a chapter from an entirely different book, starring "space president Emmy Sue." Black-and-white cartoons by Cornell (Lucy Fell Down the Mountain), accented with yellow spot color, keep the mock drama and freneticism moving full speed ahead. It's a toss-up whether readers will be enchanted or just plain worn out by story's end, but a few not-so-subtle clues should lead amateur detectives to a clearly closed case. Ages 4--6. Author's agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. Illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
"Wait!" the story starts, as the unnamed narrator/protagonistpersonified as a kid in a bow tie and shortsexplains that someone has stolen the book's Chapter Two.Willing to pay any price to get the chapter backbecause the book would not be complete otherwisethe narrator/protagonist enlists readers' help, asking them to contact Detective McGarrigan. True to the narrator/protagonist's word, the second chapter of the book is missing; readers get a glimpse of faded black type, as if the chapter has been wiped off the page. Turning the page reveals the beginning of Chapter 3, where Milo, the book's janitor, is in the middle of a diatribe, asking the narrator/protagonist to apologize to him. When the narrator/protagonist refuses, Milo plays with the punctuation on the page and then leaves, grumbling about how no one respects a book's janitor even though he's the one who keeps the book clean so it can be read. Enter Detective McGarrigan, an extremely clueless middle-aged woman who tends to misunderstand information and miss clues that are right under her nose. Cue the hilarity as the narrator/protagonist and Detective McGarrigan bumble through wordplay and metatextual references as they try to solve the mystery of the missing chapter. Lieb's capricious storytelling combines with Cornell's bold, minimalist cartoons, done in black, white, and saffron, to result in a tale that is at once clever and uproariously funny.This whodunit is terribly entertaining, guaranteed to engage readers till the very end. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
