Casey's cases The mysterious new girl

While her cases may not be as mysterious as Nancy Drew's or as challenging as Encyclopedia Brown's, debut creator Healy's ebullient would-be investigator Casey--depicted as a pale-skinned, triangle-shaped 11-year-old with brown pigtails and a red dress--is a welcome addition to the cadre of juvenile sleuths. On her birthday, Casey receives a magnifying glass and binoculars (necessities for a detective), as well as underwear (embarrassing), thus solving this pleasant early reader's inaugural mystery: the Case of the Wrapped Presents. She uses her new binoculars to get the scoop on tan-skinned Jan, a tie-wearing new girl with an aptitude for science; the two become fast Bert and Ernie--esque friends. Casey joyfully approaches each new scenario, including kickball tryouts, decoding a note (that's not a love letter) from her crush, and determining the gender of fat cat Mr. Muffin. Uncomplicated paneling and crisp line drawings punctuated by eye-catchingly bright hues encourage readers to join Casey as she endeavors to crack the case in this inviting series starter. Entertaining supporting characters--each rendered using simple shapes and a variety of skin tones--and their side stories inject goofy humor. Ages 7--10. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Feb.)

Fifth grader Casey solves many mini mysteries. Given a magnifying glass and binoculars for her birthday, Casey feels armed and ready to be a superdetective. The pigtailed, pale-skinned sleuth sees mysteries everywhere she goes. Some are small and quickly solved, like the case of the wrapped presents and the case of the missing hair band, but others are trickier, such as the case of the mysterious new girl. Casey learns that her tie-wearing, brown-skinned classmate is named Jan and that she wants to be a scientist. The two become friends and support each other as Jan tries out for the kickball team and Casey deals with a crush and a bully and finds a seemingly overfed stray cat. Divided into chapters, this lighthearted, charming comic demonstrates perfect comedic timing through dialogue, situations, and facial expressions. Black-lined art in a limited, muted palette is inviting in its simplicity. Distinct character design featuring triangle-shaped heads and oversize round eyes adds to the quirkiness. Casey is an endearing, relatable lead, but it's when she's with the intelligent, helpful Jan that the story becomes comedy gold and incredibly heartwarming at the same time. The mysteries are fun, but the highlight is the friends we'll make along the way.(Graphic mystery. 7-11) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.