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Reviewed by:
  • The Case of the Lost Boy
  • Deborah Stevenson
Butler, Dori Hillestad. The Case of the Lost Boy; illus. by Jeremy Tugeau. Whitman, 2010 [128p]. (The Buddy Files) ISBN 978-0-8075-0910-4 $14.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 2-4

"My name is King. I'm a dog. I'm also a detective." So begins this first title in a planned mystery series, narrated by a wannabe-sleuth golden retriever. The book starts out with our hero already in trouble: he's in the pound, left there by an uncaring dogsitter when his family goes away. Adopted by a boy named Connor and his mother, he's renamed "Buddy"; our hero still hopes to uncover what happened to his former family, but that mystery is soon overshadowed when Connor takes his new dog for a walk and then disappears. The doggy point-of-view is entertaining, with people identified largely by their salient smells (the canine gossip pipeline identifies Connor as smelling of "eggs, bacon, toothpaste, and dirt"), and the underlying human story of Connor's unhappiness about being unwillingly relocated mirrors our detective's dilemma. There are some startling variations in tone, however, as a result of plot elements such as Connor's possible abduction (there's even a creepy guy to suspect, though it turns out to be a mistake) and King's rejection and abandonment, which make Connor's family seem like a diversion from the dog's real home. The interpolated lists analyzing the steps of the mystery may add clarity, but they slow down the pace. Loose-lined monochromatic illustrations, which recall Suçie Stevenson's in Rylant's Henry and Mudge books, appear occasionally and add energy when they do. Some of the glitches may be less problematic in the context of the overall series, and in the meantime, kids moving up from Nolan's Down Girl and Sit (BCCB 11/04) but not yet ready for Finney's I, Jack (BCCB 4/04) may wish to sign on as the gumshoe's—gumpaw's?—sidekick.

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