Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Case of the Marshmallow Tower.
May 13, 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Encyclopedia is back to solve new mysteries. If you've ever read any of the books, this new volume won't be a surprise. Bugs Meany is up to his old tricks, trying to get out of school by claiming to have been hit by a school bus caution sign. Encyclopedia and Sally are involved with a soapbox derby race. There's a car theft at an auto show in the town square, and foul play at a marshmallow Tower building contest at Uncle Fluffy's Sugar Market. All of the answers involve very careful reading and attention to details, and a little bit of prior knowledge, which Encyclopedia always has. None of the perpetrators require serious punishment; there's a missing diamond mystery, but it's thirty years old.
This series has been around since 1963; I have fond memories of reading it with my mother. I still have trouble solving the cases, and just realized in reading this book that Encyclopedia's Idaville is most likely located in Florida. It's a seaside town with white sand beaches; I don't know why I've always thought he lived in Illinois.
Dufft's work was great; there was only one illustration in the E ARC, but it showed Bugs in his Jughead style felt whoopie cap and really captured the essence of the original Leonard Shortall illustrations.
My Encyclopedia Brown books have taken a lot of abuse, and there are only a few of the newer ones in my school collection, but they still circulate. A 6th grade boy wanted to read a mystery but didn't want a long book, and he was VERY pleased with Sobol's 2007 Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case. It's heartwarming to see that Sobol's son has taken up writing these. I love the cover, and will definitely buy this new title.
May 20, 2025 by First Second
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Andy is very nervous and frequently spirals into anxiety. When his class is set to go to camp together, he is so worried about what he packed that he throws up before getting on the bus. He misses camp, and spends the week at home. This is good, since his mother has just brought home a rescue dog, Ralph, hoping that this will help Andy. Of course, the dog makes him worse at first, since the dog is frightened and has to establish a new routine. Eventually, Ralph learns to wait to poop outside instead of pooping in his crate. When he follows Andy to school, it's not a good situation, but Miss Patty in the office tells Andy about a training group she runs in the local park. Andy goes, and is interested in the agility course training that the group does, but also feels overwhelmed that he won't be able to train Ralph properly, and his parents will take the dog away. With the help of the group, as well as a couple of friends from school, Andy manages to train Ralph, and does well enough in a local competition to compete in a Super Trial. He struggles with his anxiety again, but uses the coping skills he has learned to calm himself down and successfully compete with Ralph.
Books about dog training are always a good choice, and readers who enjoyed graphic novels on the topic, like Varner's Dog Trouble or Lloyd's Allergic will be invested in Andy's tale. Behrens' 2010 The Fast and the Furriest , Sorosiak's 2019 I, Cosmo, and Finnegan's 2022 New Kids and Underdogs are novels that also address agility training. I wasn't a huge fan of Andy's frequent barfing, although younger readers may find this amusing. If Andy's anxiety was this bad, I would have hoped that his parents would have had him in some kind of counseling, or would have had better plans for dealing with Ralph and getting him more formal training. I did enjoy Hirsch's notes about dealing with a new dog.
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