A Wilcox and Griswold Mystery: The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake
Author: Robin Newman
Illustrator: Deborah Zemke
Published May 12th, 2015 by Creston Books
Goodreads Summary: When food goes missing on Ed’s farm, Detectives Wilcox and Griswold do what it takes to track down the thieves. In this case, Miss Rabbit’s carrot cake has disappeared. Has it been stolen? Or eaten? Or both? Who dunnit?
“Readers ready for chapter books will solve the crime and then be surprised by the twist at the end. Here’s hoping for more hard-boiled detecting from Wilcox and Griswold!”
— Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
My Review: This book starts with a letter to the reader about the two detectives who will be leading the case, and I automatically thought of Dragnet as soon as I read it, and that was the voice I heard all the way through the book which made it even more fun to read! I love how this book was crafted: set up like a police file with times of interviews, suspects, and clues throughout. The detectives are also quite humorous and the ending is just surprising enough though some students may be able to predict it if they follow the clues.
Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The Case of the Missing Carrot is a perfect read aloud to practice inferring and prediction as students try to figure out what is going on at the farm. Students can keep track of clues and characters (suspects), and the book also gives opportunities to discuss sequence, vocabulary, dialogue, point of view, and voice. The text is just so much fun to read, but can also be a great discussion starter/exemplar for so many language arts topics.
Discussion Questions: (Thoughout the book) What clues did this section give us? Who is a new suspect? Who is no longer a suspect? How has your prediction changed? What is your prediction now?
We Flagged:
“Captain, stop the car!” I shouted. “There’s something up ahead. It’s orange.”
The captain grabbed his magnifying glass and tweezers. He picked up the object.
“A carrot!” I said.
I ran back to the squad car to get the crime scene photos.
“This carrot matches the ones we found in Miss Rabbit’s kitchen. We’re onto something.”
The captain twitched his tail furiously. (p. 19)
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*Thank you to Creston Books for providing copies for review!**