School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Call that brilliant hound, Sherlock Bones! The smelly, scrumptious cheese that sits in the dell, made from milk from a cantankerous, one-horned, two-eared, three-legged Cowabunga, is gone! Sherlock Bones uses his five senses to solve the case, interviewing the farmer's wife, the cat, the rat, and the Muffin Man about what they saw, heard, smelled, and felt (Sherlock Bones does the tasting). Lush illustrations made of layered cut paper and colored pencil capture the story's mirth. Rhymes dominate the text, making it a great choice for phonemic awareness: "Then, with nose to the ground, that brilliant hound started sniffing around. He picked up a scent, and off he went." The syncopated rhythm keeps the constant rhyming fresh and engaging. A spread at the end shows how the canine solves the crime, organizing his clues according to his five senses. The book ends with sheet music for "The Farmer in the Dell," on which the story is very loosely based. A surefire hit with children, and clever enough for adults to enjoy.-Suzanne Myers Harold, Multnomah County Library System, Portland, OR (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Donohue's strikingly dimensional cut-paper collages are the main attraction of this canine detective story from the duo behind Ten-Gallon Bart and its sequels. The basset hound hero (who wears a houndstooth trench coat and hat, natch) is hired to find out who swiped a prized hunk of smelly but scrumptious Cowa-bunga cheese, the product of milk from a "one-horned, two-eared, three-legged" cow that likes to kick. Crummel's semirhyming text never finds its rhythmic footing ("I was outside feeding my cat when-splat!-slices of cheese landed right on my hat," the Muffin Man tells Sherlock Bones during the course of his investigation), and the story is overstuffed with verbal tics and incident; the latter includes a pilfering giant who gets schooled in community values. But thanks to Donohue, the spreads feel like stills from a 3-D movie. While other collagists have similar talents for texture and character, Donohue's cinematic framing (which includes one particularly impressive overhead "shot" that evokes a classic western) and ability to suggest dynamic movement stand out. Ages 5-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.