Joey Fly Private Eye in Creepy Crawly Crime
Grade 4-6–Hardboiled insect detective Joey Fly and his assistant, a young scorpion named Sammy Stingtail, search for a missing diamond pencil box belonging to Delilah, a femme fatale swallowtail butterfly. Simple, whimsical drawings and humorous dialogue give the book child appeal. The illustrations&' gray and sepia tones reference film noir, but this may be lost on younger readers, many of whom probably prefer more color in their comics. The clever writing doesn&'t keep the story from lagging at times: the case of a missing pencil box, in the end, can&'t sustain the most gripping narrative. Unique and witty, but not essential.–Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.