Tuff Fluff: The Case of Duckie's Missing Brain
Kindergarten-Grade 4–Tuff Fluff, a yellow bunny with a rakish black eye patch, is the Chandleresque private eye enlisted to solve the mystery of Duckie's missing brain. He lives in Los Attic, the city of worn-out playthings, and works out of an office where it's always 3:29 a.m. by "the watch on the wall." Dwelling in cardboard cartons, the inhabitants of Los Attic have mismatched eyes and leak stuffing at the seams. They join forces to aid Tuff in his search; without his brain, Duckie can no longer speak, and all of the animals miss his storytelling. In fact, they are so keen to hear the end of his last tale that even the rivalry between the "beanbags" and the "stuffs" is forgotten in the quest. The contrast between Nash's 1930s' gumshoe writing style and the actual plot of toy animals anxiously searching for Duckie's stuffing is very funny. The illustrations, done in gouache and pencil, are bright and full of humorous details–a ceiling fan made from paper clips, a beauty parlor where a pink poodle styles a penguin, a Lego block lying in an alley. The book is divided into short chapters and the text is presented in two columns, a format that, along with the witty narrative, makesTuff Fluffa particularly good choice for reluctant readers. Children will fall in love with this soft-boiled detective.–Jane Barrer, Washington Square Village Creative Steps, New York CityCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.