Sherlock Bones and the Missing Cheese

by Susan Stevens Crummel, Dorothy Donohue (Illustrator)

Overview

“What’s that smell in the Dell? It comes from a cheese, a great big cheese, a smelly, scrumptious cheese, if you please, made from the milk of a cantankerous cow—oh, wow! The one-horned, two-eared, three-legged Cowabunga!”

But the Cowabunga cheese has gone missing, and Sherlock Bones is on the case! That brainy bloodhound must use all five of his senses to track down the thief.

Children will have fun following the clues in this roll-off-your-tongue read-aloud inspired by the popular children’s song “The Farmer in the Dell” and illustrated with Dorothy Donohue’s lively signature cut-paper artwork.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542020343
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	07/30/2024
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Besides the books on which she has collaborated with Dorothy Donohue, Susan Stevens Crummel has also partnered with her sister, Janet Stevens, on The Great Fuzz Frenzy, And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon, Cook-a-Doodle-Doo!, and Jackalope. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband Richard and her fluffy black cat Tweeter, who runs the house. They have three grown children. Learn more about the author at www.susanstevenscrummel.com.

Dorothy Donohue creates her picture books by cutting shapes of paper and gluing the shapes together to create an illustration. She uses various colors and textures in her papers as well as layering to create a three-dimensional effect. Ms. Donohue has also illustrated If Frogs Made Weather by Marion Bane Bauer and Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe by Susan Patron. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband James, their two children, and their two dogs.

Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly

A surefire hit with children, and clever enough for adults to enjoy.” —School Library Journal

“A quick-draw of quick-witted guffaws. Guaranteed to get your goat and make readers grin.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Ten-Gallon Bart

“What fun this is to read aloud. Clever word play and delightful humor capture the spirit of the Wild West.” —Children’s Literature on Ten-Gallon Bart

“This story will keep kids cheering for Ten-Gallon Bart.” —School Library Journal on Ten-Gallon Bart and the Wild West Show

“…the goofy humor will still draw [children] into Bart’s world, where they’ll find themselves cheering him on in his quest to become a star.” —Booklist on Ten-Gallon Bart and the Wild West Show

“Crummel’s cheeky narrative…and Donohue’s quirky, textured layered-paper illustrations complement one another to a T.” —Kirkus Reviews on Ten-Gallon Bart Beats the Heat

From the Publisher

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

School Library Journal