The Soccer Mystery

by Felix Gumpaw, Glass House Graphics (Illustrator)

Overview

In this third installment of the Pup Detectives graphic novel series, the pup detectives have to collect clues to find their school’s missing mascot before the big game!

When the beloved Pawston Elementary School mascot goes missing, Rider Woofson and his fellow pup detectives smell trouble on the soccer field. But when the star player on the team also goes missing just before the biggest match of the season, they know they have a super-foul mystery on their paws. There are more suspects than there are clues, but these persistent pups won’t give up until they score a win for good guys everywhere!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534478701
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Series:	Pup Detectives Series , #3
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	698,615
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	GN360L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Felix Gumpaw grew up reading kids’ books, so it makes sense that he’s writing them now. And when he isn’t writing books, he’s out solving mysteries around the city of Manhattan, where he lives.

Editorial Reviews

2021-05-05
Pawston Elementary’s dog detectives return for the case of a sabotaged soccer match.

With the Pawston Dynamos facing off against the Catskills Cougars in the soccer championship, Ziggy and Rora argue who will be named MVP. Ziggy backs Pawston’s own David Geckom while Rora predicts it will be Cougar Lion L. Messy. Rider, not a soccer fan, watches their fanaticism with bemusement. Readers who don’t follow international soccer will relate to his obliviousness, and they don’t need the references to enjoy the lizard and feline character designs. Before the game, mysterious acts of sabotage threaten it—starting when a giant soccer-ball monster abducts Pawston’s beloved mascot, Dynamo Dog! The pup detectives search for clues and suspects while the saboteur tries to stay a step ahead. There’s also a supernatural red herring played for laughs. In the climax, the soccer-ball monster returns, and the pups fight it, accidentally disrupting the unlikely true culprit, who delivers a deliciously villainous monologue (complete with flashbacks) to explain motives and methods. Although the heroes end up stumbling onto their answer (leaning heavily on deus ex machina inventions), the fast pace, expressively funny illustrations, and action sequences—both soccer and fighting—will keep readers moving from joke to joke.

Even readers who aren’t sports fans will get a kick out of it. (Graphic mystery. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews