The Deductive Detective by Brian RockMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: 2013 by Arbordale Publishing
Ages: 4 - 8
Pages: 32
For extensive information on this book, the see the publication page
Synopsis :
Someone stole a cake from the cake contest - Detective Duck uses his deductive reasoning skills to “quack” the case. After all, the thief left hairs behind so the thief wasn’t a bird. Follow along as he subtracts each suspect one at a time to reveal just who the culprit was. This clever story will have children of all ages giggling at the puns and the play on words
It’s so much more than a picture book . . . This books is specifically designed to be both a fun-to-read story and a launch pad for discussions and learning. Whether read at home or in a classroom we encourage adults to do the activities with their young children in their lives. Free online resources and support at SylvanDellPubhlishing.com
P1: Title page
ACT 1: Introductions
Here is where we learn about the detective and the case. In this story, being a basic picture book mystery, our detective isn't given much of a personality, but that is balanced by the character of the many suspects later on.
P2 - P3:
Duck, the deductive detective, was sitting at his desk when the phone rang with an urgent massage: Someone stole one of the cakes form the cake contest! Detective Duck in on the case!
P4:
When Duck Arrives, Owl, the night watchman, took him to the scene of the crime. All thirteen bakers were already there. Fox was sitting at the chair crying, “Someone stole my beautiful cake!”
“Hoo could have stolen it?” Asked Owl.
P5:
Detective Duck looked at the scene and said “one of these twelve bakers stole that cake! But I’ll quack this case in no time. I’ll find clues that will subtract each suspect until there is just one left. PT
Duck’s superpower is deduction.
13 bakers in the contest, but fox didn’t steal her own cake so their are 12 suspects who might have.
Who?
Duck states that he will use deduction to figure that out.
ACT 2 The Investigation
Dec must use his “special power” to find clues, and weed out suspects.
P6:
“Aha!” Explained Duck, pointing to the remaining cakes. “Look how small the cake is.”
“That’s my cake,” squeaked Mose. “I could not make a bigger cake or it would be too big for me to carry.”
“And that is why you could not have stolen the cake,” explain Duck.
“What,” said Mouse “and because I only like cheesecake.”
P7
12 suspects - 1 mouse = 11 suspects.
Author Brian Rock PT
P8:
“Now,” said Duck, “What time was the cake stolen?”
“It was taken at sunrise when I went to get breakfast,” said Owl.
P8:
“That means you could not have taken the cake,” said Duck, pointing to Rooster. “I heard you crow at sunrise this morning, so you could not have been here as well. So you’re free to fly the coop.”
“Great,” said Rooster. “I’ve got other things to cock a doodle do.”
11 suspects - rooster = 10 suspects. PT
Because this is a picture book repetition is still important. The kiddos still like the security of the rhyming structure even if the words do not rhyme. So each time duck finds a clue, then eliminates a suspect, and the innocent animal makes a "humor" pun before leaving. Some of these hit better than others.
P9 - P10:
“What about these doors?” Asked Duck, pointing to the double doors at the front of the room. Where they still locked when the cake was stolen?”
“Of course, hoo else would have keys?” Replied Owl.
“Then Elephant is not our thief” said Duck “Since the only way he can fit into this room is through these two doors.”
“That’s because I’m royalty,” said Elephant. “I come from a long line of Tudors.”
10 suspects - 1 elephant = 9 suspects.
PT
P11:
“And what’s this?” Said Duck as he looked closely at the table of cakes.
“It looks like a strand of hair,” said Owl. “And look! There’s some more over by the kitchen! Hoo could have left them?”
P12:
“Certainly not Swan,” said Duck. “Swans have feathers, not hair. So Swan couldn’t be our thief.”
“Of course,” said Swan. “The only thing I’ve ever stolen is the spotlight in Swan Lake.”
9 suspects - 1 swan = 8 suspects.
P13:
“It looks like our thief escaped through the kitchen,” said Duck as he followed the strands of hair across the floor. “It looks dark in there. Have those lights been off all night?”
“Yes,” answered Owl.
“But one of our suspects would never go into a dark room alone, said Duck, “Which is why Horse is free to race home.”
“It’s true,” said Horse. “I’m not a dark horse.”
I didn’t know this about horses. Animal facts are fun!
Pg14
8 suspects - 1 horse = 7 suspects. PT
P15 - P16
“Now let’s set some light on this case,” said Duck as he opened the kitchen doors and turned on the lights. “Look at all those pots and pans hanging from the ceiling.”
“Hoo knew we had so many pots and pans in here?” Asked Owl.
“And not one of them has been knocked off, which means our big antlered friend Moose has to been through here lately.”
“That’s right,” said Moose. “I haven’t been here since I finished my chocolate moose cake.”
7 suspects -1 moose = 6 suspects.
P16 - P17
“Look, there on the floor, observed Duck.
“You mean that spilled flour?” Asked Owl.
“Yes,” replied Duck, “Our thief spilled a bag of flour and dragged his long tail though it.”
“But Pig doesn’t have a long tail, said Duck, “So she couldn’t have hogged the cake.”
“I don’t know why I even entered this contest,” said Pig. “Nothing good ever happens when I’m bakin’.”
6 suspects - 1 pig = 5 Suspects.
P18 - P19
“The trail of flour leads here,” said Owl, pointing to the counter.
“Which means whoever took the cake jumped up here before they left,” explained Duck.
“Bu that’s too high to jump,” said Duck, “If you’re a cow. So Cow is free to moooo-ve along home.”
“I probably shouldn’t mention this,” said Cow, “But my great-grandmother once jumped over the moon.”
5 suspects - 1 cow = 4 suspects.
My daughter has encountered so many stories featuring cows jumping over the moon that she was stunned to learned that cows really can't jump at all. Of course, right after that, Cow has to spoil the lesson with a joke about her great-grandmother.
P20 - P21
“This window must be how he escaped,: said Duck.
“Whoo?” Asked Owl.
“The thief!” Answered Duck. “And he left a handprint on the sill on the way out.”
“This tells me that Tiger could not be our thief,” said Duck, “Because tiger have paws, not hands.”
“And I have claws on my paws,” said Tiger. “That’s why I always bake from scratch.”
The only joke I liked.
P22 - P23
“Look at that window,” said Duck.
“What about it?” Asked Owl.
“That’s a pretty small space to crawl through,” answered Duck, “Especially if you’re a kangaroo.”
Therefore, Kangaroo is free to hop along home.”
“Now I can go clean up,” said Kangaroo. “My Joey’s all doughy.” 3 suspects - kangaroo = 2 suspects.
We are so used to mysteries having some trick that my husband was certain that the doughy joey had done the deed. I can't blame him, I suspected Fox, and then Owl . . . both being nocturnal creatures and all. But no, Fox did not steal her own cake, nor was the Nightwatchman a dishonest Owl cop. And the baby roo was clean up until this page.
P24
“Now where does the trail go from here?” Asked Duck, looking out the window. “It’s odd that there are no footprints on the ground,” noticed Owl
“Which means our thief must have swung from tree to tree to get away,” said Duck.
“Which is very difficult to do,” said Duck, “If you‘re a raccoon.”
I copied the typo from this page exactly. It looks like Owl had lines that were deleted but no one bothered to correct Duck's punctuation to make this less jarring. Remember we are writing for read-aloud most of the time. The easier we can make this on parents the more likely they are to buy future books from us.
P25
“Of course I’m the last suspect ruled out,” said Raccoon. “Just because I have mask everyone thinks I’m the thief.”
“That means our thief could only be . . . “
2 suspects - 1 raccoon = the thief.
ACT 3 Summation
P26
“The Monkey!” Said Duck pointing to the thief. “The only questions I have left is, why did you steal it?”
P27
“I couldn’t help it,” said Monkey, as owl grabbed his arm. “It was a banana cream cake!”
I'd honestly hadn't even noticed the monkey on the first page and was surprised at his inclusion. And that's the other thing about mysteries! That surprise ending - it's what mystery junkies like myself crave. Even though we follow along with the clues and try to crack the case, in the end we still want that zeal of surprise. It's the hardest part for me I think. I have to know everything, so hiding bits here and there is difficult.
MY TAKE AWAY
I enjoyed reading and breaking down this book. I found it cute even though I rolled my eyes at the attempts at humor. I doubt the kids would get those puns, and they only made me groan, but other reviewers have said the found them 'laugh out loud funny' so I’m in the minority on that.
I enjoyed how it was a real mystery with leads and clues and suspects. My husband and I actually both jumped to incorrect conclusions so the reveal was still very fun.
I easily found the main mystery tropes that fit my check list. This book a fantastic early introduction in the fun of mysteries for 3 to 5 year olds. It's also an introduction to Math language and a few animal facts what’s not to love?
The grammar was hard. There were a few places were the quotes got confusing. It seems that some of Owl’s lines were taken out but an editor forgot to mend Duck’s dialogue to patch the correction. That and the humor make this a kind of difficult to read at bed time.
Thus the four out of five stars.
BEDTIME BREAKDOWN
My daughter loves this book! We’ve heard her copying the subtraction language while playing with her toys. She’s only two so she doesn’t really understand it. However, I appreciate the introduction of mathematic language into her early vocabulary. This is definitely a book I will be purchasing.
If you enjoyed this book or this breakdown please consider supporting the author, Brian Rock, with a purchase.
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