The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman and illustrated by Deborah Zemke, 38 pp, RL 2

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The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman and illustrated by Deborah Zemke
is a fantastic new book from Creston Books, a homegrown publisher of books printed in America that launched in Fall of 2013. Of course I love a good story, but I also love a beautifully made book and all of Creston's books fit this bill, as you can glimpse in the photo below, and by taking a look inside The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake. When you open the cover, the first page looks just like an open manila folder with a (very funny) case report and paper clip for added detail. The book ends with another folder that includes a carrot cake recipe from the marvelous Mollie Katzen, grand dame of vegetarian cooking and staple of my college years.


The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake is exactly the kind of book kids will love. Detective Wilcox is a policemouse and his boss is Captain Griswold and they are both MFIs - Missing Food Investigators. Their day begins early with call from Miss Rabbit and a "Code 12 - a missing cake," and of course it's a carrot cake. Newman adds many nice touches, like the MFIs grabbing cheese donuts as they rush out to investigate the crime or light traffic in the form of "a couple of chickens crossing the road."
There are lots of suspects and several clues. Everyone from Fowler the Owl to Porcini (the pig with a rap sheet "a mile long for corn robberies but no cake priors") and Hot Dog. The team from MFI conducts some serious surveillance and manages to crack the case and have a little party, with the help of Hot Dog and an extra carrot cake with the added crunch of dog biscuits. Hopefully Newman and Zemke have more cases to crack in the future!



Source: Review Copy

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