Detective Mole by Camilla Pintonato

Abstract

Reviewed by: Detective Mole by Camilla Pintonato Natalie Berglind Pintonato, Camilla Detective Mole; written and illus. by Camilla Pintonato. HarperCollins, 2021 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063051782 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs Oscar the mole “has a great nose,” which makes him a stellar chef, but his true passion is detective work. Oscar reads lots of mystery fiction and knows that “the details are everything in an investigation,” and when a squirrel’s grandfather goes missing, he gets the opportunity to flex his sleuthing skills. He draws a terrible portrait of the missing rodent to show around, examines the squirrel’s home for clues, often getting sidetracked in the process, and interrogates suspects with little success. With all of his mismatched evidence leading nowhere, Oscar takes a walk and finds a squirrel out fishing and he inadvertently cracks the case. The bungled detective work in this Italian import is riotous fun, with the viewers in on the joke through visual cues: Grandpa’s house is full of fishing equipment with previous catches prominently displayed, and Oscar is oblivious to other shenanigans on the pages, from stolen carrots to cash-grabbing rodents. Digital art with the splotchiness of brushstrokes depicts Oscar’s kooky woodland world, and the forest creatures who inhabit it are rotund, simplified, and adorable. Viewers will have a lot of storytelling details to comb through on each page and will want to be on the lookout for the grandfather squirrel hiding in the background of many spreads. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois