How to Catch a Clover Thief by Elise Parsley

Abstract

Reviewed by: How to Catch a Clover Thief by Elise Parsley Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Parsley, Elise How to Catch a Clover Thief; written and illus. by Elise Parsley. Little, 2021 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780316534284 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs Roy the boar guards his little patch of clover, waiting for the yummy white flowers to blossom before he gobbles them up. Jarvis the gopher gives him a book a of clover recipes to pass the time, and, distracted, Roy heads off into the forest to gather up some more ingredients; unfortunately, when he returns, it's to a much smaller patch. Roy then sets up watch night and day, and Jarvis helpfully provides a guide to camping; after Roy finishes busily setting up the tent as the book instructs, he notices the bit of clover is even smaller. Jarvis shows up again, happy to read an exhausted Roy a book as he nods off and … well, viewers will likely guess where this is going. The fun, though, is in Roy's revenge, a carefully designed comeuppance using Jarvis' own crafty resource—books—against him as Roy studies up to engineer a huge, STEM-inspired gopher-catching machine. This is a snarky take on the books-are-the-best trope, and the irreverence is matched with visual absurdity, especially in Roy's enthusiastic embrace of Jarvis' selected books. The forest scenes in the digital art are largely static, but there's plenty of comedy in the contrasting proportions of spiky-haired, bipedal Roy, who looks like he's about to topple over as his snout nose surpasses his tiny legs, and Jarvis, whose wiggly round bottom gives him an undeserved look of innocence. Messages about sharing and/or stealing could certainly be gleaned here, but it might also be useful to illustrate that books have just as much mischief about them as morals. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois