Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective, Case #000001: The Haunted Toolshed
Grade 2-5&ndash;Fourth-grader Joe Sherlock aspires to follow in the footsteps of the famous Sherlock Holmes by solving local mysteries for $10 a day. He is endearing as he bumbles toward the solutions. InThe Haunted Toolshed, he attempts to discover who has been stealing things from his neighbor's house, including a glass eyeball and a bundt cake. InNeighborhood Stink, he's called in to discover which local dog has been leaving a mess in a completely fenced-in yard and gets stuck in a dog door with only his Inspector Wink-Wink underpants on. Black-and-white cartoons add to the fun. Allusions to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle abound: Sherlock has an Uncle Mycroft and lives in the town of Baskerville. The gross-out factor is high in these easy chapter books&ndash;entire plots pivot on poop and flatulence, which will appeal to fans of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series (Scholastic).&ndash;Kathleen Meulen, Blakely Elementary School, Bainbridge Island, WACopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.