"A large bag of nuts – was not there at all! Oh my! What grief! What despair!"
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Who Stole the Nutz? by T-Imani Thomas-Ngabe Trafford Publishing
book review by Michael Radon
Shirley and Sherman Squirrel are not the most considerate neighbors. They have a tendency to party loudly all night and litter around their house, and finally Mrs. Butterfly decides to make an issue of it. Looking to avoid the scandal, the Squirrels decide to take a weekend out of town until things start to cool down, but they need to ask a favor of their neighbors. Having lost the key to their house, they must leave their door unlocked and ask their neighbors to keep an eye on their place. When they return from their short vacation, they learn that somebody took advantage of their open house to steal all the nuts that they saved for the winter. Now they have to figure out the mystery of who robbed their home.
With a constant and creative rhyming scheme throughout and large full-page cartoon illustrations, this title can be a lot of fun to share with children. The morals of being a good neighbor and not taking things that do not belong to you without permission are valuable for the target age range of this book. By committing to rhyming, some words can be above a young reader's or audience's reading level, but a glossary is wisely included in the back of the book to help children expand their vocabulary. Children will enjoy hearing about all of the different animals and the circus that comes to town while Shirley and Sherman are out on their vacation. They'll also learn valuable lessons in the process.