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Summary
Summary
"6:32 a.m. This is the farm. My partner, Bill, and I wereworking the barnyard shift. It was peaceful. Quiet. Then we got thecall." Much of this fowl-filled homage to Dragnet (DUM DE DUM DUM!) will be loston kids--and a few grownups, for that matter. But that doesn't make thisstraight-faced send-up of that famous crime-partner show--and a dozen-odd fairytales thrown in for good measure--any less funny. "So you're saying you were robbed, is that right, ma'am? What exactly is missingfrom the nest, ma'am? Eggs, ma'am? Chicks, ma'am?" But it turns out that it'speppers that have gone missing--a peck of "perfect purple, almost-pickledpeppers." But nobody was talking: "We had Horner in the corner and were tryingto make Little Boy Blue quack." Then our intrepid pair of web-footedinvestigators gets a break in the case when a tub of "tartest tasty tomahtoes"turns up missing. DUM DE DUM DUM! It's just more wit from the wonderful Margie Palatini, who brought us Piggie Pie and Zoom Broom, backed up on thisassignment by the spirited illustrations of Richard Egielski. (Ages 4 to 8)--Paul Hughes
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-3-There's trouble in the barnyard: a peck of perfect, purple, almost-pickled peppers has been purloined; a tub of tasty tomatoes, taken; a load of luscious, leafy lettuce, lifted. What to make of it all? Salad, obviously-but who's responsible for this country crime wave? Looks like a job for Ducktective Web and his feathered sidekick, Bill. Nattily attired in snappy fedoras and brightly colored blazers, the Birds with the Badges cruise from crime scene to crime scene, round up the usual suspects, and finally catch That Dirty Rat red-handed, or, to be more precise, garlic-mayo-dressing-breathed. "Book him, Ducko. His salad days are over." Even younger children will recognize and join in on the closing "DUM DE DUM DUM/DUM DE DUM DUM/DUM!" Egielski constructs a setting of neatly drawn, rustic mean streets, and Palatini leaves no crime-show trope ungoosed: give them both a Pullet Surprise.-John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This punny parody freely alludes to the TV drama Dragnet, as two "ducktectives" attempt to "quack the case" of several robberies on a farm. Each scene opens with a time of day and location, noted in hard-boiled bold print. A blotchy typewriter font suggests the gruff voice of Ducktective Web, a white-feathered, fedora-capped "flatfoot." Web reports that a chicken's "peck of... perfect purple almost-pickled peppers" has been stolen, a sheep is missing some lettuce and Little Boy Blue has an alibi (oddly, potential pepper-pincher Peter Piper goes unmentioned). Headquarters swarms with storybook characters: "A miss named Muffet had just been tossed off her tuffet and a gal named Peep was missing some sheep. I noticed that three little kittens had lost their mittens. They began to cry." Ultimately, in a rather anticlimactic finale, a "dirty rat" (literally) gets the rap. Egielski (Jazper; Hey, Al) sets the police drama in a spotless barnyard, where a "wanted" poster pictures a wolf, and three blind mice lodge a complaint about their bandaged behinds. The illustrator's bright sky-blues and straw-golds counteract the claustrophobic, mock-tough narration. From the intermittent "dum de dum dum" sound effect to the catch-phrase "Book him, Ducko," Palatini (Ding Dong Ding Dong) mimics classic detective television and adds a nursery-rhyme twist. But the gags may be best appreciated by an adult audience. Ages 4-7. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) While the jacket illustration of two ducks, brandishing a badge and sporting felt fedoras, might indicate that the title refers to their feet, Ducktective Web's opening lines give more than a passing nod to his namesake: ""6:32 a.m. This is the farm. My partner, Bill, and I were working the barnyard shift."" Dragnet's Jack Webb, a.k.a. Sgt. Joe Friday, is clearly the inspiration for the lead detective starring in this witty satire. Containing references to every celluloid cop clich+ from ""Round up the usual suspects"" to ""Book him, Ducko,"" the book begs the question, Who is the audience? But make no mistake; this story is for children. The straightforward plot delivers an uncomplicated mystery concerning a case of vanishing vegetables (""You say to-may-toes.... I say to-mah-toes.... Somebody just hauled the whole thing off!""). After interrogating a few likely rotten eggs, the flatfoots nab the culprit, Ratzo (""you Dirty Rat""), hiding out in his hole in the wall. Although adults may enjoy the inside jokes, you don't have to know where ""DUM DE DUM DUM"" comes from to enjoy singing it, and the lampoonery not only encompasses grownup fare but also covers familiar preschool territory, with multiple allusions to fairy tales and Mother Goose. Returning to headquarters, the two police officers describe their overwhelming caseload: ""A miss named Muffet had just been tossed off her tuffet and a gal named Peep was missing some sheep."" Egielski's illustrations lend energy to the caper, showing the deadpan ducks hot on the trail of the best barnyard adventure since Old MacDonald took inventory. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Theres trouble brewing in the barnyard, and its up to Ducktective Web and his faithful sidekick Bill to sort it out. In Palatinis (Mooseltoe, 2000, etc.) highly referential and pun-filled plot, the two dauntless ducks try to track down the culprit who stole a peck of the hens perfect purple, almost-pickled peppers. No, its not who you think, although the web-footed flatfoots encounter several familiar characters when the usual suspects are interrogated: a cornered Horner and the boy in blue frantically offer up alibis in a police station filled with blind mice and mittenless kittens, among others. Punctuated by a soundtrackDUM DE DUM DUMthe plot takes the quacking coppers from crime scene to crime scene, till at last they catch up with . . . That Dirty Rat (Book him, Ducko). Egielskis (Three Magic Balls, 2000, etc.) trademark cartoony illustrations depict a crowded, uncannily urban barnyard in which horses wear suits and helmets as they commute to work on bicycles, and a high-rise coop looms over the hens house. His stern Ducktective Web bears a remarkable resemblance to Sergeant Joe Friday. Paced breathlessly, related in a deadpan first-person narration by the Ducktective himself, the storys outrageous silliness will tickle childreneven as the references to old TV detective shows will delight the adults who read it to them. (Picture book. 5-8)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-8. Unless they spend a lot of time watching "Nick at Night," kids (or even young parents) will be hard-pressed to recognize this parody of the TV show Dragnet. Happily, that doesn't matter, because this clever, funny book stands on its own. "This is the farm," intones Ducktective Web. "My partner, Bill, and I were working the barnyard shift." It's peaceful until the call comes from the rooster cop: get down to the henhouse to check out the theft of a chicken's purple, almost-pickled peppers, a peck of 'em--all perfect. Back at headquarters, the joint's jumping. A miss named Muffet has been tossed off her tuffet, and Peep has lost her sheep. Then the partners are called to the scene of another robbery. A horse has lost his tomatoes, and a sheep her lettuce. There's only one thing to make of all this, the cop concludes: a salad. And the logical culprit? A rat. The text perfectly captures the cadence of Dragnet while bringing in famous tag lines from other sources ("You dirty rat!" ). Egielski's clever artwork, in lots of bright colors, captures most of the fun on the page, though it misses some opportunities to extend the comedy, particularly in the scenes between Web and Rat. Still, this stylized treat should bring laughs to a wide age-range of readers, who will all giggle for different reasons. --Ilene Cooper