Gus & Gertie and the Missing Pearl Le

Joan Lowery Nixon is the author of more than 100 books, including The Other Side of Dark and the Orphan Train Adventures series. She is the four-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Best Juvenile Mystery Award. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Diane deGroat is the illustrator of more than 90 books for children. She is also the author-illustrator of the popular stories about Gilbert the opossum, including Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, which was an IRA-CBC Children's Choice. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Spirited alliteration and humorous illustrations propel this fast-paced beginning-reader whodunit. When Gus and Gertie, a pair of traveling penguins, hop off the ferryboat for their island vacation at the elegant Hotel de View, a sudden rain forces them into the nearby "Otel," Home of the Bad Guys Club. Inside, "rascally rowdies, wretched wharf rats, riffraff, and ruffians shouted and argued, pushed and shoved, and created a horrible hullabaloo." To "show them we're friendly," Gus begins snapping Polaroids of the proceedings. DeGroat's watercolors not only capture the juxtaposition of the conservative couple and the "scummiest swarm of seagoing scallywags," but after the disappearance of Gertie's "beautiful, valuable deep-sea pearl" necklace, her clever renderings of Gus's photos provide a trail to the thief. Although the scallywags ultimately help in the pursuit of the culprit, Gus and Gertie's wholehearted embrace of the bad guys (who after all collaborated in lifting her jewel) is abrupt. Still, one can hardly blame the couple: the Bad Guys look like much more fun than obtuse Gus and Gertie. Ages 6-9. (Sept.)
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