The 3 Policemen, or Young Bottsford of Forbe Island

by William Pène du Bois

Book by Pene du Bois, William

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

William Pène du Bois was an American writer and illustrator of books for young readers. He is best known for The Twenty-One Balloons, published in April 1947 by Viking Press, for which he won the 1948 Newbery Medal. As illustrator he was twice a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal.

The Twenty-One Balloons is the work by Pène du Bois that WorldCat reports most widely held in participating libraries, by a wide margin. His other most widely held works are five books written by others, which he illustrated (below), and the two Caldecott Honor picture books, which he also wrote.

From 1953 to 1960, Pène du Bois was art editor of The Paris Review, working alongside founder and editor George Plimpton.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three bumbling policemen try to figure out why their island's fishing nets are being robbed of fish, but it's their young assistant Bottsford who always comes to the rescue (and solves the mystery).

This is a racially progressive story - Bottsford is black, and the three policemen (and, it seems, everyone else) are white. This is never alluded to in William Pene du Bois's text, but only in his fantastic illustrations. Fantastic in both senses - lovely, and full of fantasy. It was first published in 1938. I read the 1960 edition, so I don't know if the two editions had the same illustrations.

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[John Barclay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Pene du Bois`s books when I was a kid. Can`t find them now, much to my annoyance as I`d love to read them to my daughter, but my memories of them are as pure as the day I first read them.

The Three Policemen with the three slightly different mustaches and then helpful little boy that solves everything, how wonderful and creative. Yea for imagination.

[Emily M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the library because we love The Twenty-one Balloons, but this is not the same caliber. It's silly and has funny illustrations, but there's not a ton of substance. The kids all loved it, though.

[Hyun · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son read this book right after reading "Twenty-One Balloons" by the same author. He thought this was the best book he has read in a long time!

[Ekaterina Andreeva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy what a book. I could not finish it as struggled at following the storyline but it worked for me as many stories. Loved the jokes and satire on scholars. Will probably attempt to read again.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably considered a kids book by most but I flipped through it and was so amused by the illustrations that I decided it would be fun to read.
The story centers on a pretend island with French influence that is home to a small fishing village where everybody is happy until all the fishing nets disappear one night. A mystery ensues.
The 3 policemen in the title show up to do their work and are comically inept until assisted by a young boy who is some kind of orphan or something but enjoys hanging around the police station.
The story is short and easy to work though and probably best suited to a 7 year old, although again I really loved it.

[Wordwizard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful.

We're going through the bookcase in the playroom, which means I'm reading or re-reading a whole bunch of books to decide whether or not to keep them. It'll keep me reading fiction, at any rate.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this on the JFIC shelf one day and read it over a couple breaks--very entertaining!