Who is the Mystery Reader?

Unlimited Squirrels #2

by Mo Willems

From Mo Willems, creator of the revolutionary, award-winning, best-selling Elephant & Piggie books, comes this breakout beginning-reader series. An ensemble cast of Squirrels, Acorns, and pop-in guests host a page-turning extravaganza. Each book features a funny, furry adventure AND bonus jokes, quirky quizzes, nutty facts, and so, so many Squirrels.


In Who is the Mystery Reader?, Zoom Squirrel tries out a new superpower with help from a mysterious Mystery Reader. But will the Squirrel pals ever find out who the real Mystery Reader is? Do you know more about reading than the Squirrels do? You will by the end of this book!

Genres: Picture Books, Humor, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Writing, Mystery

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

#1 New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator Mo Willems is best known for his Caldecott Honor winning picture books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: a cautionary tale.

In addition to such picture books as Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, and Time to Pee, Mo has created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of early readers, and published You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons, an annotated cartoon journal sketched during a year-long voyage around the world in 1990-91.

The New York Times Book Review called Mo “the biggest new talent to emerge thus far in the 00's."

Mo’s work books have been translated into a myriad of languages, spawned animated shorts and theatrical musical productions, and his illustrations, wire sculpture, and carved ceramics have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the nation.

Mo began his career as a writer and animator for television, garnering 6 Emmy awards for his writing on Sesame Street, creating Nickelodeon's The Off-Beats, Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City and head-writing Codename: Kids Next Door.

He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.

Reviews

[Matt]

Neo returned to reading one of his favourite authors, having recently discovered this new piece to the Mo Willems collection. When a number of squirrels gather together to take a walk, they come across a mysterious sign they cannot read. Enter the Mystery Reader, complete with mask and matching underpants. Through some efforts, Mystery Reader teaches the others to sound out the word, without revealing themselves. As the book progresses, the reader is able to learn a few “acorn-y” jokes, as well as the history of reading and books. A great educational piece that Neo hopes many others will read, given the chance.

[Mark Baker]

This book is broken up into many parts. The main story involves Zoom Squirrel who gets some help in reading for The Mystery Reader, a costumed superhero. But who is the masked man, er squirrel? And can Zoom enter the world of masked superheroes? After the main story, we get a couple of terrible (and by that, I mean delightful) puns and jokes related to reading. There’s also a section where we see the work that goes into creating a book.

As an adult, I don’t find these picture books as delightful as some of Mo’s other works. They are missing the humor and charm. However, I can see the appeal to young readers, and if the addition of superheroes to reading encourages kids to read, I’m all in favor of it. The multiple sections can make the book disjointed, especially if you are reading the book to a group of kids, but it would be great for kids ready to expand their reading beyond the traditional easy readers.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Rod Brown]

A little too corny and dumb for me this time around, though I did sort of like the exploration of the history of books and the glimpse at the modern publishing industry included in the back end.

[orangerful]

Very silly, the first story was my favorite of the bunch. But the Squirrels are not on the same level as Elephant and Piggie yet.

[Jordan]

This was about at my reading level today.

[Becky]

First sentence: Who is the mystery reader? Let’s read and find out!

Premise/plot: The Unlimited Squirrels are starring in their second book. In this “adventure“ the squirrels are trying to discover the identity of the mystery reader wearing a mask and underwear. But perhaps I am rushing ahead. The squirrels see a stop sign and are puzzled by its meaning. What do the letters s,t,o, and p mean? The mystery reader—also a squirrel— comes to “save” the day by helping them read the word. The mystery reader knows how to sound things out. Most of the book is filler having very little to do with this.

My thoughts: Is the book intentionally busy-busy-busy to mimic a scatterbrained squirrel? Is it intentionally filled with a dozen or so distractions to be amusing? I am not amused. There’s enough story to fill about 24 pages. Unfortunately there are about 85 pages in the book. The rest of the book ranges from junk to junky-junk to super-junky. So much is needless.

I hate that I am not a fan of the new book, new series. I love, love, love Mo Willem’s books typically. But this, well, it reads like he was getting paid by the page. (I doubt that is true). I mean he’s a genius with his other series. I mean he writes with intent making every sentence count. So surely this change has a reason. I just don’t get it.

[Rebecca Ann]

If your reader is obsessed with Elephant and Piggie but needs a bigger challenge, these books are just right. Willem's has his signature illustration style, and humor with more challenging punctuation, sentence length, and word choices. There is also fun education information in the back of the book. For me it is just a hair too chaotic, but I like that it introduces kids to tables of contents and backmatter.

[Adele]

Very enjoyable. I didn't like this sequel quite as much as I Lost My Tooth! (my best picture book of 2019!), but that is at least in part due to my deeply ingrained aversion to the idea of learning to read by sounding things out.

[Abby Johnson]

Flummoxed by a sign they can't read, the squirrels are helped by the Mystery Reader who teaches them to sound out words they're not sure about. But who is the Mystery Reader? Turns out the Mystery Reader can be any one of us who unlocks reading's superpower. Kids who can't get enough Mo Willems or who miss new Elephant and Piggie books will enjoy this series, too.

[Becky]

This unfortunately missed the mark for me. There's just a LOT going on with it. I really wanted the 'mystery reader' story expanded more, and I REALLY loved the squirrels sounding out letters. I also just realized that I never read the first Unlimited Squirrels book, I Lost My Tooth... so maybe that threw me off a bit.

[Angie]

Funny parts. And parts I just did not get. 🤔🤨
Piggie and Elephant.

[Maggi Rohde]

The coolest thing about the Unlimited Squirrels series is that it is perfectly pitched at second grade independent readers. They're long, but not cumbersome. They're full of teaching elements including icons for emotion, literary elements and nonfiction book features. The text includes jokes that seven-year-olds will appreciate. I imagine they will circulate as widely as the Elephant and Piggie books do in first grade.

[Ann Haefele]

I love Mo Willems but his Unlimited Squirrels series is my least favorite. It’s too busy for me, but am sure that some readers enjoy it and laugh. (Though I must acknowledge that my 3 1/2 year old grandson laughed and laughed with this book so that’s why the 3 stars and not 2..after all the intended audience is his age, not mine.)

[Bridget Neace]

It was just a little too all over the place for me. It was a tricky read-aloud because of how the story was presented. There was some interesting information towards the end about the history of writing and other topics, but this was just not my favorite "Mr. Mo" work...

[Julie]

Mixed emotions here. I love Mo Willems. I love his books. I love parts of this book and am puzzled by the ending because it extends past what early readers will be able to read.

[Amanda]

Bring back Elephant and Piggie! *sigh* I'm trying to love the Unlimited Squirrels, just not feeling it though.

[Mandy]

Childrens beginning reader. I haven't read the first Unlimited Squirrels book, but this one was fun. A cast of squirrels is introduced and then they are shown reading this book. There are several puns and acorny jokes spread throughout (illustrated with emote-acorns) as the squirrels try to identify who the mystery reader is. Young readers will have fun comparing the costumed squirrel to the cast to identify it, though there are also other clues in the text. After the squirrels do some talk about reading, they start reading a nonfiction book on the history of writing. Willems also includes a peek at his wtiting process, as Mo Squirrel writes a story. Funny, random, and slightly longer than Elephant and Piggie books-- this is another winner for beginning readers.

I read an Advance Readers Copy of this book that is subject to change before publication.

[Becky B]

When the squirrels come upon a sign they need someone to read it. But who is this mystery reader who shows up? Then the squirrels learn about the origins of written language, and Mo Squirrel shares what all is involved in writing a story. Oh, and the Acorns have some jokes scattered in there.

I don't find the squirrels quite as funny as Elephant & Piggie, and the jokes are groan-worthy. I like the little nonfiction section. And I really liked Mo Squirrel's section on what all goes into making a book. It is probably the most honest look at the road from concept to publication out there for kids (and it was funny). Hand this to beginning readers who enjoy silliness and learning some things too.

[Jennifer]

There are a lot of fun things about this book (and series): corny jokes and humor, nutty characters, interesting facts... but, I don't know... I kind of think this would work better as a magazine for kids. It's also a little confusing which age group this is targeted for. There are easy-to-read sections with simple humor... and then it jumps to harder-to-read sections and harder-to-understand facts and jokes.

I can't see myself sharing this with a group of kids or even gifting this to a nephew. I love Mo, but this series is not for me. Though, I probably will jot down a couple of the jokes and share THOSE.

[Erin]

I really loved the parts where Mo visually demonstrates how to break down and sound out words. The speech bubbles literally force the reader to practice that skill while seamlessly wrapping it into the story. It doesn’t hurt that all three of my kids started to read on a stop sign, naming and sounding out the letters. So this has a personal resonance as well.

The story is busy, with lots of text bubbles, but I enjoyed the mystery reader element, as well as the sharing of the superpower. What a lovely way of looking at learning to read.

Several pages of bonus material at the end: extra short stories and jokes.

[Nadina]

So glad we finally got another "unlimited squirrels" book. I really enjoyed the first one and this one was really good too.
I really like the concept of this book and the format. I like that it has a table of contents, jokes, the main story, some non-fiction related to the story, and bonus stories. It is well paced and easy to follow. I like the emoti-acorns spread through the main story as well.
I feel like these books can not just be read alone or with a family member, but would hold up well in a classroom as well.
The illustrations are cute and simple and I love the use of color.
Good book over all and I would recommend it to others.

[The Keepers of the Books]

The squirrels come upon a sign they want to read, but they don't know how to read. Enter the Mysterious Reader! They can read anything. Who are they? Can they help the squirrels learn to read? A cute addition to the Spanish Mo Willems collection, the squirrels are entertaining and engaging. The illustrations are cute and detailed. The addition of the information about the history of alphabets and corny jokes will appeal to young readers. Fans of Mo Willems who are learning to read in Spanish will want to pick this one up.

Please note: This was a review copy given to us by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No financial compensation was received.

[Megan]

A parent asked me to read this, assuring me that I would find it hilarious. She said that it's a cute book for kids, but even better for adults. Unfortunately, I found this lacking compared to Willems's other works. It has a lot of repetitive text suitable for this level, and the art is cute, but it does not have a true storyline and it's not something I would put on my personal shelves. There is a small section within the book where the characters are reading about the origins of writing/books that will need an adult's help in reading/explaining to kids.

[Sandy Brehl]

A welcome addition to a series that delights developing readers.
This one most explicitly allows "Mystery Reader" to model "sound it out" techniques, as well as a bit of word-chunking and other strategies used by beginning readers. The use of the word underpants as part of the super reader costume will have little ones rereading this dozens of times.
It does continue the series patterns of intentional endpapers, table of contents, word-play in a-corny jokes, a short nonfiction section with picture support and strong appeal.

[Gretchen]

I will be reading Mo Willems books no matter how old I get because I still enjoy all of them! This book is no exception. I used this book in the classroom as an introduction to the mystery genre and convergent thinking. The clue with Wink squirrel was a great one for kids to understand and get excited about. A different story in the book would be great to use before doing writing and the "a-corn y" jokes are as corny as promised. I laughed throughout the book and loved reading them aloud to my clases.

[Diane]

“The mask! The underpants! It’s the ... MYSTERY READER!”

A story about a Mystery Reader coming to save the day, three “a-corny jokes,” a snippet from The Book of Wonders about what the very first writing looked like and then a few pages about how Mo Squirrel produces a book. Also include “Emote-Acorns” to let the reader see how the squirrels are feeling the in story.

So much here to ❤️! A definite addition to my school library. I look forward to more of these.

[AMY]

It was not too interesting throughout this book. I think it was too much dialouge and not very funny. There is a mystery reader who has a mask and matching underwear. No one can figure out who he is. Another animal tries to say he is the mystery reader and later puts on his own mask and matching underwear. The squirrel joke breaks are sort of funny. I have read more interesting Mo Willem books. I would skip this one.

[Kelsey]

The story of the mystery reader is enjoyable, but more time should have been spent on that rather than all the additional material, which feel awkward as they repeatedly interrupt the story with other stories and jokes.
Ultimately, the audience is the *real* mystery reader, because I'm not sure who this is intended for.

[Anthony]

The Unlimited Squirrels come across a sign that they can't read, but when the Mystery Reader arrives and helps them read the sign nothing will stop them from discovering who the Mystery Reader is. During their investigation they discover many interesting facts about the alphabet, the history of paper, and how to make a book.

[Pam Page]

I do love the Unlimited Squirrel series and this one has great humor also. I did find this book has a lot on each page for a beginning reader so it may be best read with an adult who can provide some guidance. However, kids LOVE this series and Mo Willems and that motivation makes a big difference!