The High-Rise Private Eyes #6: The Case of the Fidgety Fox

The High-Rise Private Eyes #6

by Cynthia Rylant, G. Brian Karas (Illustrator)

Melvin's lucky fluffy dice are missing, and he can't drive his bus without them! Where could the dice have gone? This sounds like a case for the High-Rise Private Eyes, Bunny Brown and Jack Jones!

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Picture Books, Humor, Chapter Books, Animals

64 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

An author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and young adults as well as an author and author/illustrator of picture books for children, Cynthia Rylant is recognized as a gifted writer who has contributed memorably to several genres of juvenile literature. A prolific author who often bases her works on her own background, especially on her childhood in the West Virginia mountains, she is the creator of contemporary novels and historical fiction for young adults, middle-grade fiction and fantasy, lyrical prose poems, beginning readers, collections of short stories, volumes of poetry and verse, books of prayers and blessings, two autobiographies, and a biography of three well-known children's writers; several volumes of the author's fiction and picture books are published in series, including the popular "Henry and Mudge" easy readers about a small boy and his very large dog.

Rylant is perhaps most well known as a novelist. Characteristically, she portrays introspective, compassionate young people who live in rural settings or in small towns and who tend to be set apart from their peers.

from bookrags.com

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: On Saturday Bunny did her yoga. Bunny did yoga every Saturday. When she was finished, she called Jack. "You're missing all the cartoons," Jack said. "Yes, but I am very, very calm," said Bunny. "Mighty Monkey is trapped," said Jack. "I'm too calm to care," said Bunny. "He's in a room full of gardenias," said Jack," And he's allergic." "Really?" said Bunny. "That's not good." "I know," said Jack. He's sneezing to high heaven." "Goodness," said Bunny.

Premise/plot: Bunny and Jack are as different as can be. But they have a few things in common. They love chips--the ruffly kind--and dip. They love detecting. In this one, Bunny and Jack eat a lot of chips in an effort to get calm...and stay calm. IT is when they are out "exercising" off those chips that they discover a new case.

Someone has stolen the bus driver's lucky fuzzy dice? He won't drive without those dice. And there are a lot of angry people who depend on the bus to get where they are going. Can Bunny and Jack solve the case and discover the thief?!

My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I especially enjoyed the illustrations. Readers see Bunny when she's agitated and stressed out and when she's super-calm. The story is silly. Would someone really, truly get that worked up over the "dangers" facing cartoon characters? Especially if this is all word-of-mouth. But then I think about it in this way. Haven't I got upset over the "dangers" facing characters in books?! So maybe it's not ridiculously silly. Are chips the answer to anyone's stress? They shouldn't be. Though realistically, I would say many people DO turn to food as a coping mechanism.

I enjoy spending time with Bunny and Jack.

[CTWard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent primary reader mystery for ages 6/7 to 9. Many sight words are used in the story dialogue, but the story itself is choppy and in some parts do not make sense in regards to building the plot.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable mystery book for early readers. The chapters are short, but are not so patterned. The characters are funny and I think both boys and girls will enjoy this story.

[ms.obrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery. I think that this is a good text and that the series would be an awesome introduction to chapter books as well as the genre of mystery. I also think that students would love to have these books in a classroom library. I would include it in a library for second or third grade. While the text itself isn't too difficult, I think it would be a good way to ease students into chapter books. The drawings are cute and the stories from the series are fun!
Be forewarned though, this book encourages eating chips for emotional comfort. Something, I must note because I am a suffer of this craving at any stage of the day and I definitely wanted to eat some chips and cheesy dip afterwards!

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm being overly picky, but I didn't like that Bunny & Jack were relying on food (potato chips) to calm down and relax... Also, the reasoning process wasn't as clearly explained in this one (which I only point out as a drawback because I find the opposite as a strength in many of the other books in this series).

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our girls enjoy the books in the High-Rise Private Eyes series; short mysteries that are simple and somewhat silly. The interaction between Jack and Bunny is very similar to the way siblings interact - cooperation interspersed with squabbling and arguments.

[Edward Creter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bunny and Jimmy are of to solve the disappearance of two fuzzy dice. Curiouser and curiouser.