Wednesday 29 May 2019

"Sophie Johnson: Detective Genius" by Morag Hood and Ella Okstad (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)

Fresh from learning all there is to know about Unicorns, it's time for a new adventure for a curious little girl who has acres of confidence and self-belief

"Sophie Johnson: Detective Genius" by Morag Hood and Ella Okstad picks up Sophie reassuring us that criminals don't stand a chance when she's around.

There's only one girl who can unpick the threads of any complicated mystery. But Sophie might not be quite the great detective she's cracked up to me - and anyone (as old as me) that remembers "Hong Kong Phooey" might recognise the setup here, when Bella the dog actually turns out to be a zillion times better at solving and preventing crime than her "Boss".

While Sophie is focused on the case of the missing lion's tale, she misses a far more nefarious crime taking place at the hands of three inept burglars. Thankfully Bella, the "Good dog" is on the scene to avert a near disaster.

C actually didn't get on with this book at all, but I thought it was quite a neat little switch-around of characters - and certainly great for kids who might know a Sophie-like character themselves.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A great little detective romp from a dynamic and creative kidlit duo.

"Sophie Johnson: Detective Genius" by Morag Hood and Ella Okstad is out now, published by Simon and Schuster Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).