3,095
edits
Changes
no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox2
|title=Pigeon P.I.
|author=Meg McLaren
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Emerging Readers, For Sharing
|summary=There's a lot of attention to detail needed to get the most out of this book – which might help in disguising some minor (and not so minor) niggles.
|rating=3
|website=http://megmclarenillustrates.blogspot.co.uk/
|video=
|amazonukaznuk=1783444835|aznus=1783444835|cover=<amazonuk>1783444835</amazonuk>
}}
And I didn't find it a completely winsome one. Picture books are a crowded market, and one really has to stand out. For you it might well be the likes of this, with the quirky beats and asides, such as Murray's new friend pestering him throughout a day full of pursuits such as playing Snap with friends, or the police birds and their own case (of donuts) that demands so much unnecessary text.
But while this is undoubtedly clever, and the fact you need to read things more than once gives you value for money, I didn't fall in love with either the format or, perhaps more importantly, the characters. Even if one is a bright and charming canary on the front cover, inside he's much smaller, and rather lacks the ''Aaaawww'' cutesy factor. I think this book would actually benefit from others like it, in that I would need there to be a full series of them for me to engage with the leads as much as the artist wanted. What that means is that I could be down for further books in this world (I eagerly await the story where he's unable to see the clue due to his being a pigeon, and unable to even blinkin' walk without nodding his head back and forward), but on this indication, this is a PI that's not exactly hard-boiled, more under-done.
I must still thank the publishers for my review copy.