The Crown Affair [Hardcover]

Full of puns and fractured fairy tale characters you know and love, this rollicking sequel toWhat REALLY Happened to Humpty?will engross you in yet another Joe Dumpty, Private Eye mystery. 

Jack (Jill’s other half) fell down the Hill and had his crown stolen. The Mother Gooseland Games are coming up, and that crown is the grand prize, so detective Dumpty is on the clock! It’s up to P. I. Joe Dumpty to round up the usual suspects and track down the culprit before it's too late. He's hot on the case, but will he recover the crown in time? 

Kids and adults alike will love this laugh-out-loud read-aloud.*When Jack and Jill fell down the hill, did Jack really lose his crown, or did someone make off with it? Detective Joe Dumpty, previously seen in 2009’s What REALLY Happened to Humpty?, is on the case in this witty companion book. Tipped off that a certain other nursery-rhyme Jack might be responsible for the crown’s disappearance, Joe sets out to interrogate suspects, and his noir-flavored narration is just as much fun this time around (“Between his bum foot and his scorched bottom, Jack wouldn’t have been nimble—or quick—enough to grab the crown this morning”). Axelsen’s illustrations are packed with humorous details and cleverly reimagined Mother Goose characters, and Ransom’s references to “test[ing] positive for magic beans,” among other gags, will amuse older readers.
-Publisher's Weekly, *Starred Review

Noir whodunit in the land of Mother Goose. When Jack loses his crown after falling down that hill, who better to crack the case than hard-boiled Joe Dumpty, private eye? (Joe made his rep by solving the mystery surrounding his brother inWhat REALLY Happened to Humpty?, 2009.) Jill leaps over the yellow crime-scene tape to meet him at the hill. Jack's eyes look like pinwheels as he tells Joe what helă!