in Creepy Crawly Crime
written by Aaron Reynolds/Illus. by Neil Numberman
First sentence: “Life in the bug city.”
Review copy sent to me by the author, as part of a blog tourish-type thing.

I had this sitting out, intending to read it and A, my darling nearly 6 year old, asked if I’d read it to her. Honestly, I was a little suspect: it’s a bug book, a detective book, and I thought it wouldn’t be of any interest to her.

I was wrong; she loved it. It’s a graphic novel with something for everyone: noir humor and asides for me, pretty bugs for A to like (and ugly bugs for the boys), and a mystery for both of us to figure out.

Joey is your quintessential noir detective in the big city — a bit jaded, yet with a heart of gold. He solves all sorts of crimes, and is pretty much determined to eek out an existence by himself. Until Sammy Stingtail shows up in his office. Much of the slapstick humor comes from Sammy: when his long tail is not wreaking havoc in Joey’s office, the two are bantering back and forth about the “rules” of detective work. The “crime” is fairly simplistic — a butterfly comes in accusing one of her former friends of stealing her diamond pencil case out of jealousy. Of course there will be twists and turns, and the resolution is definitely age-appropriate. (No bug squashing here.) The world created is also quite clever: it’s a city, but everything was proportionate to bugs, and bug-themed. My favorite was the high-rise made out of a milk carton (I think; I’d check that, but my kids have lent out the book!).

The art is pen and ink, in various shades. Blue for night, sepia for daytime; I initially thought that the art would be distracting for A, but in the end, it not only enhanced the atmosphere of the book, it gave us good stopping points — when the color changed, we stopped.

The humor was a bit over A’s head, butoverall she enjoyed the whole reading experience. As did I. A strong start to a new series. I’m looking forward to the next one.