When I saw one tiny museum item in this book – the Junonia
shell from Florida I knew I would enjoy this romp. Years ago I read* Junonia byKevin Henkes and I have long wanted to find this special shell.
Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery is not a book
about shells but the pages are littered with museum artifacts.
When the Royal Blue Diamond is stolen from the museum
Sherlock Bones decides to investigate. Sherlock Bones is a Tawny Frogmouth (an
Australian Bird). He enlists the help of Watts – an Indian Ringneck parrot.
Sherlock Bones, as you may have guessed (bones is a giveaway), is a skeleton and Watts is a taxidermy
specimen. Also living in the museum is, of all things, a raccoon. She is alive
after being delivered to the museum by accident inside a pile of pelts for the
Colonial America exhibit.
The Royal Blue Diamond must be found or the museum will
close. Sherlock Bones is desperate to solve the mystery.
You need to notice every tiny detail in this graphic novel.
There are plenty of laughs and twists. This is a book that is perfect for fans
of Captain Underpants, The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey, the Treehouse series by Andy Griffiths and Weirdo by Ahn Do.
Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery will be
published in April. I imagine it might the first in a series. I didn’t expect
to enjoy this book but I truly did. This would be a terrific book to give to a reluctant reader - the graphic novel format, slapstick humour and feel good heroes will be sure to sweep them along through all 260 pages!
Take a look at other picture books by Renee Treml - you can see her raccoon on the cover of the book Please. Also you might notice the cover of Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery is similar to the Australian Coat of Arms - I love this visual joke.
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