Stick and Fetch Investigate: Barking up the wrong tree by Philip Ardagh illustrated by Elissa Elwick

Are you a fan of Fancy Nancy?  I do enjoy the way those books are filled with word definitions as a part of the text. Philip Ardagh does this in Stick and Fetch especially with words that link to the topic of detectives:

• Trace is detective speak for ‘find’.
• Deduce is a detective word meaning ‘work out’.
• Alias – an alias is a false name.
• Hunch – something based on a feeling.

This book is also filled with words in different fonts and bold for emphasis. You will recognize this from Geronimo Stilton. Look at this example.  In Stick and Fetch the designers use bold, italic, different fonts and different sizes.

Sally Stick and her loyal dog companion Fetch set out to solve important cases. There are three cases in this book. Tele Trouble – Mrs Plink is about to explode and Sally is sure Mrs Plink is in danger at the local television station. No Clowning Around – Sally finds an empty photo frame. She needs to find who has stolen the picture and why? Up up and away – the mystery of the 80th birthday balloon. Is this connected with the local history museum?

Sally is on the case with help from Fetch. Only Sally can understand Fetch. Everyone else just hears woof woof!

The solution to each crime is never as complex as Stick and Fetch might have anticipated but the pair accept each resolution with good grace and you, the reader, are sure to laugh at the simple and perhaps obvious ‘crimes’. Have you seen the joke in the title - barking up the wrong tree.

I am always on the hunt for simple chapter books which contain satisfying stories. I highly recommend these books about Sally Stick and Fetch. I love the illustrations which appear on nearly every page and the fun of the slap stick humour. This book has a similar format to Mango and Bambang.

This is the first book in the series. Here are the next two:

Children often ask for detective stories in our school library. I also recommend you look for High Rise Private Eyes by Cynthia Rylant; Murilla Gorilla Jungle Detective by Jennifer Lloyd; and the Detective Gordon series by Ulf Nilsson.