Someone Is Missing!

K-Gr 2–In the third installment of the “Dear Beast” series, dog Baxter and cat Simon notice that their owner Andy is upset. They discover that Louie, Andy’s class leopard gecko, has gone missing, and Andy’s best friend Noah blames him. Through letters back and forth between the two homes where Andy lives, Baxter and Simon work together to solve the mystery. Other creatures such as the snail-mail carrier Bubbles the fish, a tank full of guppies, a classroom spider, Cheeks the squirrel, and Edgar Allan Crow lend a hand to see Louie safely returned to his cage, rendering Andy’s friendship with Noah restored. As with the earlier volumes in this series, the story is humorous, and the adorable illustrations of each character add much to the text. This book introduces young readers to the mystery genre as the characters search for clues and put the pieces together to save Louie. One critique is that “The Daily Crow” newspaper is difficult to read without spacing between words. In addition, some of the characters, particularly Baxter, write with invented spelling, and this could be confusing to emerging readers. However, there is a “doggy dictionary” at the end which clarifies the spellings.