The Case of the Noisy Neighbor: A Gumboot Kids Nature Mystery

K-Gr 3–Daisy and Scout are mouse friends who live in a forest and solve nature-related mysteries. Today’s mystery comes in the form of a knocking sound, with no one at the door. Scout goes outside to see if he can figure out why he hears knocking and finds Daisy, who helps him by identifying clues and doing research. The book concludes with suggestions for ways to notice how everyone is connected to nature, like the events in the story. There are also field notes and a very detailed diagram of a woodpecker. The warm and cozy artwork is comprised of photographs of handmade dolls staged in carefully constructed sets. There is quite a bit of text on each page and the vocabulary is scientifically specific. This is a charmingly told story with adorable illustrations and a lovely theme of connecting to nature, but it reads like a TV script. It has enough complex text to make it out of reach for the small children who will be most attracted to it; the tone and illustrations may be off-putting to more experienced readers who can handle the text.