Pigeon P.i.

I thought this book was super fun. I'm a big film noir/mystery fan. I just finished the 1000 books before kindergarten challenge with my little daughter. After reading that many picture books I have to say that I especially appreciate books that are funny for me too and clever and different. So I thought Pigeon P.I. was a good time. I'm actually going to send a copy to my friends who are film noir fans too. I think they'll get a kick out of it.

Complete with a fedora wearing bird, Pigeon P.I. plays off the film noir detective movies. Birds are suddenly vanishing and it is Private Investigator Murray MacMurray's job to catch the villainous bird snatcher. Filled with lots of clever puns and droll details in the illustrations, both children and adults will be amused by this fun mystery book.

What a clever book! Full of who-dun-it jokes and bird humor, this is such an incredibly entertaining read. McLaren's stylized illustrations are full of incredible details. Little ones will love the bird characters and the fun language. Older readers will love exploring the clues and subtleties in the vignettes. Really love this one!

Murray MacMurray Pigeon P.I. is feeling down after his partner Stanley has skipped town. He doesn't feel like taking a case, but a little canary is insistent he must help her find her missing friends and then she herself goes missing. Pigeon is on the case and no one will keep him from solving it. The tone of this is like classic black and white film mysteries. Murray should obviously be read with a Sam Spade voice. Of course kids have no clue about black and white films or Sam Spade, so I'm not entirely sure how this will go over with them. They should like the mystery part and how the bad guy is brought down, but a lot of the tone and such may only come through if adults help bring it across in read aloud voices. Picture book mysteries are few and far between, so this is a welcome addition.