The big race lace case

In his hundredth caper (but series debut), Mack Rhino untangles a dastardly scheme. Someone has attempted to fix a race by stealing the laces out of all the contestants' shoes except, oddly, those of Skunks McGee, who won last year's race by cheating but swears he's changed his stripes. In a sweet bit of investigative work, Mack compiles a list of events and clues that may seem unrelated at first glance but leave the detective smelling a rat . . . or, to be more precise, a skunk. The tale, told in short lines of big, well-leaded print generously interspersed with black-and-white cartoon illustrations, is capped with review questions and a vocabulary list of such useful words as evidence and humdinger that are, like everyone's proper name when first used, bolded in the text. West ties up loose ends with a final view of the stolen laces all woven into birds' nests. Readers ready for easy chapter books can rest assured that, when it comes to solving mysteries, Mack is the guy . . . or rhino.--John Peters Copyright 2019 Booklist

It's up to a rhino private eye to solve a mystery and prevent a cheater from winning the Big Race.Private eye Mack Rhino and his trusty bird assistant, Redd, are off to buy new furniture (as the rhino has splintered yet another desk chair) when a mysterious phone call offers Mack his 100th case: a mystery concerning shoes. But the harried caller, who dropped clues off at the wrong address, doesn't give Mack much to go on. Even worse, a jailbreak at the ant farm upstate means some of the usual suspects are back in actionand likely with an ally. Meanwhile, the two favorites for the Big Race are Jackie Rabbit, who wants to donate the prize money to build a playground, and Skunks McGee, under scrutiny for his track record of cheating. Other runners experience pre-race troubles in the form of vanishing shoelaces. Mack must think fast to distract Skunks during the race so that the sabotaged Jackie can win, and then to explain how Skunks did itthe suspected team-up with the Ant Hill Gang. The clues are clear enough for the target audience of emerging readers to solve the mystery themselves (the cast size and subplots made manageable with a cast of characters and glossary), and the puns bring laughs. Black-and-white cartoon illustrations tend to highlight slapstick.A soft-boiled animal detective story sure to please beginning readers. (Mystery. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In his hundredth caper (but series debut), Mack Rhino untangles a dastardly scheme. Someone has attempted to fix a race by stealing the laces out of all the contestants' shoes—except, oddly, those of Skunks McGee, who won last year's race by cheating but swears he's changed his stripes. In a sweet bit of investigative work, Mack compiles a list of events and clues that may seem unrelated at first glance but leave the detective smelling a rat . . . or, to be more precise, a skunk. The tale, told in short lines of big, well-leaded print generously interspersed with black-and-white cartoon illustrations, is capped with review questions and a vocabulary list of such useful words as evidence and humdinger that are, like everyone's proper name when first used, bolded in the text. West ties up loose ends with a final view of the stolen laces all woven into birds' nests. Readers ready for easy chapter books can rest assured that, when it comes to solving mysteries, Mack is the guy . . . or rhino. Grades 1-3. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.