1: A humorous mystery for kids
One of my favorite childhood books was "Something Queer Is Going On," which combined a story by Elizabeth Levy with the illustrations of Mordicai Gerstein. The book's copyright date is 1973, and it was reissued as a Dell Young Yearling in 1982. I can distinctly remember reading the book aloud to my two younger sisters in the 1970s.SQIGO tells the story of Jill, a young girl who arrives home from school to discover that Fletcher, her lovable bassett hound, is missing. She and her friend Gwen team up to solve this vexing mystery. SQIGO is genuinely suspenseful, and also sensitive to Jill's anxiety. But mainly this book is a laugh riot. Levy writes witty dialogue, and Gerstein loads up his illustrations with hilarious sight gags. Fletcher himself is, to me, one of the most memorable visual characterizations in children's lit: with his stubby tail, droopy eyes, and big floppy ears, he is an endearing carictature of his breed. Don't worry; SQIGO has a happy ending. This is a great book which deserves to be discovered by a new crop of readers.
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