cover image Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries

David Levinthal, illus. by John Nickle. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-84195-8

“There are eight million stories in the forest. This is one of them,” announces bullfrog Binky, the plainclothes cop who investigates situations like Humpty Dumpty’s demise and a witch’s disappearance in “Hansel and Gretel.” Binky starts his day with a call from Mrs. Bear, reporting a robbery. Once Goldilocks confesses, Binky unsentimentally reports, “They’ll feed her three meals a day where she’s going.” Another incident involves “that sweet girl who cleaned for the Seven Dwarfs.... Boy, what a knockout!” When Snow White is poisoned, suspicion falls on the royal judge of a beauty pageant. Following each procedural, a red “case closed” stamp appears across a picture of the jailed or handcuffed culprit. Levinthal, best known for his photography, nails the tone of the Dragnet-style escapades that make up his picture book debut, and Nickle’s (Hans My Hedgehog) obsessively detailed acrylics have a sinister edge that suits the mood. His panels are somewhat awkwardly framed in unadorned borders, and the no-frills, sans-serif typeface does little to complement the images or deadpan narration, but readers should still be tickled by these noirish retellings. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)