Detective Goat and Detective Fox are on the case again. This time Jayden has lost his race car. Detective Goat and Detective Fox go through looking for it and find cars and trucks in all shapes and sizes. From police cars to bulldozers they go through and explain why it is different from the race car. The back of the book explains the differences in size, wheels and color. This is the second book I have read by this author and I have to say I think she writes these books with a child in mind. They are short, colorful and children learn while having fun. I recommend this book for 2-4 yr. olds and beginning readers.
I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Jayden can't find his new race car. Detectives Fox and Goat are on the case! Join the suave sleuths as they search his house for clues and learn new concepts along the way. What color is the car? How big is it? How many wheels does it have? Even the youngest minds will understand this strikingly illustrated story, and many may even solve the puzzle before the detectives do!

I have to say it, I really did like this one as well. Like the previous mystery I read - The Missing Bouncy Ball - the two detectives are on the case and finding things that could be the missing car all the time. But by manner of deduction, they discover that each thing they find has too many wheels, is too long or heavy, or simply just the wrong colour.

Once again, the illustrations are fantastic - maybe even better in this one than the previous book. The picture of Goat and Fox in the bath was just hilarious - for no particular reason. I guess I just wasn't expecting it...

Look, I really do recommend getting these books for your young readers - there are some great lessons to be learned while having a great time with the mystery!


Paul
ARH

This was a great book to introduce comparisons and opposites. I liked the simple premise of a little boy losing his car and trying to find it, comparing the lost car to all the othe toy vehicles found. This would be great for young children just learning about opposites.

Detectives Goat and Fox are at it again, but i must say, that Detective Fox must not be very bright. He keeps asking “Is that the car” for things that are clearly not a car. But that is part of what makes these books fun for the board book age.

A wonderful little mystery book with beautiful illustrations. The story was good and entertaining and has nice pictures for the children to look at.

A Fox and Goat Mystery series is a great one for little ones. They are detectives and through investigation discuss colour, size, shape, texture etc. to describe the missing object. It is a mystery for our youngest book lovers as well as teaching them investigative questioning and descriptions. Lots of new vocabulary in a fun way. The illustrations are simple and large to support the text. A great book for any kindergarten classroom or home library.

Sometimes less is more, and this was definitely the case with this book! It was great to have a book with few words and plenty of repetition, it was great for my learning-to-read five year old son.

The book itself is a simple concept around a lost race car, and comparisons to other toys to see if they are the right one (too few wheels, too large etc.)

We would certainly try out the other books in this series.

I feel like I need to review both of these books together as they are so similar. That isn’t a criticism as it means that they do feel like the beginnings of a nice little series for little ones. These are certainly pitched at a very young audience as a nice way to introduce reading as early as possible.

The text throughout is pitched in a way that means the adult reading is forced to ask a lot of questions to engage the child they are reading with. As a teacher it feels like a lot of the questions are the sort we might ask anyway to ensure engagement of the child but these books might be useful for new parents to give their children a good start with reading.

What I like about both the titles here is that they manage to tell a little story while staying focused on vocabulary that would be useful for children to have before starting school. There is a lot of language of comparison, colours, shapes and sizes which is all very helpful for children to have firmly in place before they start formal education.

The only real criticism I have of these titles, and this is a very personal thing, is that I really struggled to look past these being a bit like ‘South Park’ in illustration style. Detective Goat looks he could be a South Park character and it makes the experience a little odd. This wouldn’t put me off using these to read with pre-school age children, if anything it would just make me want to giggle a little, but it’s just a little odd note.

Cute book about Jayden losing his car. The detectives look for it. They find various other cars, and they talk about why that can't be his race car. At the end, they go back over the clues. Very good for a young audience with a short attention span. Bright colorful pictures. Short text.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

*I was sent a free galley of this book from NetGalley in return for an open and honest review*

I said basically the same thing for both this book and The Missing Bouncy Ball from the same series. I love them both and feel the same way about both my small critiques. I loved the illustrations in this children's book. I thought they were perfectly simplistic and I imagine this is going to be absolutely stunning as a hard copy with the geometric lines in the background sprouting out from the center of the book. The story line was also simplistic and straight forward, everything you want in a kid's book. The way this book indirectly taught so much about adjectives and descriptions was great and I absolutely LOVED the recap at the end to reassure young readers are understanding the concepts given. I always judge children's books by whether I would want my nephews reading them. Do they add value and education to their lives? Along with that, are they entertaining and well written? With this book, I definitely think it does and I'm here for it!

There were two critics I had overall. One being I wish the brother would have appeared with the car in every instance instead of just a couple. I think it would be a cute "Could you find Jordan with the red race car in each page?" game at the end of the book. The second is that I'm not completely crazy about the font pick, but I understand it's going along with the sharp geometric lines of the illustrations.

Still, those details are minute and I still loved this book and story so much.