Not an Alphabet Book: The Case of the Missing Cake - by Eoin McLaughlin (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Follow Bear from A to Z as he hunts for a cake thief in a hilarious alphabet book crossed with a whodunit."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Follow Bear from A to Z as he hunts for a cake thief in a hilarious alphabet book crossed with a whodunit.

There has been a terrible crime, Bear tells us. Someone has STOLEN a delicious chocolate cake! Bear sets off to find the culprit, questioning characters and compiling clues from A to Z. Among the suspects: a gingerbread man (G) with a bite out of his head, a kite (K) that may be above the law, and an octopus (O) with grabby tentacles. But -- hold on -- are those crumbs on Bear's page? Is that frosting on his face? Looks like our narrator is a little unreliable! And it appears our culprit might be the one that Bear wants readers to suspect the least of all. . . . Author Eoin McLaughlin's sly, cheeky humor takes the alphabet book to inventive new heights, while best-selling illustrator Marc Boutavant's smart and striking graphic-style art matches the irreverent tone. Young ABC learners and older fans of funny stories will laugh out loud at Bear's uproarious "investigation" and his anything-but-usual suspects.

Review Quotes

Boutavant's bright, large-scale illustrations are filled with delightful details, and Bear's overwrought reactions are positively loony. This is a perfect vehicle for reading aloud or reading together over and over with lots of opportunities for highly expressive emoting and giggles galore. Goofy, hilarious, laugh-out-loud fun for all.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Bear had planned to walk readers through "a simple alphabet book." But this admirable intention is put aside as he instead searches for the nefarious thief...It is evident from the brown smudges on his face and some very cagey behavior that McLaughlin's (The Hug) narrator is both unreliable and unrepentant, but Bear brazenly plows ahead, and digital vignettes by Boutavant (the Ariol series), set against white backgrounds in the style of a midcentury primer, make the melodramatic interrogations of other alphabet representatives all the funnier.
--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Eoin McLaughlin is the author of several picture books. When he is not writing for children, he works as a copywriter for Channel 4 in the U.K. Born in Ireland, Eoin McLaughlin has lived in Amsterdam and New York, and now lives in London with his wife and their baby.

Marc Boutavant is an award-winning graphic artist, illustrator, and comic-strip creator whose works include the best-selling Around the World with Mouk, now an animated TV series. His picture books include The Great House Hunt and Never Tickle a Tiger, among many others. Born in Bourgogne, France, he now lives in Paris.