Einstein: The case of the fishy detective by Iona Rangeley. Illus. by David Tazzyman

Younger, independent readers first met Einstein the penguin in Einstein the penguin, his first adventure in London, when after a visit to the zoo he turns up at the home of six-year-old Arthur and nine-year-old Imogen Stewart and their parents let him stay a while. But a fairy penguin from Sydney really has no place in London 'where the days end early and forget to start on time' and so he is off home to Australia.

Imogen and Arthur miss him terribly and even though they still have regular video contact, it just isn't the same. In an unusual twist, Imogen teams up with the disgraced Detective Bill Hunter who has now set up an agency for animals to appear in advertisements, to bring Einstein and his friend Isaac back to London. But can he be trusted? Especially when Einstein is kidnapped? The siblings learn a lot about their own relationship when they once again pull on their detective hats to discover what has happened to Einstein and who did it.

This is a worthy sequel to the original, introducing younger readers to the mystery/crime genre that may spark their interest in others in a similar vein. Generally, children search for topic, author and series so this might be an opportunity to demonstrate that there are stories that follow a certain pattern, have similar types of plot development, themes and conclusions and if they enjoyed this one, then genre is a way to broaden their reading horizons while they wait for any sequels.

Themes: Detectives.

Barbara Braxton