You know how it is when something is bugging you, it haunts you wherever you go? Everything somehow reminds you of that thing? You notice things you never noticed before. Or when you’re on a diet and have a craving suddenly everywhere you look people are eating ono food? Well, that’s the basic premise of this book and it’s certainly something we can all relate to.

Kekoa and the Egg Mystery (Beachhouse Publishing, 2010) is about a little boy who eats eggs every morning before school. He wakes up and goes out to collect the eggs from the coop. One morning, there are no eggs to be found and a hungry Kekoa starts the day with a mystery. Who could have taken the eggs? Suddenly he’s noticing how many people have eggs… his bus driver, his teacher, the baker. Kekoa is suspicious of them all and warily watches as he interacts with them.

The charming and brilliant illustrations, by one of my favorite local artists Holly Braffett, show Kekoa imagining each person as the thief. We see details of how he thinks each person would have stolen the eggs. In the end, Kekoa is surprised to find that the thief hadn’t been any of his suspects at all!

I really like the size of this book and its layout is designed well. It accentuates the illustrations and really maximizes use of the page. The kids I read it with couldn’t help but stare, wide-eyed at all the large pictures. Overall, this is a cute little mystery that the kids will enjoy many times over! Great for solo reading ages 6-8, but read aloud for any age. 🙂

Check out the book’s page for more info as well as author and illustrator bios.

*A copy of the book (ISBN-10: 1-933067-35-7) was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.