In their eighth easy-to-read case, ace detectives Bunny Brown (a rabbit) and Jack Jones (a raccoon) recover sugar cubes stolen from Mabel the duck's tea room, restore Mabel's peace of mind, and inadvertently get a young ferret (the culprit) help with reading. The point isn't the easily solved mystery but Bunny and Jack's bantering relationship. Good-natured illustrations extend the text.

Gr 1-3-In case number 008 in the series, detectives Bunny Brown (a rabbit) and Jack Jones (a raccoon) are having high tea when a scream from the serving counter alerts them that the proprietor of Mabel's Tea Room (a duck) is missing her extra box of sugar cubes. Bunny whips out her notepad and begins the investigation. With a somewhat sophisticated sense of humor, Rylant once again produces a vocabulary-building story that is well illustrated with Karas's colorful acrylic, gouache, and pencil art. The pictures contribute to the humor of the setting and reinforce the personalities of the characters. Overall, this is an excellent recommendation for emergent as well as confident readers.-Laurel L. Iakovakis, Douglas County Libraries, Castle Rock, CO Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.