Gone Guppy

October 1, 2022
There's something fishy about this mystery--thankfully, P.I. Butterfly is on the case! P.I. Butterfly, a girl with a talent for solving mysteries, is ready to start her weekend with a trip outside to learn more about her favorite insect--you can probably guess which one--when fate intervenes. Alerted by screams, P.I. Butterfly discovers her little sister, Quinn, in the kitchen crying over an overturned fishbowl: Mili the guppy is missing. P.I. Butterfly begins her investigation, and not a moment too soon, because the list of household suspects is long. Could it be Mom, who was tired of cleaning Mili's bowl? Or toddler Tobias, who wanted a cooler pet than a fish? Or Alfredo, the family's cat, who might have been looking for a fishy treat? Or could it be someone else? With each new possibility, goofy humor ensues as P.I. Butterfly examines the clues and questions the suspects. Luckily, the disappearance is explained, and the book closes with a list of tips from P.I. Butterfly for aspiring sleuths conducting their own investigations. Along the way, she also provides a few vocabulary words--some relating to butterflies and some relating to investigations. This is a delightful, cartoonish romp with zany digital illustrations that will have readers begging to know when the promised sequel will be released. P.I. Butterfly and her family are light-skinned. Don't let this book flutter by--read it! (observation game) (Graphic novel. 8-10)

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March 6, 2023
Every superhero has a backstory, and the intrepid protagonist in Kilpatrick’s lively and hilarious graphic novel is no exception. Our young hero first decides to don her pink mask and start solving mysteries, we learn, five years back, when a butterfly led her to her missing doll, which had been stolen by a neighborhood dog. She’s been a self-proclaimed private investigator ever since, and is eager to leap into action to take on this series starter’s urgent main case: little sister Quinn’s pet fish has gone missing. P.I. Butterfly observes the clues, interviews the suspects, and considers the evidence before she tracks down Mili’s amusing whereabouts.
For kids as well as adults, much of this book is laugh-out-loud funny. When making her suspects list, P.I. estimates her mom’s age at 100 and considers the possibility that her mother, likely sick of cleaning the tank when the kids failed to live up to their promise to do it themselves, might have gotten up early and eaten the fish like sushi. The resolution, too, is a delight, as are the odd, kid-brained details of this detective’s business: P.I. accepts payments like candy and butterfly larva. Helpfully, certain detective-story terms are defined for curious kids—perimeter, alibi, toxic agent—offering a chance to learn among the laughs.
German Blanco’s bright, bold art shows red-haired, wide-eyed P.I. sleuthing with her magnifying glass poised and ready and her orange Alfredo by her side, the panel-to-panel storytelling clear, inventive, and always funny. Cute ideas like P.I.’s outlandish imaginings of what might have happened to the fish—her mom dissolving the evidence in a barrel of toxic sludge, for instance—become full LOLs in Blanco’s rendering. A bonus: after cracking her case, P.I. offers tips on becoming a detective, which will inspire kids to search for and solve mysteries of their own.
Takeaway: This laugh-out-loud graphic novel finds a butterfly-loving P.I. on the case of a missing guppy.
Great for fans of: Dan & Jason’s Barb: The Last Berserker, Roger Langridge’s Abigail and the Snowman.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A