Review - Betty's Burgled Bakery: An Alliteration Adventure

Betty's Burgled Bakery: An Alliteration Adventure
by Travis Nichols
Date: 2017
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

When the Gumshoe Zoo's alarm alerts them, they learn Betty's Bakery has been burgled! But how? Something isn't quite right—and it's up to these determined detectives to figure out what! Alliteration abounds in this comic book caper featuring the Gumshoe Zoo, a detective agency facing the craziest crime ever committed: pilfered pastries. Perfect for lovers of wordplay and sweet treats, not to mention educators and librarians looking for an engaging story to teach alliteration, this multi-paneled early graphic novel is a raucous adventure. Detailed back matter discusses uses of alliteration and animal eating habits.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

One could be forgiven for thinking that this is a really boring book. The cover does nothing to showcase the story that's on the inside. When you've got a whole cast of characters to choose from, why go with a picture of badly drawn pastry?

The premise of this book actually isn't too bad. The story is about a bakery owner who notices that her bakery has been burgled. So the Gumshoe Zoo crew goes to investigate. At each stage of the process, they use a lot of alliteration in their interactions with each other, giving readers a clear idea of what alliteration is (even if it does make the resulting text a little absurd and wordy). The culprit can be spotted a mile away, but that's probably not important; it's the alliteration that's the star here.

Unfortunately, the author chose to throw in the word "vittles", which marks him as a cat person rather than a linguist. (The correct spelling is "victuals". It still would have worked with the alliteration, so I'm disappointed he didn't use it and potentially teach kids another new word.)

While the idea of the book itself is clever, the illustrations are not that impressive and kind of let down the whole thing. They're too simple and cartoonish for my taste.

The matter at the back about animals' eating habits seemed kind of out of place to me. I'm not sure what the point of that was supposed to be. I do like that alliteration was explained, though. After all, that's the whole point of this book!

So while I like the premise and the originality of the concept here, I can't really say I like the way it was executed. Better illustrations and a stronger story (without such an obvious resolution) would've made this a more enjoyable book overall.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.67 out of 5