The creator of Fireman Small offers an equally diminutive gumshoe on the trail of a slippery thief. When every banana in town disappears overnight, baffled police turn to determined Detective Small--depicted in Yee's cartoon illustrations as a brown-skinned, serious-looking lad in the requisite fedora and trench coat--to solve the case. Bunches of clues and a chase scene later, Small has made the collar--or has he? A loose end leads to further investigation, and one final clue in the shop of ice-cream entrepreneur Folsom Fox. Featuring plenty of visual jokes (including a cameo from the Man in the Yellow Hat) and a narrative written in sprightly verse, the caper is sure to peel right off the shelf. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Detective Small is the city's best private eye, so he is the natural choice to investigate a citywide theft: "From Chinatown to Little Havana, / Uptown, downtown--not ONE banana." Rhyming couplets describes Small's work: "He combed the market in search of some clue, / Found hairs and a print: was it from the thief's shoe?0 " All leads point to a gorilla, who Small chases down and helps arrest. But when Small reviews his clues, he realizes that the gorilla is innocent, and he uses his hard evidence to nab the true culprit. Despite a few off beats, the rhyming text creates an infectious, bouncing rhythm that will appeal to many young listeners. It's Yee's pencil-and-watercolor illustrations, though, that really extend the action and humor in scenes showing the tiny detective, trench coat flapping, chasing down animal suspects. The story's cautionary message about making judgments before "you have all the facts" makes this a candidate for character-education units. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2007 Booklist

K-Gr 2-Detective Small may be short in stature, but he is long on brains and sleuthing skills. The police need his expertise to solve a theft-all of the bananas in town have been stolen. The detective gets right on the case, but his original interpretation of the clues leads him to the wrong suspect. "Why bananas? Why not kumquat, or grape?/`Great gumshoe!' cried Small. `Could it be an APE?'" Luckily, he quickly recognizes his error and finds the perpetrator. This mystery is an exciting chase as readers follow along with Detective Small. But children paying attention to the pictures will be a step ahead of him-clues scattered throughout the book point out his error before he realizes it. The charcoal-pencil and watercolor illustrations are comical, and include details everyone will laugh over, such as the Man in the Yellow Hat in a banana-related lineup. Yee also includes crime-solving information that will help children realize how difficult Small's job really is, such as the amount of research he does to tie together his clues. The rhyming text will help beginning readers anticipate what will happen next. It is dynamic, introducing great action words while still making the book fun to read. Even though Detective Small proves to be fallible, kids will cheer his efforts to solve the case and look forward to his next one.-Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this procedural mystery for the primary set, the Case of the Missing Bananas has the police stumped, so they call in private investigator Detective Small. Readers will be tickled by the rhyming text that details Small's search for evidence and, after a false start, apprehending of the criminal. Uncluttered watercolor illustrations alert observant readers to crucial details Small initially misses. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.