Detective Duck by Henry Winkler

From New York Times bestselling creators—Emmy Award–winning actor Henry Winkler, children’s book author Lin Oliver, and Caldecott Medal–winning author-illustrator Dan Santat—comes Detective The Case of the Strange Splash, a hilarious, full-color chapter book adventure. Willow Feathers McBeaver, aka Detective Duck, is a crime-solving (and very precocious) little duck. She and her animal pals live on beautiful Dogwood Pond, which is adjacent to Lazy Days, a human campground in New England. A pristine spot with clear water, abundant wildlife, and shady willow trees, Dogwood Pond is encountering puzzling problems—mysteries that arise from human-caused disruptions in nature such as water pollution, garbage, warming climate, and human encroachment. Fortunately, Detective Duck is on the job, solving these puzzling mysteries before they get out of hand and destroy their habitat! Armed with her ever-present satchel for collecting clues, her logical mind, and endless curiosity, she boldly goes where no pond creature has before, determined to unravel the mysteries and solve any environmental problem that besets her beloved Dogwood Pond!

Alien Superstar (Book #1) by Lin Oliver, Henry Winkler

He's thirteen so the squad will be coming to remove his sensory enhancer.  That will make him no more than a robot and he wants to keep all his senses and his creativity.  When they come to get him, he runs home to escape.

Amulet Books sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can get a copy now.

He rushes home, gets in the spaceship he and his grandmother created and heads out.  They haven't had a chance to test the machine but it's better than being caught and altered.  It works.  He heads to earth.  They've been watching old films about earth and he transition can himself into earthling with a complete focus on doing so.

He lands in Hollywood and everyone assumes he's dressed as an alien.  He lets them think that.  Then he and his friend, Frankenstein go for a reading in a movie that stars an alien.  He gets the part, but the star isn't happy.  He's drawing attention and the star doesn't want to share.  Buddy, the alien, doesn't get all the nuances of the English language, so he says things they take as jokes, and he asks so many questions that he drives the director nuts.  Then he becomes a star...

Buddy's adjustment to earth is funny.  When he finds earth food doesn't nourish him (it just gives him gas), he gets desperate and he asks Cassidy, a girl he interacts with on the show, to help find him food he can eat.  When they test his space food and then apply that to earth food you'll be amazed at what he can eat.

He's finally settling in to life on the set when his space ship starts receiving transmissions.  He misses them.   In the next book you'll learn who sent them.

Ghost Buddy #1: Zero to Hero by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

I didn't know Henry Winkler wrote books.  He and Lin Oliver have seventeen Hank Zipzer novels and I missed them all.  (I bet I can correct that.)

Scholastic sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  The book will be published in January, so check with your local bookstore then to get a copy.

This is a great story.  It has a neat twist to the ghost story, as well as an unusual solution to a bully problem.  The authors also throw in some real unusual collectibles that the two main boys have in their possession.

Billy Broccoli has moved to a new home with his parents and is assigned a room that is done in girl's colors.  He's offended and astounded that they would make him take that as his room, but he was late coming in the house and the other rooms are already claimed.  Then he finds out he has a ghost in his room...

Soon his family thinks he's nuts because he's talking to himself all the time (they can't see the ghost).  Billy doesn't mind the Hoove, who has been stuck in this house for 99 years now.  He's not passing his ghost grades to move on, you see.

How Billy and the Hoove try to work together to solve Billy's problems is amusing.  I'll be watching for future Ghost Buddy novels; they're fun to read!

Listen to Henry Winkler talk about how hard it was to narrate the audio book:   Ghost Buddy

If you would like to win my copy of the ARC, leave a comment here on the blog and email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name AND address and tell me why you'd like to get it.  I'll pick a winner in about a week.

Happy reading.