Christine Tussing
Detective Stan the Crayon Man and the Missing Birthday Cake
Can Detective Stan solve the mystery of the missing birthday cake?
Detective Stan’s pink crayon glows brightly, which means there is an emergency in Colorful County. He races over to Pretty Pink’s bakery and finds Pretty Pink in distress. Someone has stolen the cake for Mellow Yellow’s birthday party. Detective Stan begins his investigation by interviewing all the crayons, but there are no signs of the cake, or the thief, anywhere. He searches the bakery and looks for clues. He finds messy sprinkles and purple drippy drops on the floor. He heads to Polite Purple’s home, but it can’t be her, as she was at the hair salon all morning.  Detective Stan looks at all the different color combinations that make purple and considers whether two crayons worked together to steal the cake. Will Detective Stan find the culprit and solve the case? Will Mellow Yellow get a cake for his birthday party?  And will Detective Stan get home before his mom notices?
Detective Stan the Crayon Man and the Missing Birthday Cake by author Christine Tussing is a charming illustrated picture book. The book, written by the author when she was just eight years old, is a unique, creative, and playful story about a little boy who loves his crayons and loves to solve mysteries. When his crayons glow, he knows they need help, and he goes on an amazing adventure to Colorful County to help the crayons. Each crayon has a name and character based on their color, and the mystery clues are based on color-combinations. Young readers will enjoy following the clues and solving the mystery. The book will spark young children’s imagination, and will also help them to learn colour combinations.
The illustrations by Izzy Bean are delightful. I particularly like how the two different worlds are represented – the real world where Stan lives; and the fantasy world of the crayons.
I would love to see more adventures of Detective Stan!
Star rating: 5 Stars
Summary: A charming and fun illustrated picture book that will spark young children’s imagination and creativity
