When a little piglet accompanies her grandpa to the museum on copying day, she soon discovers that something is amiss. Large sections of the museum’s paintings have been cut out and forgeries sewn in their place. Who would commit such a theft, and how could they have pulled it off? This little piglet is determined to find out. As she searches for clues, beginning detectives can try their hand at a little sleuthing too! Looking closely to discover all that’s hidden among the delightful details in Arthur Geisert’s illustrations, keen observers may just find the key evidence they need to solve the mystery of the museum’s missing masterpieces.
Arthur Geisert’s unique and exquisite etchings have been widely praised and exhibited at the Chicago Institute of Art, among other museums. His work is regularly selected for the Society of Illustrators’, annual Original Art exhibition, and his illustrations are now being collected by the Dubuque Museum of Art. He lives in a converted bank in Bernard, Iowa.
Who's been stealing pieces of the paintings in the museum? That's just what a clever piglet and her grandfather attempt to find out in this newest adventure featuring Geisert's (Nursery Crimes) beloved pigs. Each week on "copying day," the book's young protagonist, along with Grandpa and other art-minded pigs, can be found at the local museum sketching the works on the walls. But when the aspiring artist piglet discovers that many paintings have been cut and then unskillfully patched, a mystery unfolds. Happily, the quick-thinking heroine's sketchpad and eye for detail help her solve the crime. Young readers may not have such an easy time of it, however, as Geisert's denouement takes a slightly complex twist or two. The setting here proves the perfect canvas for Geisert to unleash his gentle humor as well as his fondness for both art and pigs via his etchings. Several paintings on the museum walls suggest well-known American masterpieces, but feature pig subjects (e.g. a tribute to Grant Wood's American Gothic and a Calder-like mobile). And, of course, other Midwestern touches aboundangel pigs cavort on a painted dome ceiling; ears of corn frame a skylight. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Gr 2-4-Clever concept and illustrations outshine the unsettling plot in this brief whodunit. A sharp-eyed piglet goes to the art museum with her grandpa for "copying day," when artists are invited to "draw and paint the collection." While she waits for Grandpa, who is copying haystacks, she notices that pieces of some paintings (all pictures of food) have been removed and "replaced with not so very good patches." Searching with the guards for clues, the little pig sketches each one, then tapes the sketches to a wall and uses them to solve the case. The culprits' hiding place is discovered, along with the stolen art. The piglet is rewarded, and then, in a humorous finale, shares lunch with her grandpa, unaware that the tiny art thieves are stealing her cookies. The large, well-crafted colored etchings on what appears to be vellum are clearly the focus of the book. The text is minimal, written in short, matter-of-fact sentences, but the solution of the case, involving an architectural detail in the building and other subtle clues, aims the book at older children. Little attention is given to the crime of art mutilation or putting it to a halt. A marginal purchase.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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