NURSERY CRIMES

This whimsical whodunit, longer on visual appeal than internal logic, kicks off with the overnight disappearance of a crop of huge turkey topiaries from the nursery-cum-salvage-yard of aptly named Jambonneau and his dainty wife Merville de Peru. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, is their business ruined? And is this the work of notorious topiary thief Voler? Clues point that way, but not clearly enough to make an accusation, because Voler’s yard is stuffed with similar-looking leafy gobblers. Typically, children willing to study Geisert’s colored etchings will have a field day picking out the details. The bereft gardeners, with their 12 energetic children, live in a house constructed from railroad cars and an Iowa school bus, surrounded by giant pumpkins, plus inviting reefs of building and machine parts. In the end, Merville—or “Marva,” as she is known—outwits Voler by choosing deciduous shrubs to shape; those too disappear, but come the first hard frost they change color, standing out in Voler’s yard like sore thumbs, and off to jail he goes. It’s a Thanksgiving story with a difference, played out con brio by an all-porcine cast. (Picture book. 6-8)