SULE THE PROVERB DETECTIVE

A girl seeks help from a young detective who solves her problem by drawing on an old proverb in Rawls’ debut picture book set in an unspecified African country.

A stressed girl named Fara bumps into Sule, a pint-sized young detective, as she’s buying supplies for a class party. “How will I get it all done in time?” she asks Sule, who answers with a proverb: “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” Fara has no idea what that means, but before she can ask him, he takes off into the market with her list. She asks people if they’ve seen Sule, and just as Fara’s about to despair of ever organizing the party, she realizes that Sule has given her friends parts of the list to share the responsibility. The proverb’s meaning—that working together solves a problem—was in front of her all along. The Sule character first appeared in animated shorts by the author, and the story in this new medium, related in straightforward, present-tense language, will be perfect for lap readers or confident elementary readers. Brotzman’s interactive, seek-and-find cartoon illustrations make great use of the colors of the marketplace; the items (and Sule himself) are well defined and fun to locate, and silly details are sure to elicit giggles.

A vividly illustrated and clever work with an accessible moral.