Who is the Mystery Reader?

Who is the Mystery Reader? (Unlimited Squirrels #2) Mo Willems. 2019. 96 pages. [Source: Library]



First sentence: Who is the mystery reader? Let’s read and find out!

Premise/plot: The Unlimited Squirrels are starring in their second book. In this “adventure“ the squirrels are trying to discover the identity of the mystery reader wearing a mask and underwear. But perhaps I am rushing ahead. The squirrels see a stop sign and are puzzled by its meaning. What do the letters s,t,o, and p mean? The mystery reader—also a squirrel— comes to “save” the day by helping them read the word. The mystery reader knows how to sound things out. Most of the book is filler having very little to do with this.

My thoughts: Is the book intentionally busy-busy-busy to mimic a scatterbrained squirrel? Is it intentionally filled with a dozen or so distractions to be amusing? I am not amused. There’s enough story to fill about 24 pages. Unfortunately there are about 85 pages in the book. The rest of the book ranges from junk to junky-junk to super-junky. So much is needless.

I hate that I am not a fan of the new book, new series. I love, love, love Mo Willem’s books typically. But this, well, it reads like he was getting paid by the page. (I doubt that is true). I mean he’s a genius with his other series. I mean he writes with intent making every sentence count. So surely this change has a reason. I just don’t get it.


© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers