Jasper John Dooley, Lost and Found. (Jasper John Dooley; 5). Caroline Adderson. Illustrated by Mike Shiell. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2015. 126 pp., hardcover, $16.95. ISBN 978-1-77138-014-0. Kindergarten-grade 2 / Ages 5-7. Review by Karen Rankin. ***½ /4

excerpt:

In the morning, the first thing Jasper did was slide his hand under the pillow.

“DAD!!!!”

Dad came running.

“Marcel Mouse is gone! Did you take him?”

“No,” Dad said.

“You didn’t sneak in and take him?”

Dad said, “I didn’t. Honest.”

“You tried to take him from Uncle Tom.”

“I traded for him,” Dad said. “You’re the only one in this family who sneaks into bedrooms when people are sleeping and steals.”

Steals belly button lint, he meant. Sometimes Jasper snuck into Mom and Dad’s room early in the morning to do this.

“Marcel’s got to be here somewhere,” Dad said. “Let’s look.”

Jasper threw off the covers. He and Dad got down on their hands and knees and looked under the bed. “What are those big blobs?” Jasper asked.

“Dust bunnies. I’ll get the broom.”

Dad came back with the broom and swept all the dust bunnies out from under the bed. They looked like lint clouds. Other things were mingled with the bunnies.

“My yo-yo,” Jasper said. “And there’s the gold pencil crayon Mrs. Kinoshita gave me.”

“And there’s an apple core, a scrunchy tissue and some very dusty underpants,” Dad said. “And look, Jasper. Over in the corner. An empty wastebasket.”

Jasper didn’t laugh. “But where’s Marcel? Marcel is lost!”

“You get dressed, Jasper. I’ll keep looking.”

“Let’s sing the song,” Jasper said. “He might be hiding. He might be afraid to come out because he’s in a new place.”

“Marcel isn’t the kind of mouse to be afraid. But sure. Let’s sing.”

And it worked! While Jasper was dressing and he and Dad were singing, “Marcel Mouse!

Marcel Mouse! A mouse who’s lots of fun!,” Dad found Marcel jammed between Jasper’s mattress and the headboard. Jasper lunged for Marcel and snatched him from Dad. “I know you,” Jasper told Dad. “You’re a tricky one.”

....

Jasper got the lates. He got the lates because Marcel was lost, then found, and because all the way to school, he and Dad sang the Marcel Mouse song at the top of their lungs and danced the dance. It was slower dancing to school than walking because some of the dance was turning in a circle.

When Jasper came into the classroom, he stopped to explain to everybody why he’d got the lates. He showed them Marcel Mouse hanging around his neck.

...

Ms. Tosh said, “Jasper? Bernadette is the star this week. She presented her Show and Tell on Monday.”

“I’m just explaining why I got the lates.”

Ms. Tosh told him to sit down. “You can tell everybody about your mouse at recess.”

Jasper and his good friend Ori have begun hunting for buried treasure at school when Jasper’s Nan comes across a real gem in one of her storage boxes – Dad’s old toy mouse from when he was a kid. Nan gives it to Jasper, and Dad teaches Jasper the song that goes with the adventurous Marcel Mouse. But it isn’t long before Jasper accidentally flushes the tiny mouse down the toilet. Jasper is inconsolable until Dad tells him a story that shows how clever and resilient Marcel has always been. Then, Mom, Dad, and Jasper visit the library. After studying a special atlas that includes ocean currents, Dad and Jasper figure that Marcel will head to Alaska, then Japan, and eventually Australia where Dad’s brother, Uncle Tom, lives. They also research how toilets work at the library. The next day, Jasper and his parents visit the sewage treatment plant to see if they can intercept Marcel Mouse before he goes out to sea, but decide they’ve missed him. Meanwhile, Mom is planning a surprise birthday party for Nan to which Uncle Tom will be coming, and Ori is captivated by a hand-held, forbidden, electronic game that flashes and ‘bleeps’ which he finds in the school’s lost-and-found box. Jasper is astonished when he receives an email from Marcel Mouse saying that he’s on a cruise ship to Alaska. While Jasper thinks that Marcel would love the cruise, he doesn’t really believe that a plastic mouse could send an email. He suspects that Mom wrote the email. Nevertheless, when he gets another one from Marcel – now on his way to Australia – Jasper replies, suggesting he come home with Uncle Tom for Nan’s party. Ori and Jasper’s friends stop playing treasure hunters and hide-and-seek at recess, preferring to sit around waiting their turn with the electronic game until a big kid catches them using it and calls Ori a thief. Uncle Tom does not bring Marcel Mouse home, but Nan’s party is a success and – serendipitously – Jasper John is reunited with Marcel Mouse.

     Jasper John Dooley, Lost and Found, is the fifth in Caroline Adderson’s series of excellent read-aloud chapter books for children from kindergarten to grade two. Jasper John’s character is consistently unique and endearing. And – for those who need comic relief – Adderson is adept at adding potentially laughable elements to Jasper John’s worst moments. While Lost and Found stands on its own, readers of the series’ previous books will feel even more connected to Jasper’s realistic school life, his close friend Ori, and his parents who – while not perfect – care for Jasper with love and intelligence. The plot of Lost and Found is further enriched by reminders of incidents from other books in the series, such as Grandma’s trip on a cruise ship (from Jasper John Dooley: Left Behind) and Jasper’s turn at Show and Tell (from Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week). While the secondary plot (Ori’s electronic game) trails off somewhat inconclusively, Jasper John Dooley, Lost and Found is an entertaining read-aloud and an engrossing story for those starting to read chapter books on their own.

Highly Recommended.

Karen Rankin is a Toronto, ON, teacher and writer of children’s stories.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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