The Case of the Shrinking Friend

The Case of the Shrinking Friend is a cleverly created science adventure book for young readers. Based on the Canadian TV series, Scout and the Gumboot Kids, this book’s heroes, Scout and Daisy, will be familiar to many young readers already.

Although aimed at pre-school age children, the two anthropomorphized felted mice will be endearing to primary age students as well. The intricate backdrops for every page of the story are filled with details that will delight the curious as they follow Scout and Daisy on their quest to solve the mystery of the shrinking friend.

As the adventure begins, Daisy shares some sketches she made in her field notes, thereby modelling good record keeping for young readers. After following the clues outside in nature, Scout refers to a book he has in his backpack which provides some additional information to help them solve the case.

Snow is formed when temperatures are cold and water vapor in the air forms snow crystals. When the snow crystals are heavy enough, they fall to the ground. Snow melts when the sun shines and warms the earth. Snow, which is a frozen, solid form of water, melts into liquid water.” (p. 20)

Near the end of book, authors Eric Hogan and Tara Hungerford, who are also the creators of the TV series, include two pages of “Field Notes”. The notes include a brief but informative glossary with words such as ”hexagon”, and photographs with additional information in text boxes.

It’s estimated that approximately one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) cubic feet of snow fall on Earth each year, with each cubic foot containing approximately a few billion (1,000,000,000) individual snowflakes. (p. 29)

Also included at the back of the book is a three-step nature craft related to the mystery, a hanging ice sculpture.

The Case of the Shrinking Friend will encourage young readers to be curious and creative about the natural world. The storyline is very gentle and reassuring, and models learning while actively exploring nature.