View source for The Dog Dectectives in an American Adventure by Zoa

{{infobox1
|title=The Dog Dectectives in an American Adventure
|sort=Dog Dectectives in an American Adventure, The
|author=Zoa
|reviewer=Zoe Morris
|genre=Emerging Readers
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1848860988
|pages=32
|publisher=Maverick Arts Publishing
|date=January 2015
|summary=A tour across the USA with two bike-riding canine detectives, this is a silly book but the target age group will giggle along as they read.
|cover=1848860986
|aznuk=1848860986
|aznus=1848860986
}}
Whatever you might think of the USA, you cannot deny that it is a country with fantastic natural surroundings from the mountains to the beaches to the vast cactus strewn deserts. This children’s book embraces this and takes the Dog Detectives and their new friends on a whistle-stop tour of the country which is a great way to introduce some facts to young readers.

The Dog Detectives are in San Fran, building a sandcastle when Imogen the opossum drops in, literally. She’s a little bit lost as she’s meant to be in NYC, not California, but the Dog Detectives are here to help. With an extra space on one of their bikes, they offer to take Imogen home. Never mind that this will involve cycling from coast to coast. Never mind that these are dogs who ride bikes. Never mind that the ''detective'' bit of ''Dog Detective'' is never really explained. Never mind any of that, there’s fun to be had!

And so off they set, but without the willingness to read a map, you can imagine that they might get a little lost. Whoops, one wrong turn and they’re in Alaska. Never mind, it’s this way…but, oh wait, is that New Mexico? Oh well, surely it’s over there. No, that’s Las Vegas. You get the idea.

For anyone over the age of about 7, this is a ridiculous story. For anyone under that age it’s a ridiculously funny one with lots of misadventure in beautiful scenery and friendly, and not so friendly, local wildlife. When does the threat of becoming an alligator’s next meal ever not result in giggles, after all?

This book is colourful and educational but not in an obvious way, except for the couple of reference pages at the back. Otherwise, it’s about learning about different parts of the world (or in this case, just one big country) and looking at the contrasts between the icy cold northerly states and the tropical southern ones.

This is a fun book for reading together. There’s lots on every page and in every picture, and it’s lovely watching animals being silly and getting it wrong. Recommended for the nursery and infant brigade, this is maybe even worth keeping on the bookshelf after that for when the topic of America pops up on the curriculum.

Recommended.

This side of the pond, you can join the twosome for another adventure in [[The Dog Detectives: Lost in London by Fin Gypsy, Zoa Gypsy and Monika Suska]]

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