Snoops, Inc. # 1 - Tracking Champ

I've had this series for quite a while - came across it on Amazon and thought it looked rather cute.  I bought all six books in the series (there were never any published after the sixth volume), and I've had them sitting on my "to-be-read" shelf for ... well, let's just say it's been about five years and leave it at that.  Not sure why I haven't picked one up to read before now, other than I simply continue to buy more books than I can possibly keep up with and read, so this one managed to stay near the bottom of the stack.  Well, I happened to glance at them when deciding what to read next, and I figured, "what the heck - let's see whether these were worth buying."  And they were!

Tracking Champ is the first of the Snoops Inc. series for young readers.  Written by Brandon Terrell, with illustrations by Mariano Epelbaum, Snoops Inc. is the name of the mystery club consisting of four middle schoolers who love to solve mysteries:  thirteen year old Keisha Turner, twelve year old twins Hayden and Jaden Williams, and fourteen year old Carlos Diaz.  While they may be in different grades, the four friends manage to work well together to solve any case - as the tagline on the back cover says, "No case too small ... we solve them all!"  And this first book finds the Snoops looking for their school's missing mascot, Champ.

It seems their principal has introduced the students to the school's new mascot - a slobbering bulldog named Champ, who also happens to be the principal's new pet.  Not everyone is thrilled about the new mascot.  The star basketball player is allergic, and the head cheerleader (who used to be friends with Keisha, but now they are at odds) would prefer a costumed mascot.  Well, someone has it out for the poor dog, because before one day even passes, the dog goes missing! The principal believes his student assistant was neglectful and failed to fasten the dog's cage, but she swears she locked the door.  The Snoops are on the case, determined to find out what really happened and where Champ is now!

Despite being a series for young readers (aimed at upper elementary and middle school age children), the book is actually written with a rather well-crafted mystery.  Terrell provides several likely suspects, uses a few red herrings to mislead the reader, and the actual culprit comes as a surprise, as it is not one of the likely suspects at all.  Epelbaum provides some wonderfully drawn illustrations inside, with one or two drawings in each chapter.  I admit to liking this, as I miss the days when the children's mystery books had interior illustrations (even if it were only four or five throughout the whole book!).  To me, interior illustrations add a little something 'extra' to the story as you read it.

Something else I enjoyed about this book is that the characters are diverse - Keisha is African-America, Carlos is Hispanic, and Hayden and Jaden are Caucasian - yet, there is no big deal made about this, the story does not focus on these ethnic differences, and one is not made to be inferior or superior to the other.  I've noticed a number of modern children's books are showing a tendency to throw in some "woke" ideals about race, ethnicity, and national origin, trying to impress upon the young reader that as a white American, he or she should be apologetic or ashamed;  Terrell, however, shows the children are simply accepting of one another, ignoring the so-called "differences" that a part of today's society wants to emphasize.  It made the book much more fun to read, as the emphasis was on their friendship, their individual talents, and the mystery itself.

The book did not take long to read (it is only 104 pages, with a number of internal illustrations), but it was enjoyable, and I look forward to reading the next book.

RATING:  8 thick, bright red dog collars out of 10 for providing young readers with a great new mystery series with fun characters and well-plotted mysteries!