by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 26, 2010

The first picture show's a wary egg wearing a detective's trench coat. And what would you expect a "hard-boiled detective" to investigate? "Humpty Dumpty was pushed.  At least I think so.

"Who am I? I'm Joe Dumpty, Humpty's younger brother..."

Mother Goose has been suspicious of poor detective Joe - ever since she became Police Chief Goose. And brother Humpty was captain of the Neighborhood Watch program, at least, until "that awful, scrambled-up day." Children may enjoy this book's cameo appearances by familiar storybook characters like Red Riding Hood and the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe. But this time they're appearing in a very original new context: a detailed parody of a noirish detective drama.

Honestly, at first Mother Goose Land looks a lot like Los Angeles. (Detective Dumpty drinks espresso, while Mother Goose sits in a street-side café patrolling the street in her blue uniform.) But maybe I'd just assumed "Joe Dumpty" was a homage to Joe Friday, the tight-lipped detective on Dragnet, famous for saying "just the facts, ma'am." Anyways, when Miss Muffet discovers the body, she dials 9-1-1 on her cellphone - and it's Joe Dumpty who answers the call.

"At least he landed sunny-side up," says Miss Muffet.
"Whoever did this was gonna fry..." thinks Joe Dumpty...

The book is filled with puns and references - and it seems like each page brings more cameos from storybook characters.  Before Dumpty can grill Miss Muffet, he's interrupted by all the king's horses and all the king's men. (Who, apparently, can't put Humpty together again...) And the clues start to point to a suspicious villain, since the Three Little Pigs' house was blown over by a stray wind that morning - and Miss Muffet remembers that Humpty was knocked off the wall by "this huffy-puffy wind."

I've seen bumper stickers that say "Humpty Dumpty was pushed" - but it's really nice to see it developed into a full-fledged paranoid picture book. Grown-ups may enjoy the story's brash irreverence, like the one-off jokes in the early Shrek movies. (At one point, Joe Dumpty even insists to Goldilocks that he can't eat porridge because he's on a low-carb diet.) Children might be a little disturbed at finding all the tough narration in this brightly-colored storybook. But at least the story finds a happy ending for Humpty. "Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, combined with some nifty techniques the doctors discovered when Jack fell down and broke his crown, Humpty was on the mend!"

"But he didn't remember a thing. I needed to hit the streets and question a few characters myself..."

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