'Officer Pete' by Ruth Wielockx is a fun picture book about a young policeman who is searching for something.

Poor Officer Pete. One day he was out training his tracker dog Sniffer when he was given an important letter to deliver by the chief of police. Before he can deliver it though, his hat is stolen. Since it's part of his uniform, he needs to go find it, so he jumps on a motorcycle and goes looking. Along the way, he visits a baker and a hat shop. Will he find his hat, and will he remember to deliver the letter?

I loved the fun illustrations in this book. Officer Pete and the other police look like children, but they get to do fun things like dress up and ride motorcycles and helicopters. The story is cute, and there are clues hidden in the pictures for the discerning reader. This would be a fun read with a young one.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Clavis Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I like the idea of this book and the illustrations are great, but overall the story fell a little flat and was confusing. A police officer is given the job of mailing an important top secret letter but completely forgets to do it when his hat is stolen. Since police officers apparently have all day to do whatever they want, he then spends the day looking for his hat, even taking a helicopter out to look for it. In the end, it was his chief who took his hate because his colleagues were planning a surprise party for him.

Again, I like the idea of the surprise party, and it was fun to find the other officers hiding in the pictures. I get that it is a children’s book, but it sends confusing messages to kids. Police officers steal? The most important thing an officer has to do with his time is find his own hat? Police officers forget to do parts of their job like mail “top secret” letters?

It had potential, but just didn’t work.

Cute story about a police officer whose hat is "stolen" and he runs around town trying to find it. The illustrations are fun and the story has a good number of words per page so kids won't get bored. There is a lot to see in every picture, but beware if you have one of those kids who likes to point out ALL THE THINGS in the pictures!

Great pictures that are very vivid. The storyline though is quite puzzling. Definitely original though. Kids should like how it ends.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this. The review, such as it is, is my own.

This is a cute book with some lovely images but I wasn't a huge fan of the story.
Can see it being a hit at bedtime with little ones even if the story is a little bit silly.

Officer Pete had a top secret mission to deliver for his boss, but first, he must track down the culprit who stole his police hat. This ingenious idea was thought of by his pals who wanted to get him away from the building so they can lay in wait their big surprise for him, you see it was his birthday. Officer Pete is a cute and fun little book, that takes your kid on a search and find journey away from the academy. Learning all wonderful things as they go along, such as colors, different types of hats, types of stuff found in a pastry shop and many more fun encounters along the way. A little treasure trove of educative tidbits in a vibrant and colorful package.

Children are told that policemen help and do good work to keep them safe. So reading them a story about how a policeman does a bad thing by taking another policeman's hat confuses that directive. Perhaps if the policeman's hat blows off his head on a windy hat and he goes looking for it around town and on each page then the child has to hunt for the hat, as does the policeman, then in the end his fellow policemen find the hat and decorate it into a party hat ... and then surprise him with the intended celebration, that would be a more positive way of keeping all the policemen in good standing. Cute illustrations. The primary colrs were fun and eye catching.

In this cute little story children are introduced to Officer Pete and follow him throughout his day as he tries to solve the mystery of his missing hat. Colorful photos yield clues along the way as young readers try to help. Young readers are in for a special "treat" as this story draws to a close.

Note to parents: Although this book was above my daughter's reading level, each page offered opportunities to ask her questions and engage her with the material..

I felt that this could have been a really sweet story but it confused my 4 year old daughter. She didn't understand why she was looking in the pictures for "bad guys" who steal but they were police officers too, because police officers don't steal. She also felt that it was wrong for him to forget to do his very important job of mailing the top secret letter. We were both happy with the ending and the pictures were well done. I feel this sends the wrong message about what police officers do, although it is a sweet story in the end.

(Thanks to Netgalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.)

The main character’s hat is stolen, so he takes his K-9 partner and goes to find the thief, ignoring the secret mission his boss gave him, going as far as commandeering the chopper in search of what’s probably the cheapest part of a cop’s uniform. And did I mention all the cops—and everyone in town, really—look like kids?
While I get the story, it seems like his buddies put him through a lot of hardship and worry for what is really a small payoff. Most inquisitive kids would wonder why they would do something that, if looked at in black and white, seems so mean.
As you can tell, I didn’t really like it. There’s some good police procedural stuff—for kid level anyway—and the artwork is cute, but the main story was a fail for me.
2.5 pushed up to 3/5

This book had me a little confused. The illustrations were cute but I didn't really like the story. I read it to my 4 1/2 year old grandson and he said "would a policeman really chase after his hat like that" and I had to answer him, NO! Maybe a toddler would just like the silliness of it all and the places "in the neighborhood", the bakery, the hat store, but my grandson didn't like it. I don't think the story is at all a realistic portrayal of what a police officer does all day, certainly he wouldn't spend his time looking for his lost hat. Finally the idea of his assignment of posting something labeled "TOP SECRET" which he disregards in search of his hat.

Basically the two stars are for the cute illustrations but I would not recommend it. I was given an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is a nice story. It reads like a cartoon episode. In a way that one character, Officer Pete, goes on the search for the ridiculous, and looks in all the wrong places. To me while the story is meant to be sweet, it feels like more of a lesson on bumbling police, and that’s not a stereotype we need to perpetuate.

Cute and short for the pre-K set. A police officer's cap is stolen off his head. Who took it and why? Office Pete searches everywhere with his faithful dog, "Sniffer." The upshot of the story? Pete's cap was "stolen" but appears back at the police station. Question: Why was it taken? Answer: so he could wear a party hat on his birthday. Colorful illustrations.

A cleverly fun & silly book about an officer looking for his beloved hat. I'd recommend this!

I would like to sue Ruth Wielockx for making me chase down and buy all the "toys" in all the pictures of her book.

Just kidding.

We loved it! Really cute cop world for the little ones. An old idea about birthday surprise explained in a toddler-y language.

I would recommend to parents of boys, and girls who like police force.

I read this to my cousin and he loved it. I really enjoyed the images and the surprise at the end. I highly recommend for parents with small children

Officer Pete and his tracker dog, Sniffer, are out for Sniffer's training lessons in the field behind the police station. Officer Pete is assigned an important mission, given specifically to him, by the chief-of-police himself. He is given a TOP SECET letter to take to the post office to mail.

"Pete puts the letter safely in his pocket and heads out. Hey, what's happening?
"My cap!" Officer Pete calls out.
"Someone stole my cap! Stop thief!"

The hunt is on to apprehend that dastardly thief. Officer Pete hops on a motorcycle and searches through the neighbourhood. No luck. He returns to the station to get Sniffer involved in the search and they both end up at the local bakery asking investigative questions to the head baker. But no... no hat there. Officer Pete and his dog climb into a patrol car and whisk off determined to find that robber. They enter the local hat shop and the salesgirl assures them that the store contains all different kinds of hats but no police cap. Sorry. Drat! Will he ever find is hat? Where on earth could it be?

The two then check out a parade, jump into a police helicopter, because real search operations are done from the sky, but to no avail. His hat is nowhere to be found. Oh my!!!

In all his efforts to locate his missing hat Officer Pete discovers that he has forgotten to mail the secret letter. Now he's in for it. Could things possibility get any worse he wonders? His beeper goes off signifying an urgent matter is at hand and then a fabulous twist occurs changing everything for the better. Hmmmm.... I wonder why? What could have possibility occurred?

The illustrations are colourful, vibrant, expressive and kid-friendly. The surprise ending will have kids coming back again and again to enjoy how Officer Pete's frown is turned upside down into a HUGE, HAPPY SMILE!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is a cute, and maybe a little silly book with nice graphics. I think it's a great bedtime story for 4 year old kids. Nice I rate it a 3.5.

It was OK. The idea is nice, but I don't really like the story. Why he chase the hat all the way when he has given an important task? Hmm.. also, why bother using helicopter to search the hat ?

Maybe I'm just not getting the humor.

A cute and quick little book about Officer Pete loosing his police officer's cap and spending the day searching for it, taking every possible way one can search for things. When he's about to give up, he finds it's been at the station all along, as well as a birthday party because he was so busy, he forgot his own birthday! The illustrations were bright and colorful, too.