Detectives try to find the lost bouncy ball. In the course kids can learn, shapes, size, colour, sports, etc. Simple colourful illustrations.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC

What a great way to teach young children different shapes, functions and descriptions of sport balls. Detective Fox and Detective Goat are on the case when Emma loses her blue bouncy ball. This book goes through a list of sport balls they find and why it can not be the blue bouncy ball. Colors, shapes and functions all come into play. through really vivid illustrations the book teaches as the children read. I recommend this for 2-4 yr olds and as a great beginner reader book. The book is not long and will hold a child's interest until Detective Goat and Detective Fox can solve the case. This book also has pages in the end that tells about shapes and colors.
I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Emma has lost her favorite bouncy ball in the park. Can our dapper detectives, Fox and Goat, find it for her? Young children will follow their journey through the golf course, past the soccer field, and across the tennis court to the playground as they solve the mystery and learn new concepts along the way. Is the ball small or large, smooth or rough, hard or soft? This toddler's version of Sherlock Holmes is guaranteed to both engage and entertain young minds.

What a pleasure this book was. I was unsure of how it would work, with the blurb talking about a mystery and a toddler-version of Sherlock Holmes...but this was a real delight.

Not only do the detectives look for Emma's ball, but they give comparisons to other balls they happen to find along the way. We learn about colour, shape, size, weight and other concepts as the detectives discount one ball after another.

The other highlight of this book were the illustrations. They were bright and fun, certainly bringing the mysterious balls to the fore.

I really did enjoy this and I can see kids of all pre-school ages enjoying this as well.


Paul
ARH

The Missing Bouncy Ball is a cute book where a detective helps try to find the missing bouncy ball. Through clues, they are able to rule out that various other balls (soccer ball, basketball, etc) are not the bouncy ball. At the end of the book, there are two pages that discuss the qualities that make the bouncy ball the ball they are looking for: bouncy, round, blue, small.

This is a good book to help little ones learn how to determine how to find something and how to eliminate other options. I really did like the pages at the end that went through the different qualities that the ball had. I'd recommend this for kids ages 1-3.

This book follows Detective Fox and Goat as they look for Emma’s bouncy ball. The detectives find all kinds of balls, but none are Emma’s bouncy ball. This is a great book for kids learning shapes, colors, and size.

This would be a nice fun board book. Detective Goat and Detective Fox are on the case of Emma’s missing bouncy ball. The illustrations are vibrant and a great match for this simple story.

A Fox and Goat Mystery series is a great one for little ones. They are detectives and through investigation discuss colour, size, shape, texture etc. to describe the missing object. It is a mystery for our youngest book lovers as well as teaching them investigative questioning and descriptions. Lots of new vocabulary in a fun way. The illustrations are simple and large to support the text. A great book for any kindergarten classroom or home library. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

Received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review

The repetitive nature of the story was great as it offered a look at opposites. It was a cute story and the clues at the end were a good way to review.

**I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book**

The Missing Bouncy Ball is an adorable children's book that sends two detectives -- Fox and Goat -- off on a mission to find a little girl's favorite blue bouncy ball. The pair go on the hunt through all sorts of locations, including a soccer field, a tennis court, and even a golf course. Do they ever find the missing ball? Read it to find out!

I thought the book was super cute. The illustrations are entertaining (I loved the fox wearing the sunglasses and peeking out from behind things), and I really liked how the book taught kids opposites such as hard and soft, small and large, etc. It's definitely educational while still entertaining young readers.

I also liked how the story introduced kids to different sports, as well as guiding them along to help solve a mystery by using their knowledge of opposites, shapes, and colors. That's always a good thing for young minds.

Overall, The Missing Bouncy Ball is a short, fun, cute read that will entertain kids and parents alike. I know my three year old enjoyed the story and the pictures. Plus, my favorite animal is a fox, and my son has taken a liking to them as well, so that made the story even more enjoyable for us. Goats terrify me, but that's another story...

Anyway, I'd have to rate The Missing Bouncy Ball four stars. I really liked it!

*Review of 'The Missing Bouncy Ball' and 'The Lost Race Car'*

I feel like I need to review both of these books together as they are so similar. That isn't a criticism as it means that they do feel like the beginnings of a nice little series for little ones. These are certainly pitched at a very young audience as a nice way to introduce reading as early as possible.

The text throughout is pitched in a way that means the adult reading is forced to ask a lot of questions to engage the child they are reading with. As a teacher it feels like a lot of the questions are the sort we might ask anyway to ensure engagement of the child but these books might be useful for new parents to give their children a good start with reading.

What I like about both the titles here is that they manage to tell a little story while staying focused on vocabulary that would be useful for children to have before starting school. There is a lot of language of comparison, colours, shapes and sizes which is all very helpful for children to have firmly in place before they start formal education.

The only real criticism I have of these titles, and this is a very personal thing, is that I really struggled to look past these being a bit like 'South Park' in illustration style. Detective Goat looks he could be a South Park character and it makes the experience a little odd. This wouldn't put me off using these to read with pre-school age children, if anything it would just make me want to giggle a little, but it's just a little odd note.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is another missing mystery involving Fox. The bouncy ball is missing and he must find it. The finds several other balls, but explains why they are different. This great and geared for very young children. Great for learning colors, texture, and size.

*I was sent a free galley of this book from NetGalley in return for an open and honest review*

I thought this was a super cute book. I was lucky enough to receive this and The Lost Race Car from the same series. I loved the illustrations in this children's book. I thought they were perfectly simplistic and I imagine this is going to be absolutely stunning as a hard copy with the geometric lines in the background sprouting out from the center of the book. The story line was also simplistic and straight forward, everything you want in a kid's book. The way this book indirectly taught so much about adjectives and descriptions was great and I absolutely LOVED the recap at the end to reassure young readers are understanding the concepts given. I always judge children's books by whether I would want my nephews reading them. Do they add value and education to their lives? Along with that, are they entertaining and well written? With this book, I definitely think it does and I'm here for it!

There were two critics I had overall. One being I wish the dog would have appeared with the blue ball in every instance instead of just a couple. I think it would be a cute "Could you find the brown dog with the blue ball?" game at the end of the book. The second is that I'm not completely crazy about the font pick, but I understand it's going along with the sharp geometric lines of the illustrations.

Still, those details are minute and I still loved this book and story so much.

I thought the premise of the book was different than most books marketed towards toddlers. The detectives were so cute but I think the clues for looking for the bouncy ball should be in the front of the book.. It reminds me of the Usborne books like That's Not My Pig, which are a huge hit with the toddler crowd so I see this being a popular series with little ones.

I received an advanced electronic copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.