Tots to Teens & in beTween - The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers

Title: The Great Paper Caper

Author: Oliver Jeffers

Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers

Publisher: Philomel Books

Publication Date: September 22, 2008

Format: Hardback, 40 pages

Genre: Children's books, Picture Books, Conservation

How I Got It: the library

Goodreads Summary:

The animals' homes are disappearing. Tree by tree, the forest is being cut down. Clues! There must be clues. For instance, look—there is a mysterious bear carrying an ax! But what would a bear want with so many trees? Perhaps the discarded paper airplanes littering the forest floor have a story to tell?

Oliver Jeffers' quirky, childlike humor and lovable illustrations are in full effect in this funny whodunit featuring a winning cast of animals and a message about the importance of conservation and recycling.

Review:

Courtesy of Oliver Jeffers

Once upon a time in the forest things were not as they should be.  Branches were disappearing , and everyone agreed, "branches should not disappear from trees like that." 

Courtesy of Oliver Jeffers

At first neighbors accused each other of making off with the branches, but they all had alibis.  So they banded together to investigate.  They assigned jobs, the dusted for prints, they looked in every nook and cranny.

Courtesy of Oliver Jeffers

But no matter how hard they investigated, no clues could be found.

(Somehow the animals keep missing the bear with an axe and the paper airplanes left scattered around the forest, but your children won't.)  Eventually a witness stepped forward and the investigators had found their man, er, bear.

Courtesy of Oliver Jeffers

The bear was arrested, his picture taken, he was questioned late in to the night, and he went to court.  

It turns out that there was a paper airplane competition that he desperately wanted to win in order to keep the family tradition going.

...he wanted to win, and he knew he wasn't very good,

and he had run out of paper and he had no one to ask

for help.  He was so sorry for taking their trees.

He hadn't meant any harm.

Well, this was something for the court to think about.  The trees needed to be replaced and that paper airplane competition sounded very interesting.  They decided that bear would replace the trees (and he did) while the other animals would gather up his old paper airplanes that littered the forest.  Together they helped bear build the perfect prize winning paper plane.

The Great Paper Caper is a delightful book that teaches an important lesson about conservation without being corny or leaving the reader feeling like they've been pummeled with the message.  Jeffers' gouache and collage illustrations allow young readers to follow the clues while the story itself adds another layer of humor and mystery.  Along with clues Jeffers has added visual jokes and references to his previous books.  My students love that the deer is playing a video game featuring the boy and penguin from Lost and Found, a few were amused and confused by the pig cooking bacon, and I really liked that everyone's "solid alibis" weren't so solid - each character was alone in his home.

This is a fun mystery with a timely message and the kind of illustrations that kids love to look at over and over again (all of those little details are great for the I Spy crowd).

Verdict:

The Great Paper Caper is another lighthearted romp through Oliver Jeffers' imagination.  Readers of all ages will appreciate the humors illustrations with visual jokes scattered throughout.  The story is a funny mystery with TV police drama references but none of the seriousness.  Especially nice is that children can figure out the lesson about waste and nature conservation on their own without loudly declaring that "waste is bad!".  Jeffers' respects children's imagination and intelligence and lets them find their own way through the story.