Peculiar Picks are a selection of odd, funny, interesting, curious, moving, irreverent, and otherwise wonderfully awesome, but perhaps not well known, reads. Peculiar Picks are books for younger readers and their grown-ups, handpicked by the Library's Youth Services Manager, Joshua Carlson.

Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin
Also available as an eBook on Overdrive.
Brian Selznick is very well-known for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal. Baby Monkey, Private Eye, however, is both an Amazon and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, as well as a Parents Magazine’s 2018 Best Early Reader of the Year and I simply don’t see enough people reading it! This book features Selznick's amazing art alongside easy to learn/read text for young emerging readers. This is a lower level easy reader disguised as a “big kid” book due to its size and format. The silly factor is high and I guarantee both you and your child will giggle every time Baby Monkey has an (only somewhat) exaggerated struggle with putting pants on before setting off to solve a case and catch the thieves (beware, spoilers below!).

Grown-ups will be drawn in by the art, the “noir” setting, and the various things to find in Baby Monkey’s detective office – references to famous art, people and world events aplenty (a helpful key and index are in the back), while young children will be drawn to the cuteness of Baby Monkey, his bumbling method of getting dressed, and the overall silliness (my daughter giggles furiously throughout, but especially on the page where Baby Monkey gets his leg in the wrong side of his pants). Everyone will be touched by the heartwarming solution to Baby Monkey’s final case.