Cute little book, read aloud to my kid many nights. ( )

You know how all books are not for all readers and some books work SO MUCH BETTER when read aloud? Yeah, this was definitely the case with the particular book and myself. I was all ready to throw in the towel because quite honestly, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I get it is for a much younger audience than I, but I read a fairly large amount of Children's Fiction and even Picture Books, so the fact that this one was giving me fits was enough to aggravate. HOWEVER, in my exasperated state, I tried reading several passages aloud to illustrate the absurdity of what was happening...and you know what? It. Changed. EVERYTHING. I'm not saying I'm a diehard Timmy fan now, because yeah...I'll leave that to the fandoms, however I could appreciate the humor, the jokes, the ridiculous nature of some situations and the whole investigation into the missing candy THAT much better with all my gesturing, vocal variations, and moments of acting out. So why yes, not all books are for all readers, if you've a kiddo in the house that likes to use their imagination, and you happen to have a few moments to spare to enhance the adventure, I highly suggest a read aloud session with this book!


**copy received for review; opinions are my own ( )

Absolutely marvelous. I was expecting more puns, since this is from a guy who runs pearls before swine but absolufuckinglutely marvdonkulous! ( )

Off-the-wall tale of a single mother and her son. Timmy does everything wrong and gets into much trouble. Did Timmy mean to? Is he a victim of fate? Does he really have a polar bear?

Quirky and surprising. ( )

The story of Timmy Failure, his polar bear, and their detective agency is somewhat amusing, though never laugh-out-loud funny. Many of the chapter titles, however, may make an adult chuckle. It goes on way too long and there are inconsistencies between Timmy's misunderstanding of the meaning of "garbanzo" and his seeming understanding of a word such as "recidivism". His inability to overcome his prejudices to see what is plain to everyone else also gets annoying after a while--although it is likely to make your child feel smarter while reading it. ( )