“Detective Samson”, between dog and magnifying glass – Liberation

Each week, “Liberation” reviews the news of children’s books. Today, an abundant album in which children will have to go in search of many lost objects and characters.

The mission is demanding, and that is what makes all the salt of Detective Samson. In town, it’s panic: the magpie has been robbed, the centipede discovers his boot rack reduced by half of the workforce, the kittens have escaped from their mother’s… A vast investigation awaits the Detective Samson, a concentrated-looking dog equipped with the bowler hat, the brown checkered jacket and the magnifying glass essential to his function. The brave canine has six cases to solve at the same time. That’s a lot, right? Fortunately, the young reader is there to support him.

It is up to him, page after page, to find each of the ten kittens, ten chicks, ten boots, ten flowers, ten parts of a machine and ten lost jewels. To make matters worse, it is not a question of spotting the same shoe or the same piece of jewelery each time, because… who has the same pair of boots ten times and ten copies of the same necklace in their closets? This is where the child’s brain melts. He will have to memorize both the list of elements to find in the pages but also the head they may have.

It will be necessary to memorize the list of elements to find but also what they may look like. (Saltimbanque Editions)

I promise, it’s completely doable – especially since nothing prevents you from taking a look at the list when the need arises. And above all: it’s super stimulating! This quest takes us to various teeming worlds, from the rustle of the city where bats ride around in a pink limousine to the snow-capped mountains where a yeti takes a nap in a hammock, passing by the ocean where a crab sells hot- dogs. The drawings are rich, fun and the elements to find blend in well.

The previous column

We forgot a slight detail: once the six elements have been identified on each double page, the child will only have the right to move on to the next one if he identifies an object or character specific to each universe… Yes, another floor to the rocket of this seek-and-find in which, you will have understood, we immerse ourselves with appetite. Fortunately, Samson and the reader will be able to rest after all that. Unless… ? Finally placed in his bubble bath, a polka dot charlotte on his head, it seems that the dog still has one last mission to accomplish…

Detective Samson by Katerina Gorelik, Saltimbanque editions, 40 pp., €14.90. From 3 years.