Leave it to Plum!
Once upon a time, I had an opportunity to skype with Matt Phelan with a group of students who had read one of his books. And looking back, having him visit via skype was a bit silly since he lives in Philadelphia and the school where I teach is right outside of Philadelphia but really the point of this is that I happen to know that Matt Phelan is (or at least was) located in Philadelphia. And the zoo featured in "Leave it to Plum" is the Athensville Zoo. Now, a quick google search tells me there is an Athensville in Illinois. But there is also a band called Athensville which just so happens to call Philadelphia home. So, I'm not sure if Athensville Zoo is a fictional location or not but what I do know is that the Philadelphia Zoo does have free ranging peacocks. In yet another quick google search, I've also just learned about a Zoo mascot that looked like a mix between Sesame Street's Snuffleupagus (sp?) and the Philly Phanatic.
And now you can see what the inner workings of my brain look like. But back to the book! Plum, along with a fleet of peacocks are the mascots of the Athensville Zoo but Itch, a ningbing (that's a real thing too so I'll obviously have to see if there are children's books about ningbings to add to our library collection) has his eye set on being the mascot of the zoo to bring a more scholarly educational aspect to the role complete with lectures. The unsuspecting peacocks are framed in an attempt to bring on their downfall and jailed in a pen until the culprit can be identified. Plum manages to escape being penned in with the others and decides some detective work is needed. Check out Leave it to Plum by Matt Phelan to see if Itch, the ningbing is successful in his plot to take over. It's a very Pinky and the Brain feel, taking over the world/zoo each and every night!
Title: Leave it to Plum
Author: Matt Phelan
ISBN: 978-0-06-307916-8
Published 2022 by Greenwillow Books
This book was borrowed from the public library for purposes of review.
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