BOOKS FOR KEIKI
Chet Gecko series gets new installment

By Jolie Jean Cotton

"The Hamster of the Baskervilles" by Bruce Hale, Harcourt, $14, ages 8-12.

The book opens with the wisecracking fourth-grade detective and his schoolmates discovering that their classroom at Emerson Hicky Elementary has been vandalized. Chet's teacher, Mr. Ratnose, enlists the gecko's help in determining who is responsible.

Chet and his sidekick, a mockingbird named Natalie Attired, grill the obvious suspects, a crowd of critters that includes Erik Nidd, a tarantula whose powerful body "boasted eight thick limbs designed for shakedowns, punching, poking and giving noogies."

Chet, too, has to make his customary appearance in the tomcat/principal's office: "Principal Zero's office smelled of broken dreams and old report cards, of kitty litter and fear. I opened the heavy oak door and stopped cold."

Turns out Principal Zero wants Chet's help in solving yet another campus mystery. Now he's working on two cases at once. Hale seamlessly weaves together the story line with more twists and turns in this Gecko Mystery plot than ever before. The clues are deliciously well hidden. Hale's amusing black and white sketches and Chet's famously witty one liners only add to the fun. Chet Gecko is definitely on a roll.

"Chet Gecko — Private Eye," the audio version of the first two Chet Gecko Mysteries (read by Jon Cryer) was named a Notable Children's Recording by the American Library Association in their 2002 awards.