Tuff Fluff: The Case of Duckie's Missing Brain - Hardcover

Nash, Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763618829 ISBN 13: 9780763618827

Publisher: Candlewick, 2004

Synopsis

From the illustrator of THE BUGLIEST BUG and SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE DINOSAUR STOMP comes a delightful tongue-in-cheek mystery set in the shadowy corners of a toy-filled attic.

He might look like nothing more than a moth-eaten stuffed animal to you and me, but to the residents of Los Attic, this shabby rabbit in the Ace Moving Box is Tuff Fluff, Private Eye. So when the big blue teddy begs Tuff to help Duckie, a once commanding storyteller who now can do nothing but quack, the shrewd hare’s suspicions naturally arise. "Someone has been playing with this fowl," Tuff declares — and before you can say Dashiell Hammett, this hard-boiled detective is hot on the case! With a vibrantly retro flair, humorous visual details, and pun-filled prose, Scott Nash lures readers on the trail of a lovable, long-eared sleuth and his curious crew of discarded toys as they piece together a most peculiar puzzle.

About this title

About the Author

Scott Nash is a designer and the celebrated illustrator of more than twenty picture books, including THE BUGLIEST BUG, SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE DINOSAUR STOMP, and MARTIAN ROCK, all written by Carol Diggory Shields. With TUFF FLUFF, his author-illustrator debut, "I was aiming to create the sort of fantastic dramas that kids might play out with a cast of stuffed animals and action figures," he says. Inspired by everything from the Uncle Wiggly and Raggedy Ann and Andy books to Underdog cartoons and graphic novels, Tuff Fluff is set "around the streets of Los Attic, a city that feels a little like Los Angeles stuck in a 1940s detective movie. The cast of misfit toys created delightful opportunities for parodying the dialogue and style of classic film noir."

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4–Tuff Fluff, a yellow bunny with a rakish black eye patch, is the Chandleresque private eye enlisted to solve the mystery of Duckie's missing brain. He lives in Los Attic, the city of worn-out playthings, and works out of an office where it's always 3:29 a.m. by "the watch on the wall." Dwelling in cardboard cartons, the inhabitants of Los Attic have mismatched eyes and leak stuffing at the seams. They join forces to aid Tuff in his search; without his brain, Duckie can no longer speak, and all of the animals miss his storytelling. In fact, they are so keen to hear the end of his last tale that even the rivalry between the "beanbags" and the "stuffs" is forgotten in the quest. The contrast between Nash's 1930s' gumshoe writing style and the actual plot of toy animals anxiously searching for Duckie's stuffing is very funny. The illustrations, done in gouache and pencil, are bright and full of humorous details–a ceiling fan made from paper clips, a beauty parlor where a pink poodle styles a penguin, a Lego block lying in an alley. The book is divided into short chapters and the text is presented in two columns, a format that, along with the witty narrative, makes Tuff Fluff a particularly good choice for reluctant readers. Children will fall in love with this soft-boiled detective.–Jane Barrer, Washington Square Village Creative Steps, New York City
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Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0763618829
• ISBN 13: 9780763618827
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Nash Scott