Children of the 1960s (and before) may remember them.

I loved the woodland society and the adventures of Reddy Fox, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Jerry Muskrat, and all the others.

With help from the local constabulary and her raven bestfriend, Vera becomes a detective as she tries to solve the crime before another murder befalls our peaceful little Shady Hollow.Īs a child I was enamored with the Thornton Burgess chapter books. Joe’s Mug is the local coffee shop and it’s abuzz with news about a first-ever event–a murder in Shady Hollow! Our main character is an intrepid local newspaper reporter, a fox named Vera Vixen. Juneau Black has cleverly incorporated traditional animal traits into their characters: the VonPelt beaver family industriously runs the sawmill, Gladys the hummingbird flits as the town gossip, a raven owns a bookstore named Nevermore, brown bears are the local law enforcement, giant panda Sun-Li espouses Eastern medicine, and the village curmudgeon is a toad named Otto Sumf. With a little suspension of disbelief, the reader is easily drawn into Shady Hollow life. The issue is never addressed, neither is the fact that a bear and toad can have an eye-to-eye conversation or that a moose can run a coffee shop. They live harmoniously as the predatory among them seem to have adopted the vegetarian lifestyle. Shady Hollow is a peaceful village, inhabited by all types of woodland creatures. It sounds like they know how to have fun at work! And so Shady Hollow was born. As they went about the task, they found themselves naming the adorable puppets and creating a forest community complete with vivid backstories and adventures.

One day, their manager handed them a box of children’s finger puppets and asked them to price the woodland creatures for sale. The two women work at a bookstore in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The author, Juneau Black, is a pseudonym for two friends, Jocelyn Cole and Sharon Nagel. These three little cozy mysteries are great Break Books. The third in the series is entitled Mirror Lake and it will be arriving April 26. Shady Hollow was published in January and number 2 is called Cold Clay it came out March 1.

And to learn it’s the first of a series of three was a bonus. After finishing my recent Thinker I found the perfect little Break Book. I don’t need to be challenged or instructed I need some comfort and fun. Are you ever in the mood for a break? Break Books are the best! Often after I finish a book that was meaningful, or important, or a classic ( I call them Thinkers) I like to be entertained with a Break Book.

Shady hollow books