This review originally posted on The Children's Book and Media Review

When Officer Panda begins his shift, he notices that there is something unusual going on with the haystacks. He keeps seeing strange prints, so he asks witnesses if they’ve seen anything unusual. He goes through the forest and makes some notes, then comes home to see more prints there too. In the end, he discovers that the mysterious fingerprints belong to the reader of the book.

Even young readers are likely to notice that there isn’t a much of a story and some of the elements don’t make a lot of sense tied in with the rest of the book. However, the illustrations and the clever use of fingerprints throughout the book is cute and interesting. The back of the book contains some bullet point facts about fingerprints and the history of fingerprints in police work. It could be useful to introduce children to the idea of fingerprints and why they can be important, but the story is lacking. ( )