Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case

Kelly L. Green is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual’s
Children’s Literature edition.

Who can resist Jacob Two-Two? Not I! Not I! And he’s back, but even
though he still says everything twice, because no one listens the first
time, he is now old enough to attend school at Privilege House, that
elite institute of elementary education. His real education, however,
comes through his apprenticeship with master spy X, Barnaby Dinglebat,
who helps Jacob outsmart Perfectly Loathsome Leo Louse (the school’s
caterer) and his nasty mother, and at the same time rid Privilege House
of its piggish principal, I. M. Greedyguts.

Richler has maintained the anarchic spirit of the earlier books,
particularly Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. No Jacob Two-Two
adventure would be complete, of course, without the assistance of
Childpower’s Fearless O’Toole and the Intrepid Shapiro (aka
Jacob’s older brother and sister, Noah and Emma). The interchange in
this outing between Mr. Greedyguts and Miss Sour Pickle (Jacob’s
teacher) will delight fans of Hooded Fang’s Master Fish and Mistress
Fowl. Canada’s answer to controversial British children’s writer
Roald Dahl, Richler continues to depict childhood as children at the
mercy of “big people” often see it—an exercise in extreme
frustration, patience, and invisibility. His trenchant humor will
delight old fans and win new ones, in this, the best Jacob Two-Two
adventure yet. Eyolfson’s cartoonish illustrations (he really has a
way with hair and noses) are inspired. Highly recommended.