Captain Awesome and the Easter Egg Bandit

Stan Kirby's Captain Awesome and the Easter Egg Bandit is a giggly mystery for 5 year olds about a classroom full of Easter eggs that vanish overnight.

What happens

It's four days until Easter and Ms Beasley's class are decorating plastic eggs. Eugene's are, in his opinion, museum-worthy. One has a tiny city inside for the Egg People. Another has fins and razor-sharp teeth (the Egg White Shark). Charlie hides cubes of Swiss cheese in his.

The next morning every single egg in the room has gone.

Eugene and his friends happen to be the Sunnyview Superhero Squad in secret, so obviously this is a job for them. This is the thirteenth Captain Awesome book, and you don't need the others first.

Their detective work is lovely and daft. They interview the class at lunch. Piano lessons, ballet, soccer practice, and one boy who says he was plotting to take over the world (just kidding). Nobody looks guilty.

Then Eugene's baby sister gets an early Easter present. A big pink stuffed rabbit with beady black eyes that never, ever blink. Eugene names it the Thumper, and he's quite sure it's evil.

The funniest bit is the trip to the shopping centre for Easter photos. Eugene decides the bunny on the throne is a villain called Peter Rotten Tail, who has kidnapped the real Easter Bunny. He dives into a pile of stuffed rabbits, and the other children in the queue happily join in. His mum is not amused!

Who took the eggs? I'm not telling. But the answer is a kind one, and the clues really are there if your reader is paying attention. Can they spot it before Eugene does?

There's a sweet dream too, where Turbo the class hamster flies in wearing a cape with some advice about teamwork. Eugene wakes up with a plan.

Mom, soccer and the mall give away that it's American. Little Miss Stinky Pinky calls Eugene "Eugerm", and his baby sister's nappies get the usual treatment.

What to read next

If they love a holiday at school, Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland puts Eugene on the triangle and Charlie on the maracas just as the music teacher announces the holiday play.