The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City (Volume 2)

Private I #2

by Tara Lazar, Ross MacDonald (Illustrator)

Just when Private I thinks all is calm-now that he's cracked the case of 7 Ate 9-Question Mark storms into the office.
Mark is worried. All the uppercase letters are M-I-S-S-I-N-G! But that's absurd. This is CAPITAL City!
Private I is the last letter standing. Will he solve his BIGGEST mystery yet, the UPPER CASE, before it's too late?!
Filled with the same humor, wit, and quirkiness of the hit 7 Ate 9: The Untold Story, comes another laugh-out-loud whodunit.

Genres: Picture Books, Mystery, Humor, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile, Detective

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2019

About the author

Street magic performer. Award-winning ice sculptor. Hog-calling champion. These are all things Tara Lazar has never been. Instead, she writes stories for children featuring quirky characters and hilarious happenings. Tara writes the 7 ATE 9 series of picture books from Little Brown, illustrated by Ross MacDonald. Her next book is BLOOP, about an alien who comes to conquer earth but thinks the dogs are in charge! Tara lives in New Jersey with her husband, two daughters, and an adopted stray cat named Phoebe who thinks she is in charge of the planet. Visit Tara online to read about all her books at taralazar.com.

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ingenious detective I is on the case again in Capital City as he aims to find the missing uppercase letters. The investigation leads down a pun-filled trail as Private I interviews marks and searches for clues. What makes this so fun is the clever word play, but younger readers will likely miss much of the wit and puns. A good read-aloud and a fun and quick punctuation lesson that would nicely supplement a teacher's language arts lesson.

[Mary BookHounds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is perfect for those readers just advancing on from picture books and alphabet books and ready for a challenge!  This book is perfect for those not quite ready for chapter books. The plot reminds me of an old-time detective story and has the same flair but toned-down for the younger set.  This is a follow up to 7 ate 9 and takes place in Capital City when all of the capital letters disappear.  As you follow Private I with help from the Question Mark?  and Exclamation Point! as they search for clues that will keep your young one guessing and reading along with the wordplay. There are lots of silly puns that will have you laughing as well.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute I-dea!
The puns were fun, but there wasn't much solving of mysteries, or clues to follow. Everything sort of just happened, and then there was a discussion with the bad guy. (Who still had to serve a short sentence, even though he'd decided to change. I thought that was nice! Not all consequences go away just because you realized it was wrong.) And... everyone lives happily ever after.

[Alex Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Capitalizing on the fun of her first book, Tara Lazar returns to the Al F. Bet detective agency for another caper. It seems Question Mark was all bent our of shape because all the uppercase letters in Capital City has gone missing and to emphasize his point, he had brought along Exclamation. Would Private I take the case? if he didn't solve this one, with all the capital letters gone, there would be incomplete sentences dangling everywhere. What results, as Private I tries to solve the case, is a punny introduction to punctuation when he tries to interview them. They are all too busy to talk, only the Quotation Twins are willing to talk: "Yeah, something's definitely up, besides us...But don't quote us on that." This is written with the same kind of hard-boiled film noir mystery way of speaking and illustrations as 7 Ate 9. Once again, I found it did not work with my younger readers who are 4-5 years-old, but it did work better with kids 6+. My favorite part was the appearance of the Grammar Police represented by Elements of Style and the Chicago Manual of Style.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny detective picture book, where all the capital letters have disappeared except for the hero, detective Private I.

Many of these jokes will be better understood by elementary students familiar with punctuation and capable of understanding puns.

[Michelle Boquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a case where I wanted the book to be better than it was. Students wouldn’t catch all of the allusions- Like Chicago Manual of Style. I give it a three, but wouldn’t use as a read aloud for word awareness because it hits slightly off the mark.

[Chance Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Add a star or two depending on how much you like grammar and punctuation jokes.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read!

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Private I is on the case, and it's a capital crime!
A funny, witty, punny whodunit! A+

[Theresa Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever.

[Rumsha A • Storiesandplottwists · Rating 4 out of 5]

I run on puns. You guys know it, even my bio on Instagram says so. So you can bet your bucks I enjoyed this short but pun-ny book very much. In this one, the Capital letters go missing, and detective 'I' is charged with solving the mystery. Intended for children, this book is a good start for early reading.

[Jill Jemmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a hilarious new children’s picture book.

Punctuation marks and letters walk around in this city. It was so funny to see these symbols brought to life. They sometimes acted out their function, such as periods holding up a stop sign. This is a fun way to teach children letters and punctuation.

I loved the puns in this book. There were so many clever ways that phrases were played with in this book. For example, the phrase “mind your p’s and q’s” was turned into an illustration of an ampersand (&) babysitting or “minding” a baby p and q. These puns were so clever!

I loved this book! It is hilarious for children and adults.

Thank you Disney-Hyperion for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City by Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald. PICTURE BOOK. Disney, 2019. $18. 9781368027656

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Private I is needed again – All of the upper case letters have disappeared from Capital City! I is the only one left. Following clues from the lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation marks that are still around, Private I is on the case.

I loved the first Private I book and love this one too – the introductions to the punctuation marks make for fun discussions about how accurate or appropriate they are to the punctuation mark’s usage.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Private I case when the capital letters go missing and he must find them. In the vein of the old Dick Tracy and other private eye black and white movies. Lots of tongue-in-cheek phrases. Kids will find the letters of the alphabet and need the reader to explain ampersand and hyphen in younger grades. But the book is fun with the punctuation marks and the signs missing the capital letters. My grown up friends love the book.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I was delighted when I was selected for the blog tour for this book and then I also received a ecopy of the book. I couldn't wait to start reading and here we are now. I was in the mood for a punny word detective book and this one seemed perfect.

Meet Private I (yes, really), he just finished a case is kind of looking forward to having some quiet and rest.. but he won't have that for long as quite soon Mark, the question mark, bursts into the office to tell our Private I that he is the only one left as an uppercase letter. OH NO! That this can happen in Capital City, chaos will happen so it is up to Private I to get to the case and find out the hints.

We see him wander through the city, meet up with various characters, for instance ampersand and her twins q and p, and did you see hyphen jogging around? And then he gets his first clue which leads him to more delightful characters and eventually he solves the case. How, I am not going to be telling you, you will just have to read, but it was such a delight. I definitely hadn't expected that character to be the culprit. We learn why they did what they did, and I could definitely understand why they did what they did given the character they are.

All in all, this will surely delight kids. They can learn about the alphabet, about numbers, about punctuation and more. There are tons of puns related to all of this and I am sure that they will laugh themselves silly. Just like I did.

The art was also pretty fun, it was a nice style.

I had tons of fun reading this book and I would highly recommend this one to everyone. I can't wait to see what other cases Private I will have and what kind of things will happen next in this city.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City is a children's picture book written by Tara Lazar and illustrated by Ross MacDonald. It's continues the relentless puns and fun with letters framed, like its predecessor, in the style of a mid-20th-century detective novel.

Lazar's text is rather simplistic and straightforward. Though many of the jokes are unlikely to resonate with readers at the lower end of the age range, Lazar hits every mark of a traditional detective story. MacDonald's illustrations place readers on the scene of a Technicolor retro gumshoe drama.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Prompted by Question and Exclamation marks, Private I immediately tackle the Upper Case. Punctuated by ample wordplay, Private I search the city high and low for leads, finally spying the missing caps on a movie theater marquee. A twist reveals that Exclamation is crooked, having made false promises of cinema fame to the capital letters in exchange for a little quiet. Peace is restored and Exclamation straightened out with assistance from the Grammar Police.

All in all, The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City is both a hilarious spoof of a noir novel and a clever comment on modern punctuation misuse.

[Meena Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City is yet another delightful and entertaining picture book written by Tara Lazar. This mystery follows the same format as her previous book, 7 Ate 9, but this time involving letters. Full of many puns and play on words, this story is fun to read and one that people of all ages can appreciate. Question mark comes running to Private I with a mystery to solve. All the capital letters have gone missing! In the end, it turns out that the exclamation mark was the culprit who trapped all the capital letters in an abandoned part of the city known as the Cursive Loop. It’s a happy ending when exclamation mark realizes the importance of his role in written communication.
Through this story, readers learn the importance of punctuation. “If all the capital letters are gone, there’d be incomplete sentences dangling everywhere.” In addition, the personification of the punctuation marks such as the apostrophe, the comma, and the period cleverly depict their function in our mechanics of our written language. This picture book is indispensable for teaching language arts lessons on punctuation to elementary age students. Rating: 4.2

[books are love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received in exchange for a honest review.

This was awesome. Highly entertaining and just a fun take on the alphabet and grammar. I loved the puns they were quirky and sassy but also humorous. The whole book was a hoot. The illustrations were lighthearted and fun. They drew you into the story and helped show what the mystery was about.

Private I was awesome and I love the ending with B. I think I felt most for Exclamation point and he does have a point. Poor guy. Mark seemed frazzled and just added to the whole picture and entertainment. B was the one that helps I the most I think leaving him clues. And the p and q’s were great. All the puns and humor just have you smiling and laughing as you are drawn into the mystery of what happened to the capital letters and why.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the upper case letters in Capital City have disappeared! Luckily, Private I is on the case. He tries to question a bunch of punctuation marks, but they are too busy. Then he finds a clue at the local cafe, but he can't make heads or tails of it. Private I is feeling blue until he notices a faint glowing coming from Cursive Loop in the abandoned part of town. Will he find the missing letters or be left out in the cold? Similar in tone to Lazar's "Seven Ate Nine," this is a silly story that relies heavily on punctuation puns for laughs. A lot of the jokes will be lost on younger readers, but they will still enjoy the mystery. Ideally, this book would be used as a classroom resource when teaching punctuation.

[Margaret]

THE UPPER CASE: TROUBLE IN CAPITAL CITY (Disney Hyperion, October 15, 2019) written by Tara Lazar with illustrations by Ross MacDonald
100 Scope Notes---Book trailer premiere and interview with author and illustrator
Picture Book Spotlight---Tara Lazar


Private I is back (7 ATE 9: THE UNTOLD STORY) on a case with loads of grammatical puns and wordplay guiding readers through his investigation. Where have all the capital letters gone? Is he the last one? What is that golden glow in the distance near Cursive Loop? In a word---genius.


My full recommendation: https://librariansquest.blogspot.com/...

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Private I is enjoying the calm after solving the case of 7 Ate 9 when Question Mark bursts in with the mystery of the century.  Mark is worried that all the capital letters are missing! However, Private I has a hard time believing him since this is Capital City. As Private I is the last letter standing, he will have to solve the mystery before it's too late.

The book was a fun laugh out read. The cute book made learning fun with witty jokes and silly puns. An adorable read for any young child learning the alphabet.
 

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second story in Tara Lazar’s Private I series, follows Private I as he looks for the missing capital letters in Capital City. He is able to follow the clues left by B and is able to find the letters on the movie marquee where Exclamation left them. This funny tales leads the reader through the city and gives the reader a fun romp through language. This would be a fun book to share with early elementary students that are beginning to learn the rules of grammar and placement on a keyboard. I recommend this title as an addition to libraries that carry picture books.

[Beulah Jenifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have got a fun, super adorable book to read. The Upper Case is a quick, laugh out loud read where alphabets, exclamations, quotations live together. The conversations between them are charming and, I didn't want the book to end. The illustrations were mind-blowing and, perfect. I would recommend the book to children and all young minds.

I have not included any exclamation in this post. Find out why by reading the book.

[Kirsti Call · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Luckily the Quotation Twins were willing were willing to talk. 'Yeah, something's definitely up, besides us,' they said. 'But don't quote us on that.'"
I love all of Tara Lazar's quirky, clever books. This book is the perfect companion to 7 ate 9. The story is fast paced, and every spread has multiple puns, idioms, and witty wordplay. The film noir illustrations enhance the already super fun storyline. This is the kind of story that you'll want to re-read for a rollicking ride and a chuckle.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great grammar puns? YES!!! Great mystery? Mmmm...

While the first book in the series had both the puns and mystery going for it, this one only had the humor. The mystery wasn’t really much of a mystery. BUT I still loved the jokes! Haha! I have no idea how the author managed to fit so many in a single picture book. That being said, I’m not so sure kids will get the grammar jokes... oh well. I enjoyed them!

[Vickie McEntire · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City" is the kind of children's book that entertains the adult and the child. It reminded me of reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss to my children decades ago. This is the second book in a series by Tara Lazar, who is the creator of "Storystorm," a month of creative idea production held every January. The adventures of Private I, a capital letter I, are delightful. Parents and teachers will enjoy reading this book more than once.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Private I series. Instead of a mystery involved numbers like in 7 Ate 9, it's about the letters in the alphabet. The story begins when Question Mark tells Private I that "All the uppercase letters are missing!" This is a serious problem since they live in Capital City. This is a hilarious picture book with lots of clever wordplay. A fun book to share and include in units about lower and upper case letters

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the Upper Case Letters are missing from Alphabet City and I is chosen to help. After careful searching and a LOT of questioning, he finds them hanging onto a marquee where they had been placed by Exclamation point who felt like he was over worked???? Anyhooo...idea is fun but way too complicated. Who would we give this too? Teachers? Five year olds learning to read?

[Francis S. Poesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chock full of fun punctuation and spelling puns/jokes along with a story about a punctuation mark who has had it with ALL CAPS! A fun read that will withstand multiple readings both for its deep reservoir of puns/jokes and for its hilarious illustrations of personified letters and punctuation marks.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tara Lazar did it again. This story is hilarious. There is so much on every page that we could have stopped and discussed all the way through. Instead, I read it and took note of when they caught the puns. It is a story that my kids will read again and again and discover new funny things each time, I'm sure.