Timmy Failure by Stephan Pastis

Pastis, S. (2010). Timmy failure. NY: Candlewick Press.

Timmy Failure is the very confident owner of a detective agency that he runs from his mother’s closet. His loyal polar bear Total is his unreliable sidekick. Timmy uses his mom’s Segway as his primary vehicle of choice until it is stolen. Timmy must now take his own case and find the Failuremobile before his mom finds out.

Timmy Failure Mistakes Were Made is a good example of the evaluative criteria of style and plot. Stephan Pastis’ style is very unique for this book. He includes a lot of doodles within his text that add a lot to the story. He balances Timmy’s outlandish plans and ideas by surrounding him with characters that are down to earth and logical. The tone and mood of the character is serious while the book as whole is quite silly. The plot of the book is quite comical but also carries serious undertones. Timmy is grandiose in his detective ideas, but we also see his mother struggling with a dwindling paycheck. As Timmy investigates his cases, the reader is often able to see the culprit although Timmy does not. This entertains the reader throughout the book. Although Timmy does not grow much as a character, we do see his story reach a satisfactory conclusion.