Who Killed Snowy?

Another extraordinary story for young readers by Petra Soukupová, this time with a detective twist.

When Martina said she wanted a dog, she had no idea how much trouble Snowy would cause. From a little white puppy, he has grown into a dog most people in the village dislike. Even Mum is frightened of him. So when Martina finds Snowy’s body, she’s pretty sure the dog’s death was no accident.

But was Snowy really killed deliberately?

With his friends Frankie, Charlie and Victor, Martina determines to get to the bottom of Snowy’s death, and the children’s adventurous quest leads them to a surprise revelation.

Petra Soukupová, best known as a successful author of fiction for adults, has followed the children’s book Bertie and the Snuffler with another book for children.

Note: Two books by Petra Soukupová have been published nearly at the same time in the Autumn 2017. ”These two books — Who Killed Snowy? / Kdo zabil Snížka? and Best for Everybody / Nejlepší pro všechny— do and do not belong together. Each is and is not a part of the other, as a child is and is not a part of his parents. And as the book-child and book-parent gradually give up their stories, we come to understand that these are neither two separate stories nor the two halves of a whole. It is difficult to explain. But it is like one hand taking another”, says about the latest works by Petra Soukupová Tomáš Baldýnský.

White Ravens annotation:

Dogs are not stuffed animals, that’s for sure. One must take care of them, take them on walks, give them food. Martina knows these things, because she wants to be a responsible young dog-owner. When her greatest wish comes true and “Snowflake” joins the family, everything is perfect. Or so it seems. Snowflake turns out to not be a loving pet, but instead has a difficult, possibly malicious character: she bites, disobeys, and makes everyone around her aggressive. One day, Snowflake is found dead. Murdered?! Unhappy Martina starts to investigate. In her second children’s book, Petra Soukupová (b. 1979) once again shows a marvellous talent for weaving a suspenseful plot, this time regarding the dog’s death into a text about being together with others, about people’s interests and wishes. Beyond this, she touches on the problem of evil – in human beings, as well as in animals. Tereza Ščerbová’s illustrations, dominated by cool blue water colours, capture all of this wonderfully.

Reader age: 8+

Illustrated by Tereza Ščerbová

Tereza Ščerbová (born 1982) is a renowned artist and illustrator whose work has twice won the Zlatá stuha [Golden Ribbon] award — in 2015 for her illustrations for Cracks / Škvíry by Marka Míková (Argo, 2014) and two years later for Kooki / Krtník (Host, 2016), a book of her own authorship.