Who Really Killed Cock Robin?: An Ecological Mystery

by Jean Craighead George

Book Overview

With an intriguing mystery, a timely message about protecting the environment, and Jean Craighead George's award-winning, accessible writing, Who Really Killed Cock Robin is the perfect eco mystery kids--and educators--are sure to love.

Citizens of Saddleboro are mourning the mysterious death of their beloved mascot, Cock Robin. Tony suspects there's more to the story than people assume.

The truth must be hidden in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064404056
• ISBN13: 9780064404051
• Release Date: July 2019
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Still a classic of environmental fiction

This was one of my favorite library books as a child, and it's really a very cool book for any child who wants to understand how ecology works. The death of the mascot of a small Massachusetts college town becomes a cause celebre as two interested schoolchildren and a graduate student from the local university trace the impact of human activity on the local environment, discovering hidden damage in many corners of the town from fertilizers, pesticides, industrial toxins, and other pollutants and try to track what effect it had on Cock Robin, his mate, and their mostly-failed clutch of eggs. After the book has done an effective job of illustrating how local effects can have wide-ranging consequences, the town takes a turn towards greenness in Cock Robin's memory; however, a twist ending reveals a hidden variable that shows just how far humans have to go to truly understand the world they live in. The book takes an interesting position that is absent from much ecological literature written for adults -- it's important to be aware of and mitigate your footprint on the environment, but that fanaticism and snap judgements, even in the defense of the environment, are counterproductive, a message that is perhaps a bit too subtle over three decades later in a world of black-and-white politics ruled more by emotion and prejudice than reasoned responses. The need for a measured response even in the face of immediate danger is lost on many in the hard green movement, even as the opponents of environmentalism deny that there is a problem in the first place. Who Killed Cock Robin? makes this point quite eloquently. There should be more books like this for children. Incidentally, if you happen to enjoy this book, Gary Larson's gloriously twisted There's a Hair in My Dirt! A Worm's Story is a nice followup, like WRKCR? offering proof that the idea of "the interconnectedness of all things" is a physical reality, not just spiritual fluff spouted by New Agers.

who really killed cock robin

It is a good eco mystery and it was very exciting, my granchild said. It was part of her school assignment.

Excellent Book for Kids

This is not only a compelling story, but helps encourage environmental awareness amongst kids. I bought it for my son on a whim and he absolutely devoured it. The characters are believably independent and I really appreciated their investigative styles. Kids need to think for themselves and this is a sweet, lively book that encourages such thinking with some very positive results. I highly recommend it.

An Eco-Mystery

Environmentalist, ecologist, naturalist, and writer Jean Craighead George, the Rachel Carson for children, will win her audiences once again with this story. The plot revolves around Tony Isidoro, a young biologist who is bent on solving the mystery of the death of his hometown's feathered mascot, Cock Robin. As he uncovers assorted clues strung throughout the town--chemical activity, sudden loss of frogs and birds--Tony must try to convince his naive neighbors that not just one thing is responsible for the bird's death, but many imbalances in the town's ecosystem, which everyone is convinced is the cleanest around. Since it's an eco-mystery, the story is grippingly told in the style of a crime investigation. From the beginning you want to know Who Really Killed Cock Robin: "Cock Robin lay on his back with his feet in the air. . .It was seven minutes past six A.M. on the twenty-fourth day of May. He was dead." There are endless possiblities for the cause of the bird's death, and at times it's a bit unrealistic when Tony immediately dismisses some types of poisons and investigates others. Younger kids may have no idea what DDT, PCB, and 2,4,5-T are, though the author does try to explain them. However, the story, the dedication--"To sunshine, clear water, and sparkling skies and to the kids who are cleaning up the Earth"--and Ms. George's supportive Author's Note in the new paperback version will surely inspire kids to clean up their environment and veer away from the use of harmful, chemical-containing products. If one enjoys this Eco-Mystery, check out the others in the series--THE CASE OF THE MISSING CUTTHROATS; THE FIRE BUG CONNECTION; and THE MISSING 'GATOR OF GUMBO LIMBO. Don't forget Jean Craighead George's eighty or so other remarkable stories--the Julie of the Wolves books, the My Side of the Mountain trilogy, the One Day series. . .the list goes on and on. Each book will deepen readers' respect for nature and our beautiful but threatened planet.

Cock robin is a bird "killed" by something in the enviroment

Very well written, not so deep so that kids can't understand it. It is unique in that it doesn't lecture or preach, like many ecological books.