Covert Ops: Spy Guy: The Not-So-Secret Agent by Jessica Young

This Spy Guy is a long way from sly.

Clad in overcoat and Fedora, he blows his cover when he clomps on the cat's tail.

MMROWRRR!

Creeping under the table with binoculars at the ready, he overturns the table, breaks the lamp, and wakes the kitty.

So our secret agent asks Dad for some inside spying info.

"SHHHHH! IF YOU SEEK TO SNEAK
TRY NOT TO SPEAK!" SAYS THE CHIEF.

But seeking to sneak, Spy Guy learns that his surveillance gear needs a tweak.

Squeaky shoes send him back to HQ for help.

"SPY GUY," SAID THE CHIEF,"GREAT SNEAKERS NEED GREAT SNEAKERS!"

Suitably shod, Secret Agent Man notices ruefully that everyone still seems to be looking at him. The Chief wisely models his favorite disguise--fake bushy eyebrows, glasses, and beard. So Spy Guy goes undercover, covering himself with lots of foliage and slinking stealthily through the trees.

But all that greenery tickles his nose and produces some, um, blowback.

"A-A-A-CHOOOOOOOOO!"

Dad suggests that his little covert operator practice sneaking up on him. But nothing seems to work. The Chief always spots him first. Shedding his black turtleneck and pants, Dad dons his working clothes--dark suit, Fedora, and briefcase--and sets out on his own mission.

Suddenly, Spy Guy notices that headquarters has been bugged all along. There's a spook infiltrating HQ, a stealthy spider dangling from his web who gives him an idea on how to infiltrate the Chief's route. He grabs a rope, climbs a tree, and gets the drop on Dad at last.

Jessica Young's forthcoming Spy Guy: The Not-So-Secret Agent (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) has a lot of fun with the basic covert operator tropes, with Dan Santoso's artwork planting plenty of diversions, the ever present cat and the less obvious spider, who in this story takes the place of the fly on the wall. Author Young's clever rhymes set the scene, and kids will quickly spot the spying spider and love it that the eight-legged covert operator provides the best technique for Spy Guy after all. Santoso's crisp spot-art illustrations, set front and center against bright white pages, are the sleeper stars of this lighthearted spy story.

Undercover Cat: Secret Agent Splat! by Rob Scotton

SPLAT'S DAD MAKES TOY DUCKS.

LOTS OF DUCKS.

THE DUCKS WERE KEPT IN THE GARDEN SHED AND SPLAT HAD NAMES FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo stand in neat niches on the wall, along with dozens of other brightly painted wooden ducks, each one different. Splat has appointed himself Kitty Keeper of the Ducks, and along with his sidekick, Seymour the Mouse, checks on them daily.

But things go amiss in the duck shed! First the red duck is missing, and the next day, it is the black one that doesn't report for roll call! The red duck is back, but with a broken beak!

"WHO'S MESSING WITH MY DUCKS?" ASKS SPLAT.

Mom and Dad and Splat's little brother protest their innocence. It seems nobody touched the ducks, so the crook is assigned the temporary alias of "Mr. Nobody."

This is obviously a case for a clandestine kitty. Splat suits up in spywear--investigator's badge, Sherlock cap, and magnifying glass, and it's officially Secret Agent Splat on the case! Playing Watson to Splat's Sherlock, Seymour schleps the gear--camera, some white flour, their book of beak prints, and Splat's top-secret gizmo, and they are off to investigate.

The trail soon leads to a secret hideout, and inside a mysterious but familiar voice mutters, "So, you found me!"

Splat the Cat is the coolest kitty spy ever in Rob Scotton's hot-off-the-press Splat the Cat adventure, Secret Agent Splat! (Splat the Cat) (Harper, 2012) as he cracks his first case. Scotton's nervous but nervy main character Splat always makes for delightful reading, and this little mystery brings back his frenemy Spike for a comic return engagement. Pair this one with Scotton's February release, Splat the Cat Takes the Cake (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2012) for a duo of fun reads--one I-read-to-you and one you-read-to-me for early readers.

For a thumbnail preview of this crack-the-case kitty at work, view the book's trailer here.