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Find a Missing Star

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Template:Italic title Template:BTab Template:Book Find a Missing Star is the first book in the SpongeBob SquarePants Mysteries series. It was written by David Lewman and illustrated by Francesco Francavilla. It was released on November 1, 2022, and contains 224 pages.

Characters

Synopsis

Uncover the mysteries of Bikini Bottom with SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends in this all-new middle-grade series! On the eve of a mayoral event happening at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob's best friend Patrick Star goes missing! With no one willing to help find him, SpongeBob and Squidward put on their best detective gear and hit the case themselves. But as their investigation leads them to the darkest corners of Bikini Bottom, secrets about SpongeBob's best friend are quickly revealed. Energetic and fast-paced, with plenty of kid-friendly humor, Find a Missing Star, the first in the SpongeBob SquarePants Mysteries series, is a great read for new and longtime fans of the hit TV series.

Plot

The book starts with SpongeBob, now a detective, talking to the reader about himself before telling the story of how he changed from a fry-cook to a hard-boiled detective. It started one normal morning, with SpongeBob waking up within his house and prepping himself for the day before leaving to visit Patrick. The two talk as they travel to the Krusty Krab, with SpongeBob oblivious to Patrick's odd answer to his plans for the day, and the two agree to meet up in front of the restaurant later.

After a hard day's work, SpongeBob bids farewell to Mr. Krabs, causing him to remember the mayor is going to have a meeting at the Krusty Krab tomorrow. Outside, SpongeBob realizes Patrick isn't there to meet him, so he check Patrick's rock before searching all throughout Bikini Bottom to no avail. After frantically checking Patrick's rock several more times and still no answer, SpongeBob realizes Patrick is missing and wonders what happened.

The next day, Mr. Krabs and the mayor are meeting in the Krusty Krab to discuss the big event, being the anniversary of the mayor's election. As the mayor goes to leave, the two discover the customers causing chaos, demanding food. Mr. Krabs quickly escorts the mayor out and questions SpongeBob, who has become depressed due to Patrick's disappearance. Realizing that a saddened SpongeBob can't cook, Krabs allows SpongeBob to go find Patrick and forces Squidward to join in, motivating him by allowing him to hang his artwork at the party.

Squidward meets up with SpongeBob and the two go to the Bikini Bottom Police Department to file a Missing Persons Report, but discover that SpongeBob has filed so many false reports that the police refuse to help. The two decide to try and hire a private detective, but their lack of money get them kicked out. After a bit of thinking, SpongeBob comes up with the idea to instead become private detectives and solve the case themselves.

Squidward briefly talks to Mr. Krabs about the case and gets kicked out for not having found Patrick, but as Krabs goes to set up for the party he hears a slight ticking noise and searches for it. Back home, SpongeBob dresses up as a detective and gives Squidward his own detective outfit before they decide to search Patrick's rock for clues, where they find an appointment book stating that Patrick had vague plans on the day of his disappearance.

Thinking of places Patrick would go, the two detectives visit Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat where one of the staff confirms Patrick visited recently, but doesn't know where he went. The staff mentions that a nearby fish, Veronica, might have the answer, so the detectives buy her food to coax out an answer. She reveals that Patrick was heading to Squidward's house, causing the detectives to head there.

Back at the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is ripping the restaurant apart looking for the ticking when the mayor arrives, asking if everything's ready. Realizing the issues with both SpongeBob and the restaurant, Krabs lies about horrible weather happening and asks to postpone the party by one day, which the mayor accepts. Back at Squidward's house, the detectives find many traces of Patrick that Squidward missed earlier due to tiredness, but no clue about where the sea star went.

Outside, they come across Norton, who reveals that Patrick talked about heading to Grandma SquarePants' house. The detectives venture to her house where she reveals that Patrick indeed visited and was heading straight for the Krusty Krab afterwards, and also shows the two a fake beard he left behind. At the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is blasting sea shanties to hide the ticking when the detectives arrive to find signs of Patrick, with Mr. Krabs commenting that Patrick never entered the restaurant.

Speculating that Patrick must have at least arrived at the Krusty Krab, the detectives search outside when SpongeBob spots Patrick's footprints and later a crumb trail leading to some tire tracks, leading SpongeBob to believe Patrick was taken by Plankton. The two enter the Chum Bucket to confront him when Plankton sends out Attack Robots, which SpongeBob eventually takes out with Chum Sauce.

The detectives lure out Plankton with promises of the secret formula before interrogating him, making Plankton reveal that he was busy secretly preparing for his wedding anniversary with Karen due to her being busy with something. With another lead cold, SpongeBob decides to look over Patrick's beard and notices it's a pirate beard. The detectives wonder why Patrick would be a pirate due to their bad reputation before remembering the pirate they met at the police station earlier, making them head back there.

The two go back to the police station to try and talk to the pirate but are ridiculed by the police, causing them to sneak around to the cells at the back of the station. They find the pirate and lend him a match, which he uses to blast a hole in the wall and escape, with the detectives tracking him to the Eyepatch 'N Peg Leg, a rough hideout for pirates. Determined to enter, the two dress up as pirates and try to enter but are denied by the bouncer. However, they soon get in due to SpongeBob's fake parrot, Squawky, stating the password.

Inside, the detectives talk with the bartender who confirms Patrick was at the bar. A nearby pirate pokes fun at how fake Squawky is, causing Squidward to set off Squawky to mock the pirate. However, Squawky mentions that SpongeBob and Squidward have treasure, causing the pirates to kidnap them and take them to their captain, Captain Cruel, who demands their treasure. The detectives reveal their true selves to the pirates, causing a fight to break out. Eventually, the detectives escape.

Now free from the pirates, the detectives wonder where they are. SpongeBob sees a nearby sign and realizes they're in Rock Bottom. They ask for directions and soon find the road to Bikini Bottom, but can't climb up the cliff side. The pirates soon find them, and SpongeBob uses his detective bubble pipe to blow bubbles to get them safely to Bikini Bottom. Squidward tells Mr. Krabs that they still haven't found Patrick, causing him to be fed up and demand he and SpongeBob return to the Krusty Krab and prepare for the mayor's party.

With the detectives back at the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is giving them orders when the mayor arrives, furious at Krabs' lies. SpongeBob assures the mayor that the Krusty Krab is nearly ready for the party, and, after looking around, the mayor agrees. Squidward goes to get art for the party as SpongeBob is ordered to clean the dumpster, soon finding a piece of paper. Having a gut feeling, he discovers it to be a parking ticket for a boatmobile illegally parked on Mount Climb-Up-And-Fall-Off. Realizing the vehicle's description matches one a criminal would use, SpongeBob rushes over to Squidward's house.

At Squidward's house, SpongeBob convinces Squidward to check where the ticket was issued, so the two travel to the mountain in question. After climbing up and falling off, SpongeBob changes the mountain sign to read "Mt. Climb-Up-And-Stay-On," allowing them to explore the mountain peak. There, they find tire tracks leading to a cave, so they enter to discover Patrick being held prisoner by Sticky Fins Whiting, Dorsal Dan, and the Tattletale Strangler. SpongeBob, wanting to rescue Patrick, leaps out to attack the criminals, though they soon restrain him and Squidward.

Now with Patrick, SpongeBob questions what happened. Patrick reveals that he secretly wanted to be a pirate and that he saw the criminals bury something near the Krusty Krab, with him getting kidnapped due to being a witness. Soon after, the criminals' boss arrives, revealing themselves to be Karen. She explains that she ordered the criminals to plant a bomb that would blow up the Krusty Krab as a surprise gift for Plankton for their wedding anniversary.

SpongeBob quickly absorbs some dripping water and frees himself, latching onto Karen and secretly activating her tracking chip. Plankton, now knowing Karen's location, rushes into the cave with a tank and surprises Karen with a romantic date, questioning why the others are there. Karen explains her plan and Plankton is surprised, reminding her of the mayor's party. Karen reassures him that the party already happened but Squidward panics, telling her that the party was postponed, meaning the bomb will go off at the mayor's party.

Realizing what's going to happen, Karen orders the criminals to dig up the bomb but they refuse. SpongeBob states that he and Squidward will dig up the bomb, causing them to be freed as everyone sans the criminals rides Plankton's tank to the Krusty Krab. After turning off the sea shanties, SpongeBob unearths the bomb and uses the catapult in Plankton's tank to fling it all the way to the peak of Mount Climb-Up-And-Stay-On, where it blows up the criminals. With the party saved, the mayor is thankful and asks SpongeBob what he can do in return, so SpongeBob asks for the police station to replace their mocking mural of the sponge with one detailing SpongeBob as a hero.

With the story over, SpongeBob talks to the reader about how things have gone since then, mentioning that the mayor's party was a success, Squidward sold some of his art, and that SpongeBob often reminisces about he and Squidward being detectives. The book ends with SpongeBob commenting that he'll be ready for when another case comes along, since he has a feeling his skills as a detective will be needed once again.

Trivia

General

  • This book was originally scheduled to come out on October 25, 2022,[1] but got delayed to one week later on November 1.
  • It's revealed SpongeBob has filed so many false Missing Persons Reports that the police refuse to help him, with the police being so fed up that they outright mock him and create a mocking mural of him with rude drawings. This eventually changes to a kind-hearted mural depicting SpongeBob's successful detective work due to a request from the mayor.
    • Among the false reports submitted were ones for his teddy bear Teddy, his spatula Flipper, and his can opener Spinny.
  • It's revealed that Patrick visits Grandma SquarePants almost everyday to eat cookies and watch TV.
  • It's mentioned that pirates have a bad reputation in Bikini Bottom, partially due to all the fights that happen within the Eyepatch 'N Peg Leg.
  • It's revealed that Rock Bottom's raspberry-filled language is called Rock Bottomish, and that Squidward is an excellent speaker.
  • This marks the first appearance of Mount Climb-Up-And-Fall-Off in 20 years, with the mountain previously appearing in the Employee of the Month video game.
  • It's revealed that the alias Karen uses for her villainous schemes is Digit Face.

Cultural references

  • Veronica Lakefish is a reference to Veronica Lake, an actress best known for roles in film noirs during the 1940s and having a peek-a-boo hairstyle.
  • One of the ways the police make fun of SpongeBob is by calling him the 'Sponge Who Cried Wolf,' a reference to the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
  • One of the pirates is named Short John Purple, a reference to Long John Silver, the main antagonist of the Robert Lewis Stevenson novel Treasure Island.

References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220812143207/https://www.amazon.com/Find-Missing-SpongeBob-SquarePants-Mysteries/dp/1419757725#:~:text=See%20this%20image-,Find%20a%20Missing%20Star%20(SpongeBob%20SquarePants%20Mysteries%20%231,)%20Hardcover%20%E2%80%93%20October%2025%2C%202022&text=Uncover%20the%20mysteries%20of%20Bikini,friend%20Patrick%20Star%20goes%20missing

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