A poor peasant named Crayfish and his young daughter Maggie often go hungry in this folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, and retold here by children's author Doris Orgel. Delivering firewood to a wealthy doctor one day, Crayfish and Maggie are forced to watch the man eat his multi-course meal. After questioning the doctor as to how he too can become a medical man, Crayfish sets up shop as "Doctor All-Knowing," soon attracting the attention of a wealthy man who hires him to discover who has been stealing from him. When Crayfish accidentally discovers the culprits, will he reveal them to the wealthy man, thereby sealing their fate, or will he find a way to restore the stolen property without any loss of life...?

The ninety-eighth story in the Brothers Grimm collection of fairy-tales, Doctor Know-All - "Doktor Allwissend" in the German - originally concerned the adventures of a peasant and his wife, but reteller Doris Orgel has changed the wife into a daughter, bringing a child character into the story. The change isn't terribly intrusive, and the story here is engaging. It is an example of what is, in the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification system, categorized as tale type 1641, about being in the right place at the right time. It strikes me as being chiefly a story about luck - Crayfish 'discovers' the identity of the thieves by purest chance - and not abusing that luck by misusing it to be cruel. I enjoyed the story, which I haven't seen retold in picture-book form before, and thought Alexandra Boiger's accompanying watercolor illustrations were very appealing. Recommended to anyone who enjoys fairy-tales, or is looking for children's stories in which the luck of an impoverished hero turns for the better. ( )

I quite enjoyed this book. One thing that stuck out to me was the moral integrity of the characters. The man Crayfish had promised the thieves that he would not tell the rich man it was them who stole the money and he kept his word. “Then he asked, ‘Will you tell me who stole it?’ No, he didn’t.” I also like the lesson the folk tale taught. It taught us to remain humble because in the end we will be rewarded. Crayfish did not help others to seek a reward and in turn he ended up being rewarded. “The servants rewarded him well. So did the rich man.” Good fortune comes to those who work for it honestly. ( )

I enjoyed reading the book Doctor All-Knowing. Two things that I liked about the book were that the characters were welled developed and that the plot was suspenseful. The author took time to describe the background story of the characters and tapped into their emotional feelings as well. For example, "They were very poor. All they ever had for supper was watery porridge. Nothing more. No second course. No third. No fourth." The author goes on to describe the fathers feelings for not being able to provide delicious courses for his daughter. By the author being so descriptive about the characters in the story, really made it enjoyable to read. The author also made the plot very suspenseful when the rich man was trying to figure out who stole his money. Although Doctor All-Knowing knew who stole the money he made the reader think that he was going to tell the rich man but didn't. The uncertainty of what exactly Doctor All-knowing was going to do made the story suspenseful.
I think that the big message behind the story is that patients is key and that hard work pays off in the end. ( )