Detective Stories - Softcover

Philip Pullman is an award-winning, bestselling author. The His Dark Materials trilogy (Scholastic) has garnered critical acclaim throughout the world; the last volume, The Amber Spyglass, was the first children's book to be awarded the Whitbread Prize (in 2001). His other novels include The Ruby in the Smoke and Tiger in the Well (Viking). He lives in Oxford. Nick Hardcastle is an experienced artist and illustrator whose commissions range from adult fiction to murals on the Underground. He is also a regular cartoonist for the Guardian and the Evening Standard.

Grade 9 Up-An unusual and uneven collection of tales from across the past century, though most date to the first half of that period. Authors include masters such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie and lesser known or newer writers such as Andrew Vachss and Raymond Smullyan. In addition, Pullman has chosen the work of some authors not normally considered "detective" writers at all-Isaac Asimov, Italo Calvino, Damon Runyon. All of the selections are well written and plotted, and are overwhelmingly selected from authors writing for adults. Herein lies the unevenness. The styles of the various authors and the ages of their characters should pose little problem for young adults who like to read. Why then, one wonders, has Pullman included chapters from Emil and the Detectives, which are both inconclusive as selected and too childish to be enjoyed by most of the seemingly intended audience? One likewise questions the inclusion of "Murder at St. Oswald's," set in a British boys' school among "middle school" students whose behavior seems about on par with American sixth graders. On the other hand, older readers can simply skip these entries and enjoy instead what is likely to be their first exposure to Runyon, Calvino, Vachss, and Dorothy Sayers. The inclusion of one "true story," Tony Fletcher's "Fingerprinting a Ghost," is both a marvelous idea and a marvelous choice.
Coop Renner, Coldwell Elementary-Intermediate School, El Paso, TX
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