Review: Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock

Eye of the Crow: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His First Case by Shane Peacock

The other week when I was at the OLA Super Conference, I picked up just two books, and this was one of them. See, unlike many librarians, I'm not into the whole "grab a load of free crap" when it comes to the vendor expo. I actually only go to the expo to look for people I know.

Anyway, while I was looking for people, Shane Peacock happened to be signing autographs for this book and I decided that it sounded interesting so I grabbed a copy and had him sign it to my godson who is about 10 years old. Though, of course, before giving it to him, I had to read it myself first!

I'm not much of a mystery fan, but I do remember actually enjoying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories when 'forced' to read them in high school. According to the author of this series, Doyle didn't write much about the childhood or youth of Sherlock, and so he's taken advantage of that by filling in the gaps, and giving young readers of today another sleuth to follow (I know my goddaughter loves Jigsaw Jones).

I know I've mentioned that, after living in the 'adult' world all day, I prefer reading children's books. It doesn't even have to be children's 'literature', just something aimed at young audiences. So this book was great when last week I was alone in my new apartment without internet, tv or even a radio (or bed for that matter, but that's another story).

I liked the child Sherlock Holmes. He's a bit nerdy, of course, and an outsider, but smart. It's interesting to see that he really gets into detective work because he is implicated in a crime himself! I had fun following the boy around and reading his progress as the story moved along. The story is actually sad (I guess it'd have to be if the adult Holmes never spoke of his childhood), but Holmes does solve the crime! I wasn't too fond of the girl, Irene (no not Irene Adler) in the story, but I liked Malefactor - a kind of bad boy gang leader that lends Holmes a hand though they hate each other.

Overall it was enjoyable and I hope my godson likes it too (though it'll be a tough sell - he's not a reader that one).

(This will be #4 for me in the Canadian Book Challenge and funny thing is, someone else also read this as part of the Canadian Book Challenge! Didn't think that was going to happen.)