Mystery & Crime, Fiction - Anthologies & Collections, Children - Fiction & Literature, Fiction Subjects

Detective Stories

Name: Detective Stories
Author: Philip Pullman, Nick Hardcastle
ISBN: 9780753456361

by Philip Pullman, Nick Hardcastle

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Overview

Young mystery fans will be enthralled by this compelling volume of detective fiction that includes both classic and contemporary writers such as Italo Calvino, Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Damon Runyon, and Andrew Vachss.

About the Author, Philip Pullman, Nick Hardcastle

Philip Pullman is an award-winning writer who has won critical aclaim. His novel, Northern Lights (the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy) was published in the US as an adult novel under the title The Golden Compass. In the UK, Northern Lights won the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Children's Book of the Year Award, while in the US it was one of four honor children's books at the ABBY awards. Previous novels have included The Ruby in the Smoke, winner of the International Reading Association Award and recommended in the New York Times Parents Guide to the Best Books for Children, and Tiger in the Well, shortlisted for the Guardian Award. A former teacher, Philip Pullman writes in a garden shed at the bottom of his garden near Oxford, England. A passionate advocate of children's literature he has said " . . . stories are vital. There's more wisdom in a story than in volumes of philosophy, and there's a hunger for stories in all of us."

Good To Know

Interesting facts about Philip Pullman and his books:

The Amber Spyglass was the first children's book to be named the Whitbread Book of the Year.

Among the other awards Pullman has received are Britain's prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (a sort of Nobel Prize for children's literature) honoring his entire body of work.

Pullman enjoys playing the piano. "I'd like to play it well," he quips on his website. "But I can't, so the rest of the family has to put up with my playing it badly."

Pullman persuaded his publisher to let him illustrate the first two books of His Dark Materials with small, symbolic pen and ink drawings at the start of each chapter. Although these illustrations were left out of first editions in the U.S., they have been included in later editions. The third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass does not have illustrations, but chapters begin with quotations from some of Pullman's favorite writers, like John Milton, William Blake, and Emily Dickinson.

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Editorials

Children's Literature

Famous fictional detectives are included in this collection of short stories. Sherlock Holmes appears in "The Speckled Band," Poirot in "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb" and Ellery Queen in "Cold Money." Isaac Asimov writes a mystery with the Cross of Lorraine as a clue (which turns out to be an Exxon station). In "Murder at St. Oswald's," twelve middle school boys plot the murder of their hated teacher. Nigel, the leader, gathers leaves and roots, grinds them into a powder, and sprinkles it into the teacher's porridge. Neither the teacher nor his body can be found. The boys are sick with fear, but all turns out well in the end. In one story a hairdresser captures a thief by dyeing his hair green; in another, some analytical puzzles test the reader's mind. The last selection is a satirical look at the perfect detective story—complete with obvious clues, multiple disguises, a witless assistant, a distressed damsel, and a surprise ending. It is part of the "Story Library" series, each of which include short stories on different themes. 2004 (orig.1998), Kingfisher/Houghton Mifflin Company, Ages 9 to 14.
—Janet L. Rose

School Library Journal

Gr 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