Title: The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall
Author: Ali Standish
Genre: Children's mystery/adventure
About the book...
It's 1868 and school aged Arthur Doyle is living a life of poverty with his family. After facilitating the rescue of a baby with his quick thinking, he gets a mysterious invitation to attend the private school Baskerville Hall where he quickly gets pulled into an unexpected world involving much more adventure than he would have ever anticipated.
What I think...
I've only read a small handful of Sherlock Holmes stories, but didn't feel like I was missing anything and I thought this was perfect for introducing children to the realm of Doyle's writing.
Standish does not write down to children or try to over explain things, which is a big factor in my liking a children's book.
This had a number of satisfying twists and turns that moved the plot along nicely and kept things interesting without being too predictable. The characters were entertaining, including a young Jimmy Moriarty and an Irene Eagle, as well as Mrs. Hudson and John Watson. Being a fan of Doyle's The Lost World, I was happy Challenger was included as a character as well and that a baby dinosaur ends up featuring in the story.
I should also mention the author got support and praise from the Conan Doyle estate!
To sum it all up...
After reading this, I couldn't wait to read the second book, which is not something I say too often about children's chapter books anymore and am still hoping that eventually there will be tv adaption (it's been a long while).♥
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