This month, the Book Club read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted by Malvina G. Vogel with illustrations by Brendan Lynch). There were three separate short stories in this volume: The Red-Headed League, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and The Adventure of the Copper Beeches. Unfortunately, our group found several problems with this book. First of all, it should be mentioned that everyone agreed that the book was too easy to read for our group's age bracket. There were too many pictures and not enough words...these kids want to READ! Other issues with the book can be summed up in some of the comments made:
Nick: "It was too British...I didn't like Sherlock because he was too annoying."
Ben: "Sherlock was too full of himself. He brags a lot and he is too nerdy."
Liam: "The plots of the stories were too revised."
However, there were some positive comments about the book:
Cameron: "The stories were awesome because they had snakes...Sherlock and Watson didn't know what was going to happpen but I did!"
Liam: "I liked that they solved mysteries."
Alas, this was not one of the better reviewed books that our club has read. Here's hoping that next month's book, My Life as a Book, fares better!
Toward the end of the discussion, Miss Lisa handed out materials that were adapted from a Scholastic, Inc. exercise. These worksheets highlighted the "Ingredients for a Mystery" and the steps to "Planning Your Mystery" through determining the Setting, the Problem, the Suspects, the Detective, the Clues, and a Sequence of Events. These worksheets are a great way to get kids to write their own stories.
Please check back soon for the submitted mysteries, written by our very own Book Club authors!
