JUST FOR KIDS

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you will be excited by this Canadian author's exploration/invention of Holmes's life as a 12-year old. It is 1867 in London. A terrible murder has been committed and an Arab immigrant has been arrested for it. Young Sherlock Holmes, with his odd ways, gets sucked into the mystery and is accused of being an accomplice. He must find the real killer or face the gallows himself. In this tense and well-written mystery, we meet Holmes's parents and understand the circumstances of racism (Sherlock is half-Jewish) and poverty that led him to be the moody, brilliant detective he became as an adult. We also meet the younger versions of the mysterious Professor Moriarity and even Irene Adler (the only woman Sherlock Holmes ever loved). An attention-grabbing and creative book.