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hnbb's review against another edition
4.0
This was so fun. It is about a sister and brother that find out they are related to Sherlock Holmes. After receiving his notebook they try and solve an old mystery about a painting. I liked that it was fast paced and there was no bad language or anything violent, yet it was a mystery. Very rare, lately. Since it seems to be the start of a series, I am excited to read more.
msmolly27's review against another edition
3.0
I had a hard time with the idea of two kids being free to roam around London so soon after moving there. Other than that, the story was good. Not very believable for me as an adult, but my students don't seem to notice the problems I did.
booksnorkel's review against another edition
4.0
Adorable mystery that follows a set of twins who have been uprooted from America to England. The girl is athletic and can shrink into a crowd, the boy has photographic memory and can charm people with his smile.
They discover that they are descendents of Sherlock Holmes (I know he's just a fictional character, but so are they so the logic holds haha) and they are given his abandoned cases.
This book was really fun I love the writing and would make a great little mystery series for third grade through fifth graders looking for a mystery.
I wouldn't use this book to introduce kids to Sherlock, but instead as a book to introduce different research methods. The kids use the internet, library, microfilm, interviews, and books. If you need a book to show kids that there is more out there than the internet this would be one to read to them about how other resources are available.
They discover that they are descendents of Sherlock Holmes (I know he's just a fictional character, but so are they so the logic holds haha) and they are given his abandoned cases.
This book was really fun I love the writing and would make a great little mystery series for third grade through fifth graders looking for a mystery.
I wouldn't use this book to introduce kids to Sherlock, but instead as a book to introduce different research methods. The kids use the internet, library, microfilm, interviews, and books. If you need a book to show kids that there is more out there than the internet this would be one to read to them about how other resources are available.
roshk99's review against another edition
3.0
Decent book that uncovered one of Holmes' unsolved mysteries
oneangrylibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
This is a cute mystery for beginning chapter readers. The pacing starts out well and the characters are enjoyable, but the novel is wrapped up a bit too quickly and too perfectly.
drakean8's review against another edition
3.0
How did the dude get the painting in its hiding place in the first place?
aftanith's review against another edition
1.0
Well, this was so bad it was almost impressive.
The characters were boring.
The little boy was a super genius for no reason (for the love of god, can authors PLEASE stop using "photographic memories" as shortcuts) and his older sister was less than useless. Neither of them had any actual personality, nor were they remotely interesting to read about.
The red herring "clues" made no sense.
The big red herring is a little girl in a blonde hat and wig--just like the girl in the missing painting. It turns out that she's actually a model for some artist that's making fake versions of the painting (why does she need a model for that??? you don't need a model when you know what the actual painting looks like???) and she's been wearing the costume in public so she can "get used to it" because it's scratchy and hot??? Does that make any sense to anyone else, because it makes zero sense to me.
The only interesting character is the schoolboy arch-nemesis, and he's completely wasted.
Discount Draco Malfoy over here, Andrew Watson, is all jealous and shit because Holmes gets all the credit while his own ancestor gets overlooked. So he doesn't like Xander and Xena, Holmes' descendants. It's the sole interesting plot point in the entire book, and it's ruined before long (Andrew takes his bullying into a gross-ass patriarchal direction that I am so not here for) and then he ends up Heel-Face Turning into their friend at the end for the sole reason of them solving the case? Shouldn't that make him more jealous and angry? Nothing here makes sense!
The lynchpin of the entire mystery is toxic masculinity through the ages.
It turns out that the painting was hidden by its subject because its subject was actually a little boy, one of the artist's sons, who was so embarrassed to have been dressed as a little girl that he stole and hid away a great work of art (that he wasn't even known to be the subject of in the first place!). And Xander only figures this out because Andrew sees a picture of him in a school play during which he played a flower, and Andrew mistakes him for a little girl and proceeds to bully him because obviously there's nothing worse in the entire fucking world than being "girly".
(None of this, note, is called out as a bad thing. Boys being inherently ashamed of being remotely mistaken for or associated with girls or girly things is taken to be entirely natural, normal, and correct behavior. Right-o, then.)
The entire book is such a flimsy mess of nothing that I almost want to take it as parody.
I am shocked to see that Tracy Barrett is known for writing children's books, because this was just atrociously poorly done. It flounders around uselessly without ever developing enough substance to come together as a truly cohesive story, and it reads like a first draft that needs a lot more tweaking and tightening and thought to be put into it.
Just ugh. Ugh!
The characters were boring.
The little boy was a super genius for no reason (for the love of god, can authors PLEASE stop using "photographic memories" as shortcuts) and his older sister was less than useless. Neither of them had any actual personality, nor were they remotely interesting to read about.
The red herring "clues" made no sense.
The big red herring is a little girl in a blonde hat and wig--just like the girl in the missing painting. It turns out that she's actually a model for some artist that's making fake versions of the painting (why does she need a model for that??? you don't need a model when you know what the actual painting looks like???) and she's been wearing the costume in public so she can "get used to it" because it's scratchy and hot??? Does that make any sense to anyone else, because it makes zero sense to me.
The only interesting character is the schoolboy arch-nemesis, and he's completely wasted.
Discount Draco Malfoy over here, Andrew Watson, is all jealous and shit because Holmes gets all the credit while his own ancestor gets overlooked. So he doesn't like Xander and Xena, Holmes' descendants. It's the sole interesting plot point in the entire book, and it's ruined before long (Andrew takes his bullying into a gross-ass patriarchal direction that I am so not here for) and then he ends up Heel-Face Turning into their friend at the end for the sole reason of them solving the case? Shouldn't that make him more jealous and angry? Nothing here makes sense!
The lynchpin of the entire mystery is toxic masculinity through the ages.
It turns out that the painting was hidden by its subject because its subject was actually a little boy, one of the artist's sons, who was so embarrassed to have been dressed as a little girl that he stole and hid away a great work of art (that he wasn't even known to be the subject of in the first place!). And Xander only figures this out because Andrew sees a picture of him in a school play during which he played a flower, and Andrew mistakes him for a little girl and proceeds to bully him because obviously there's nothing worse in the entire fucking world than being "girly".
(None of this, note, is called out as a bad thing. Boys being inherently ashamed of being remotely mistaken for or associated with girls or girly things is taken to be entirely natural, normal, and correct behavior. Right-o, then.)
The entire book is such a flimsy mess of nothing that I almost want to take it as parody.
I am shocked to see that Tracy Barrett is known for writing children's books, because this was just atrociously poorly done. It flounders around uselessly without ever developing enough substance to come together as a truly cohesive story, and it reads like a first draft that needs a lot more tweaking and tightening and thought to be put into it.
Just ugh. Ugh!
kellyz628's review against another edition
4.0
This book is really short but would be good for reluctant middle grade readers. It is a quick read and I liked the connections to Holmes and Watson.
readingthroughtheages's review against another edition
2.0
When I think of mystery, I think of fast-paced, suspense, trying to figure it out book. The pace of this book was slow for me and I just never got into it. It reminded me of a mystery I would have read as a child. There are so many great mysteries out now, this one seemed old in comparison.
yapha's review against another edition
4.0
A quick, fun, mystery featuring Xena & Xander Holmes (descendents of Sherlock Holmes) and Andrew Watson (descendent of Dr. Watson). Xena & Xander Americans living in England for the year. Upon their arrival they find out that they are, in fact, direct descendants of the legendary Sherlock Holmes. They are given his book of unsolved cases. In the first volume of this series they solve the mystery of a painting that has been missing for over 100 years. A fun read for mystery buffs. Recommended for grades 3-5.