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A review by kpeninger
The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg
4.0
This book is a super cute take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos. I thoroughly enjoyed the elements from ACD that the author scattered throughout the book, and her willingness to change elements to better match her modern child versions of the characters. The mystery was fairly interesting, if somewhat simple.
I enjoyed watching Watson slowly learn certain tricks and traits of a detective, and I really appreciated the reasoning on why he wouldn't be immediately observant. It's incredibly rare for a book to give a real reason why Watson wouldn't pay attention to things, rather than just have it presumed that he's not as quick as Holmes. I loved that they gave some of the original Watson's traits to his mother, but I thought it was clever to take some of the trauma ACD Watson dealt with (wounded war veteran) and adjusted it to a kid who is still reeling from the recent divorce of his parents. I thought it was a clever way of updating the character. Watson was warm and kind, and I thought he was a pretty good tribute to the original (though I'm hoping that he'll spend more time contributing to the mysteries in future books, since he's now learning to really pay attention to things).
Shelby Holmes herself was pretty sweet, though I'm somewhat disappointed that she's a white girl, especially since this book did a great job of highlighting the fact that NYC, despite what TV shows and movies and other media show us, is NOT a largely white city. Nonetheless, I liked her pretentious way of speaking (have you all met kids like that? Because I have, and Shelby SO reminded me of those kids) and her rocky attempts at friendship. I'm hoping to see her grow on that front in the future, especially since she seemed grudgingly willing to follow Watson's lead on that front.
I am currently a little baffled about the inclusion of Lestrade, since she didn't do anything for the narrative, and as always, I'm dismayed at her portrayal. The illustrations depict her as a Black woman, and I'm rather sick of Black women cops being portrayed as useless and as an impediment to our heroes. It's a Lestrade problem- Lestrades are so rarely done well- but the author/illustrators decision to also depict her as a Black woman left a bad taste in my mouth. I am hoping that in future books, we'll get some more depth to Lestrade and she won't just show up to sneer at Shelby. (All that being said, I DID appreciate the author mentioning that Watson was uncomfortable around police officers, and that his dad had talked to him about how to behave around them- a smart detail, and one white authors often miss.)
I enjoyed the book on the whole, though, and I'm really hoping the author will write more in this series. It has such a promising beginning.
I enjoyed watching Watson slowly learn certain tricks and traits of a detective, and I really appreciated the reasoning on why he wouldn't be immediately observant. It's incredibly rare for a book to give a real reason why Watson wouldn't pay attention to things, rather than just have it presumed that he's not as quick as Holmes. I loved that they gave some of the original Watson's traits to his mother, but I thought it was clever to take some of the trauma ACD Watson dealt with (wounded war veteran) and adjusted it to a kid who is still reeling from the recent divorce of his parents. I thought it was a clever way of updating the character. Watson was warm and kind, and I thought he was a pretty good tribute to the original (though I'm hoping that he'll spend more time contributing to the mysteries in future books, since he's now learning to really pay attention to things).
Shelby Holmes herself was pretty sweet, though I'm somewhat disappointed that she's a white girl, especially since this book did a great job of highlighting the fact that NYC, despite what TV shows and movies and other media show us, is NOT a largely white city. Nonetheless, I liked her pretentious way of speaking (have you all met kids like that? Because I have, and Shelby SO reminded me of those kids) and her rocky attempts at friendship. I'm hoping to see her grow on that front in the future, especially since she seemed grudgingly willing to follow Watson's lead on that front.
I am currently a little baffled about the inclusion of Lestrade, since she didn't do anything for the narrative, and as always, I'm dismayed at her portrayal. The illustrations depict her as a Black woman, and I'm rather sick of Black women cops being portrayed as useless and as an impediment to our heroes. It's a Lestrade problem- Lestrades are so rarely done well- but the author/illustrators decision to also depict her as a Black woman left a bad taste in my mouth. I am hoping that in future books, we'll get some more depth to Lestrade and she won't just show up to sneer at Shelby. (All that being said, I DID appreciate the author mentioning that Watson was uncomfortable around police officers, and that his dad had talked to him about how to behave around them- a smart detail, and one white authors often miss.)
I enjoyed the book on the whole, though, and I'm really hoping the author will write more in this series. It has such a promising beginning.