Historical November 1983 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Editor’s note: On a regular basis, we will feature reviews of books which are available at the Kingsbury Kiosk. Arlene Sandler will discuss children’s literature and Mary -Ann Shickman will deal with books for adults.
Preschool thrillers to junior high horror stories — there is no shortage of mysterious tales for children at the Kiosk. Favorite sleuths here include the Baker Street Irregulars, Nate the Great, McGurk, and Encyclopedia Brown.
No age group is excluded from being enlivened, baffled, or frightened by exciting action, intriguing puzzles, and strange happenings.
The very youngest readers can scrutinize the amusing illustrations for clues to help Inspector Belinda Baldini solve The Mystery of the Stolen Blue Paint by Steven Kellogg. Third and fourth graders will delight in the keen mind of Basil of Baker Street who is a mouse living in the cellar of Sherlock Holmes’ house with his associate, Dr. Dawson, and his mousekeeper, Mrs. Judson.
One of the zaniest new mysteries for eight- to ten-year-olds is a series of adventures featuring Incognito Mosquito, Private Insective. Characters like Felonious Fly, Mickey Mantis, and F. Flea Bailey fill the pages of one of the deadliest collections of puns ever. Middle graders will be frightened as well as moved by Margaret Mahy’s, The Haunting. Eight-year-old Barney’s habit of talking to imaginary friends takes on a terrifying meaning when he begins receiving mysterious messages proclaiming, “Barney is dead.” Extremely close, realistic family relationships add dimension and emotion to the suspense-filled plot.
In City Rose, by Ruth Miller. a young girl, orphaned in Detroit, moves in with relatives in rural North Carolina.
Her problems of adjustment are compounded by the mysteries surrounding a girl named Wendy that no one will talk about and the old deserted church that would later become a prison. Virginia Hamilton’s House of Dies Drear is a spellbinding combination of terror and black history.
When Thomas and his family move into a 100-year-old house that was a station on the Underground Railroad, they have no idea of the danger that lurks in its labyrinth of secret tunnels. Older readers interested in the occult will wonder about the power that Jeremy Pimm seems to have over teenagers with special problems. Pimm’s eerie house can unpredictably and unaccountably change its appearance.
The Shadows of Jeremy Pimm is a real chiller.
Originally published in The Paper, November 1983.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1983_11.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
