All things Elementary

Sherlock Holmes, he's one of the most legendary characters in the history of fiction. As far as I'm concerned his singular brilliance and emotional deficiencies render him instantly relatable, as you get to know him more he becomes even likeable. 

My current blog post is being typed with the soothing background noise of Johnny Lee Miller performing his own interpretation of the fabled Holmes, he's currently giving his trademark dour look which is one of the things a I really love about this 'Elementary' version. 

My all time favourite adaptation however, has got to be BBC's Sherlock, which catapulted Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman into Hollywood careers. Frankly though, anything Holmes related tends to peak my interest. I've read several adaptations of the fabled Conan Doyle serials as well as the originals. The obvious conclusion to all this random information? I am a massive Sherlock Holmes fan! 

In this week's post I have delved into my favourite Holmes tale: The Hound of the Baskervilles. But to add something fresh to the read (as I've read and reviewed Holmes before in the last blog) I've taken on a graphic novel adaptation from Usborne. 

It tells the story of The Baskerville family, who are stalked by an ancient curse, the ghostly hound who hunts and frightens family members to death. Cutting quite a complex, long story short, when Henry Baskerville, the last in the family line, travels to Baskerville Hall to claim his inheritance; Sherlock and Watson are recruited to assist and protect him. In an odd turn of events, Sherlock does not go with them, so Watson becomes in essence, Henry's bodyguard, as well as having to investigate the mystery of the last Baskerville death, that of Sir Charles, who was scared to death by the hound. 

With an exhaustive list of potential suspects and pressure mounting, Watson tracks the events leading up to Sir Charles' death whilst at the same time, trying to keep Henry from suffering the same fate as his uncle. But will Watson be out of his depth? Will Sherlock intervene? What will happen to Henry in the end? 

The comic book/graphic novel format makes for a quick and easy read which is helpful considering there is a lot going on in the story. There are several smaller plots going on within the main plot, I'd imagine that was largely down to the serialised original which would have survived on cliffhangers and layers of story. 

The writing style is simple and graceful, as are the illustrations, bolder, primary colours are made to stand out against more neutral browns and sepia tones. For example, one image of the interior of the main hall shows walls of sepia and gray, so the flowers in vases in the background really stand out in shades of vibrant red and yellow. 

The language retains its formality but is simplified so we are not faced with lengthy Victorian vocabulary. The story itself is brilliance, full of twists that keep it racing to it's conclusion. It comes as no surprise to me to discover (as part of the non-fiction section in the back of the book) that it is the most successful Sherlock Holmes story of all time, this in spite of the fact that it was written after  Conan Doyle had killed off the Sherlock character. 

So great was the mourning for this fictional detective that people wore black armbands as a sign of their grief! 

At the time the story was published, it had to be made clear to the reading public that it was set some time before Holmes' death, so as to ensure that there would be no revival of the character. However, so great was the outcry that in the years that followed, he was revived anyway. 

There is a beautiful section after the story which tells us more about Arthur Conan Doyle and the history of the story itself. It is a beautiful bonus, informative and thorough. It adds a finishing touch to the book that feels very much like the cherry on the cake. 

I struggled a little with the order the text was presented in, often having to go back to bubbles to re read them in the correct sequence. But I'll be honest, that says more about my limited grasp of graphic novels than of any wrong doing on the part of the book's creators. 

It is very hard for me to comment on the main characters as my opinion would be clouded by my immense respect and admiration for them and the various interpretations of them. The background characters though are moderately developed, maybe a little on the flat side but because they serve to smooth over the plots progress. If I have one issue, it is that there may be too many characters, the Baskervilles, Stapletons, Barrowmans and Mortimer to name but a few. If the reader is not paying close enough attention the names and characters can convolute the story and lead them to become confused. 

Aside from that it is a very well made interpretation which is ideal for readers who can handle the context. Anyone really who is over the age of 8 will love this version, its great for introducing a whole new generation to the legend that is Sherlock Holmes. Well played Usborne, well played. 

Book 17 of 52 and my graphic novel. 

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Russell Punter
Illustrator: Andrea Da Rold
Number of pages: 104
First published: 2018 
Suitable for: children aged 8 and upwards
Interesting words: moor, steadfast, inheritance, biographer

Grumpy Gangsta Girlie

So once again I've let things go where instead of blogging last week and this week I've wound up doing two blog posts in the same couple of days. I'm in such a chilled state of mind about it though that I'm actually really enjoying the lack of pressure. 

This review is the first of two, the second of which will arrive tomorrow or Thursday. I've been deliberately been putting this one off as I just couldn't bring myself to finish the book in question until yesterday. 

Now, before we go any further let me just say for the record that at no point, do I resent David Walliams as a celebrity or a person. He's worked a hard graft and earned his place as a British trademark. My problem lies in the fact that his books, in my opinion, really aren't all that good. They are certainly not of a standard where I would say he's Roald Dahl's successor. If this recent book I've read is anything to go by, they don't even come close. Where Roald Dahl invented new crazy language and wove it in as a part of a well crafted story, Walliams just drops nonsense words in as comic book style effects and devices to serve overly crude toilet humour. Where the darkness of Dahl's tone attracted adults and children alike, Walliams casually threw in subtle adult jokes such as 'pull the other one, it's got bells on' which was uncomfortably plonked in the middle of this book for no real reason or rhyme what so ever. 

Where Dahl accentuated his characters by providing depth and backgrounds Walliams relies on generic 'fat, whimsical' women to do the majority of his charm adding (both in this book and in Demon Dentist).

So it outrages me to think that he's making millions off of what I think it ridiculously poor writing when other, hard working authors who are so much better are scrounging a living and not getting any real recognition in what is one of the most cut throat industries in existence: children's literature. 

Truth be told there is a lot wrong with the system. For example deals made between supermarkets and publishers are done with the idea in mind that supermarkets can make a profit by bulk selling books at low prices. So when these deals are arranged, of course, places would rather buy large quantities of a brand name such as JK Rowling than take a risk on a lesser known author. Cough, cough, that's probably why Phillip Pullman's books are still doing so well. But this means that the only cheap books that families can afford are ones like Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, David Walliams books etc, we've all seen them on the shelves at Tesco. 

Worst of all Walliams has opened a celebrity door, allowing people who are not authors to saturate the market. I still baulk at the fact that we are now getting books about horses from Clare Balding (sorry Clare I should probably try and give it more of a chance). So I feel a lot of resentment towards those who are milking a celebrity status to create sub par material at the expense of people far more qualified in the role. It would be like Boris Johnson getting paid mega bucks to do my job when he had no bloomin clue how to do it and then going out of the way to see me get paid less than my already ridiculously low wage. 

On to the book review now after that long rant (haha). Ice Monster is set in Victorian England where orphan Elsie escapes the tortured life at her orphanage and winds up on the streets. She becomes fixated with the Natural History Museum and forms an unlikely friendship with Dotty, one of it's cleaners who is as dotty as her name suggests (yes she's the token fat chick). One day a woolly mammoth, still frozen in a large block of ice arrives at the museum. There's a huge grand opening of the mammoth exhibit in front of Queen Victoria and everything. Fascinated by the creature, Elsie and Dotty form a plan to resurrect it and return it to the North Pole where it belongs. With the help of Dotty's boyfriend, Titch (token short man) and his fellow Chelsea pensioners they steal an old battleship and a race between the heroes and the villains (an unscrupulous scientist and seasoned poacher) ensues. 

My problem from the get go with this book was in the inferior character and plot development. I didn't really sympathise with Elsie's predicament because there was nothing in the writing that made me really feel like she was a character at all. The characters and their situations were very flat, there was no real depth or development. I was so un-enchanted with it that I was able to easily put the book down right in the middle of a climactic chase scene,a piece of text which should have had me engrossed and unable to put the book down. 

All of the criticisms in my rant earlier featured in this book, which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't come across the exact same issues in Demon Dentist (which I'd read two years ago). There's no real extended vocabulary, it's almost like the effort is non existent. The little non fiction section about mammoths and Victorian England is a nice touch, as is the use of interesting chapter titles here and there but that's about it.

There were far too many fart and bottom jokes and an absurd amount of illustrations and comic book style onomatopoeic words that swallowed entire pages. All in all, it was a huge disappointment, I feel like the author is riding on the coat tails of Quentin Blake style illustrations in order to enhance the Dahl-esque comparisons.  

I know there are celebrities out there who can write half decent books. The two books by actors that I read back in 2018 were two very good examples. But there are those who just aren't very good. For me, until I can read something that proves me wrong, I will always believe that David Walliams is one of them. 

Book 16 out of 52 and my book by someone who is not, was not and never will be an author. 

Book Title: Ice Monster
Author: David Walliams
Illustrator: Tony Ross
First published: 2018
Number of pages: 482
Suitable for: children ages 7 and up
Interesting words: audacious, wielding, ignorant, looming                  

There once was a time...

I am going to issue a warning with this post, the following opinions are my personal ones, they don't reflect the institution that hired me or the general world of education at large: they are mine, feel free to challenge them if you wish. 

Recently I heard someone say that because children aren't talking at home with their parents anymore, it is now the responsibility of schools to get children talking and discussing. There's even a name for it; oracy. What once was something that existed as an innate part of human nature and interaction, now has to be taught like an acquired skill. From that follows reading. Statistics have recently shown that as little as a quarter of children read for pleasure at all. When you take into account the fact that we are now looking at building reading stamina (i.e. a child's ability to focus for longer than a few moments) the general facts about reading and communication are looking woefully grim. 

I often feel like engaging children to read is like being a salmon floating upstream (in my head I can hear Jason Stathom from those wonderful Kit Kat ads telling me I am not a salmon). I'm one of a billion things vying for children's attention and time. Much like the magpie, the average child is being confronted with shiny toys, mobile phones, tablets, instant gratification falling into their lap. And the overall sense that from everyone everywhere, reading always takes a back seat so long as targets are basically reached. It's no wonder I get home tired and feeling disparaged some days. 

Now I'm not all doom and gloom, in my time I have met plenty of good parents out there. So it's not as bad as the media likes to paint it. However, I look at children's books today and think 'they're all written with one aim, to engage, grip and entertain the reader'. Even bog standard home reading books are bright and alluring, with interesting subject matter and cliffhangers and beautiful illustrations. Which makes this next book in my blog series a complete throwback to a time when home reading was just done because it had to be. 

I've been searching for ages for a book with my name in having thought that the last time it happened was such a coincidence, it was practically kismet. Whilst going through old home reading and library books I came across this unbelievable anomaly and thought I was quids in... ...until I had to read it today. I mean no offence at all to the author, but the plot is so straight forward I could practically walk off the edge of it. 

Sarah (who in the illustrations is wonderfully shown to be gender neutral) has an issue with her walk to school in that she has to pass the big neighbour's dog. Every time she does, the dog barks, making her afraid. Now, with only 16 pages of story, about 10 of which are just introducing the setting and extra characters such as Sarah's mum, you would be forgiven for hoping that she would conquer her fears and do something about the dog. 

Yeah that doesn't happen, instead one day the neighbours move away, taking the dog with them . So the moral of the story is that if you ignore something for long enough, it'll go away. A true inspiration to someone like me who values facing fears and confronting obstacles head on. My do I wish you could hear the dripping sarcasm in my tone as these words fly on to the screen. 

This book is a glaring reminder that once upon a time books didn't have to try. Children read them because the general recognised understanding was that they had to. There was no devaluing reading as something that isn't necessary. It mattered and was appreciated as a key to unlock learning. Much as I talk like those years were of my childhood this book proves that it wasn't all that long ago: after all it's only 23 years old. But how sad is it that the world has gone from this in it's simplicity to 'wham, bam' in your face books that have to demand your attention?

This book is book 15 of my 52 book list and a book with a character with my name. I'm off to go and ignore the growing illiteracy problem, hopefully it'll go away. 

Book Title: Sarah and the Barking Dog

Author: Jenny Giles

Illustrator: Priscilla Cutter

First published: 1997

Pages: 16

Suitable for: any child above the age of 4 who can confidently read

Interesting words: rattled, shaking (that's your lot)