CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Scheming Manitoba preteens deliver a fun read

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/06/2010 (5902 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Take an author in Lac Du Bonnet who is interested in archeology and history, give him a yen to write a novel for juveniles, and the result is The Archaeolojesters by Andreas Oertel (Lobster Press, 191 pages, $11 paperback).

Twelve-year-old Cody, his best friends, Eric and Eric’s twin sister Rachel, are desperate to save the viability of Sultana, their home town (a composite of the northeastern Manitoba towns of Pine Falls, Lac du Bonnet, Seven Sisters and Elma).

They concoct an ambitious hoax in hopes of attracting media attention, involving a clay tablet suggesting ancient Egyptian explorers travelled as far north as Manitoba and then perished. They have unexpected success, until they realize their actions have attracted more sinister attention.

The Archaeolojesters is the first entry in what promises to be a popular series for readers aged nine to 12. Oertel manages to make his plot at least credible and to maintain suspense as the preteens carry out their unlikely scheme.

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Incredibly successful as a writer of adult legal thrillers, American star John Grisham enters the field of junior mystery with Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Dutton/Penguin, 263 pages, $21 hardcover).

While giving advice on multiple minor legal matters at his middle school, 13-year-old Theodore wrestles with the dilemma of revealing knowledge that could trap a killer versus betraying a promise to an illegal immigrant.

There’s enough detail on court procedures, legal loopholes and rules of evidence to satisfy any aspiring barrister. However, Theodore has to turn to his lawyer uncle and parents to help solve his problem, and the outcome of the court case is also left in doubt, making this book’s climax somewhat unsatisfactory.

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Another 13-year-old sleuth faces investigations differently in The Secret Fiend by Ontario’s Shane Peacock (Tundra Books, 244 pages, $22 hardcover), the fourth book in the Boy Sherlock Holmes series.

When a strange predator terrifies London in 1868, attacking women and impersonating a weird comic-book character, the Spring-Heeled Jack, Sherlock sets out to discover his identity. Is he really prepared, however, for the truth?

Peacock manages to infuse his novel with both the politics and culture of Victorian London.

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Author Alice Kuipers, who grew up in London, England, now lives in Saskatoon and is the wife of award-winning novelist Yann Martel.

In The Worst Thing She Ever Did (HarperCollins, 210 pages, $16 paperback), she draws on her London roots to describe the life-shattering effect that a terrorist attack can have on members of a victim’s family — in this case a sister, Sophie.

Sophie’s reaction is to blot out the event and her own connection to it, including friends and family. Kuipers does not reveal details of the attack until almost the end of the book, prolonging the anguish.

While her first novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door won acclaim for its quirky form, this one may be too dark for many teenage readers.

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Craig Russell, from Brandon, combines mysticism and myth in his book of teen fiction, Black Bottle Man (Great Plains, 176 pages, $15 paperback).

The setting is a farm in 1927. After his two aunts, desperate for children, make a deal with the devil when he is only 10, Rembrandt is destined to keep on the move — no more than 12 days in any one place — until he dies, or can find a champion to defeat "the Black Bottle Man."

Those who enjoy a touch of fantasy with their adventures may enjoy Russell’s unusual tale of a man who spends his life looking for a person to outwit the devil.

Winnipegger Helen Norrie is a former teacher/librarian. Her column appears on the third weekend of the month.