What a curious book this is!  Aimed at children around the age of 10 or 12, it is clever and funny, and reminded me of the work of Daniel Pinkwater.  It is self-aware of its own genre and yet not cynical.  At the same time, it is a very traditional adventure book about boys.  At first it is a little off-putting, but when a plot of dastardly librarians is revealed, you have to love it. 

Steve is 12 years old.  He loves the series of the detective novels by the Bailey Brothers, and he has their handbook about how to be a detective.  He really wants to be a detective like his heroes, the Bailey Brothers.  But when he has to become one, he denies that he is one.  It’s a paradox.  He goes in solution of a mystery with his chum Dana, and they get chased and threatened by many colorful characters.

The book is a lot of fun, and the performance of the unabridged audiobook by Arte Johnson is full of energy.  Johnson is an unusual choice for a reader of a children’s book since he is over 80 years old, but it works.  He is a natural comic and so he heightens the bizarre elements of the novel.  When Steve tries to check out a book on quilting and needlework from the public library and gets taken away by a stealthy group of librarians, it is hard to know what to think, but Johnson guides the listener through the mystery. 

The Brixton Brothers series looks very promising, It manages to be quirky in a good way, and young readers should really enjoy it.

Links:

·         Author website

·         Publisher website

© 2010 Christian Perring        

Christian Perring, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York.