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5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally a real Western kids will enjoy, February 16, 2012
This review is from: The Case of the Deadly Desperados: Western Mysteries, Book One (Hardcover)
It's September, 1862. Why does Whittlin Walt want to kill a twelve-year-old, twice orphaned kid in Virginia City, Nevada? That's the first mystery in the new Western Mysteries children's series by Caroline Lawrence. Her previous Roman Mysteries series took place in the ancient world, but they didn't have guns back then and P.K. Pinkerton is staring down the four-inch barrel of a Smith and Wesson number 1 seven-shooter.
So if you want to know why P.K. Pinkerton is going to be killed on September 28, 1862, you need to read The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes. Along the way, you are going to be treated to some things author and historian Caroline Lawrence describes so well. You'll find out what it is like to ride on slippery top of a stage coach, gamble with professionals in a saloon, go inside a Chinese laundry, prowl the streets and back alleys of a lawless town, and meet people who are just as desperate and deadly as the desperadoes out to kill P.K. Caroline writes so you feel you are there...without gore, but without a lot of sugar coating either.
In P.K. Pinkerton, you find a likable kid. He can read, write, and do sums. He can ride a horse with or without a saddle, shoot a gun, skin game, spark a fire, and tell what a horse has eaten by the smell of the manure. P.K. has all the important skills a civilized kid in the 1860's should have. He's honest and principled.
But P.K. also has a major flaw, or as he calls it, 'his Thorn'. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition that makes it difficult for people in social situations. For P.K., it means he can't read people's true intentions. He doesn't understand what might be behind a person's smile and so he has trust issues and confidence issues. A lot of the fun in the book is seeing how this Thorn hurts and endangers P.K.
As we learn more about P.K. we learn that sometimes seeing less allows someone to see more. It becomes quite uplifting to watch P.K. compensates for his thorn and find some of the blessings of his curse, a theme children pick up on and enjoy. And as we see the world through P.K.'s eyes, we also start seeing more as the author carefully crafts P.K.'s understanding and revelations so the reader experiences them along with P.K.
As he uses his wits to survive hour by hour, P.K. meets a lot of people in Virginia City. Caroline makes these characters come to life and as such, 1862 Virginia City comes to life. Since we CAN read the emotions of others and understand the things that P.K. can't, Virginia City becomes dangerous and we become helpless observers watching P.K. get deeper into trouble as he reads, misreads, trusts, and is burned by many of these strangers while the killers close in.
Lest you think this is a psychological thriller, you need to understand that P.K.'s thorn and naivety get him into some very humorous situations throughout the story and even when he is in danger, you often want to chuckle a bit at how he got into and out of the mess. It's a rollicking, fast, tense, scary, funny story definitely aimed for children with an understandable plot, but deep enough for older children, parents, and teachers to enjoy.
But what really makes this book special is it's heart. Caroline Lawrence grew up when westerns were the kings of television. She makes no secret about her love of the genre and if you read her Western Mysteries website, you can feel her enthusiasm when she writes about her research trips and blogs about her visits to schools in the UK where she shares the Wild West to British kids who really aren't that familiar with it. If anything, The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes is a realistic, loving homage to the Old West that only a person growing up in the west and watching westerns on TV could write. It shows on every page in every character, setting, and description.
Great children's stories bring kids into a world they know little about, shows them around, gives them some new experiences, makes them think, has a lot of fun, and then brings them back a little smarter and wiser than when they left. I enjoyed my time in Virginia City, even though there were no Cartwrights. I'm glad I met P.K. Pinkerton. I look forward to his next case.
There are a two or three quick-snip PG-13 sentences as P.K. explores Virginia City and comes face to face with the people and things his Methodist-preacher father warned him about, such as gamblers, gunmen, and lawyers. I will leave it up to you to find out what a Soiled Dove is. If you are reading this book out loud to younger children, these sentences are easily edited out. There are also some unflattering references to opium use that make an excellent teaching moment.
A map of 1862 Virginia City and an excellent glossary provide added support within the book. Online, you can access the Western Mysteries website and a P.K. Pinkerton blog. One look at the Roman Mysteries website should give you a good clue how much effort is put into them.
Also check out the Roman Mysteries series. They are great books. In fact, they are so good they became a TV series on the BBC. My students loved them also. Read them while waiting for the next P.K. adventure.
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