Customer Reviews

Classic Starts: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Classic Starts Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My 8 year old daughter was excited and started reading this abridged version of Holmes stories. Unfortunately, she only just got started before being stymied by poor quality editing. Phrases are missing. Phrases are duplicated. The flow is completely disrupted and one has no idea what is trying to be said.

Here are some specific examples:

Page 27, crossing onto 28: "At first I thought you had it was."

Page 28, crossing onto 29: "Well, Mr. Watson," Wilson said, "I have a small pawn shop where I buy and sell used item small pawn shop where I buy used items from people."

Page 42: "Mr. Jones, would you be so kind as to put Mr. now." (which appears corrected on page 43: "Mr. Jones, would you be so kind as to put Mr. Clay in handcuffs?")


I presume that Chris Sasaki's abridgment was actually readable, but we'll never know. Or is this Holmes volume supposed to be titled: "Mystery of the Garbled Text?"

Steer clear until a corrected edition is offered. Zero stars.

Six classic Sherlock Holmes tales are abridged for the 9-12 year-old set in this 2005 release from Sterling Publishing. The stories are retold by Chris Sasaki while Lucy Corvino supplies b&w drawings for some of the tales.

Like other titles in Sterling's 'Classic Starts Library,' THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES offers up rewritten versions of classic stories. In this case, reader are treated to abridged versions of 'A Scandal in Bohemia,' 'The Redheaded League,' 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,' 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band,' 'The Greek Interpreter' and 'The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.'

Sterling claims that their reworked versions were carefully rewritten so that each is "filled with the magic and excitement" that made the originals "beloved favorites." As much as I applaud anyone's efforts to get young readers hooked on Sherlock Holmes, I don't feel the abridgements are magical or exciting. They fairly faithfully duplicate plot lines but are missing the sparkle, suspense and humor found in the original Doyle stories.

Being a longtime Holmes fan, I may be too harsh on the Sterling volume. If you have younger readers who might enjoy the Master Detective, by all means, check out this book. It may be just what that 10-year old child of yours is looking for. Recommended with reservations.

Classic Starts: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes features abridged versions of six short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The language is simplified for younger readers, but the essence of the original stories is not compromised. The book includes "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League", "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle", "The Greek Interpreter" and "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons".

There are several nice black and white illustrations to complement each story. My only criticism of the illustrations is that Watson seems too old. Dr. Watson was only a few years Sherlock Holmes' senior, but is depicted as much older in several screen adaptations. The illustrations in this book seem to be based more on the screen versions of the characters than the original Sidney Padget drawings. Padget's illustrations show the two men to be much closer in age. However, this is a very minor quibble on my part. The age difference will likely help young children differentiate between Holmes and Watson.

The modern, easy-to-read language and abridged format in this book make these classic stories accessible to younger readers who may find the complex vocabulary or length of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original work too challenging. This would be a great choice for a 7-10 year old who enjoys mysteries but might not be ready to tackle the Sherlock Holmes books on their own just yet. Classic Starts: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes also includes discussion questions to help broaden the reader's understanding of the stories.

I reviewed this book to see if it was appropriate to be added to the local elementary school library.The poor editing was disconcerting, to say the least. I loved the idea of the book and the concept of introducing these classic stories to young readers, but those young readers will be confused by the sentences that clearly don't fit together or continue on the next page and the mistakes that are printed but eventually corrected in subsequent paragraphs. I checked to see if the errors made in 2005 have been corrected in a later version, but it doesn't appear to have been republished.

I bought this book for my 7-year-old. It's a bit advanced in terms of wording, but interesting enough for her to want to learn bigger words and read on her own.

Not really sure how this toy is, I have purchased it for as a Christmas gift.