The Curse of the Ancient Mask and Other Case Files: Saxby Smart, Private Detective: Book 1 [Hardcover]

Simon Cheshire (Author), R. W. Alley (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Saxby Smart, Private Detective

Solve It With Saxby, a new series aimed at unraveling the mystery of getting boys excited about reading.

Saxby Smart is no ordinary school kid. He's the best detective in the world, or at least the best one who also happens to be in elementary school. In this brand new series--with three cases in each book--the reader solves the mystery alongside Saxby, getting peeks at pages of his casebook as the crimes unfold, and searching for clues rather than letting the main character do all the work and have all the fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Saxby Doyle Christie Chandler Ellin Allan Smart, whose father loves crime novels, has cut his literary teeth on great detective stories and developed a schoolyard reputation as a sleuth. In the first case related here, a classmate arrives at the door of Saxby’s Crime Headquarters (backyard shed) and announces that her father is cursed by an ancient mask, accused of industrial espionage, and faced with losing his job. In the second, three students find their homework assignments sabotaged. In the third and final case, a girl is accused of stealing jewelry. Confident, though occasionally baffled, the young detective organizes the evidence methodically and, in each case, solves the mystery. Even better, careful readers can do the same. Expressive ink drawings help bring the occasionally quirky characters to life. After reading this well-paced and sometimes funny first-person narrative, young mystery fans will be looking for the second volume in the Saxby Smart Private Detective series. Grades 3-5. --Carolyn Phelan

Review

“The books give children the opportunity to solve the mystery or crime along with Saxby. He asks questions of readers, focusing on important clues or deductions and giving them a chance to follow his thought processes before continuing with the story. Young mystery fans will enjoy tagging along with him.” — School Library Journal

“The reader-as-sidekick device works splendidly: Saxby’s scrawlings offer a window into his problem solving and invite the reader to do the same, and all three cases have some nice twists and less-than-obvious outcomes, requiring an element of deductive reasoning.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Saxby’s resourceful tactics and comedic overstatements will keep kids entertained; his classmates, excerpts from Saxby’s notebook and Alley’s cheery b&w line art further enliven these mysteries.” —Publishers Weekly

“After reading this well-paced and sometimes funny first-person narrative, young mystery fans will be looking for the second volume in the Saxby Smart Private Detective series.” —Booklist

“While each short mystery is involving, the distinguishing aspect of this series opener is Saxby’s enthusiastic invitations to readers to participate in sleuthing.” —Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596434740
• ISBN-13: 978-1596434745
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Cheshire grew up in Warwickshire, England. He was always the quiet kid at the back of the class, and spent a lot of time staring out of the window. From a young age, he was a dedicated reader and would spend many hours absorbed in books, happily dreaming of faraway places, and completely ignoring his mother's cries of "Go out and get some fresh air, for heaven's sake!"

His hobbies include movies, tinkering with old computers and wishing he had more hobbies. He lives in Warwick with his wife and children, although he spends most of his time in a world of his own. His first book appeared in 1997, and since then his books have been published in many countries around the world, and in several languages. He writes in a tiny room that used to be a walk-in cupboard, but which is now crammed with books, pieces of paper and empty chocolate bar wrappers.

Some things you didn't know about Simon Cheshire
* He is allergic to animal hair, dust mites and the word 'incredible'.
* His favourite food is fish. Or possibly chocolate.
* He has no dress sense whatsoever, and usually goes around looking like a mobile rubbish tip.
* His favourite activity is reading late at night, when everyone else is asleep.
* He writes on a laptop computer running Linux Mint, using LibreOffice to write his books, Weebly to maintain his website and PacMan to waste his time.
* He hates gardening, swimming and Christmas.
* He believes in the existence of extra-terrestrials.
* When he was growing up, he wanted to be either an actor or a film director.
* He has travelled in China, India and Egypt and really, really wants to go to the Moon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad read., February 24, 2011

By 

Reacher Creature (Rochester) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse of the Ancient Mask and Other Case Files: Saxby Smart, Private Detective: Book 1 (Hardcover)

This is such a cute series, and I plan on telling my students about it.

Saxby Smart is a detective, well, a boy detective, and nothing gets by him. He'll solve any case, and will do anything to get to the bottom of the case.

The stories are cute and it will hold your attention. What I like is that the reader can solve the cases with Saxby as the story mystery unfolds. we have access to all of his notes and thoughts. All of the characters are charming in their own way.

There are three cases for Saxby to solve and the cases are interesting, and how Saxby solves them will keep the reader hooked to the very end.

For me, there are two small drawbacks. The first is that the author uses parentheses a lot. For me, nothing important is in the parentheses. It's such a distraction, and it takes away from the story. Please know that it's just a personal pet peeve of mine. If a reader isn't bothered by parentheses, then it shouldn't take anything away. The other aspect is that one of the stories, there was information that Saxby had, that we never had as the reader, so we couldn't really solve it with him.

This is sort of on the same level as the Encyclopedia Brown series. If you like them, then you'll like this series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three bizarre cases mark this story and invite readers to help solve the mystery, August 21, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Curse of the Ancient Mask and Other Case Files: Saxby Smart, Private Detective: Book 1 (Hardcover)

SAXBY SMART, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: IN THE CURSE OF THE ANCIENT MASK AND OTHER CASE FILES by Simon Cheshire is an outstanding first-person saga of a wise-cracking genius detective who goes to school on the side. Three bizarre cases mark this story and invite readers to help solve the mystery.