Customer Reviews

Detectives in Togas

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is suitable for any ages. It's so funny and deftly written I was laughing on the bus and everyone though I was nuts. Read it and see why...

It starts around dawn, when two boys at a prestigious school have a fight, and one of them gets kicked out. Later, he's accused of a horrible crime and arrested, and his friends all rush to save him.

The author skillfully puts in all the boys, and you get to know them along the way. Rufus (the one who's kind of poor; his father's a general, who cause the trouble; Caius (the oaf, who fought with Rufus), Mucius (the leader, hard-working and a little pompous at times), Julius (the bright one, with sound logic and perception), Antonius (the daredevil with an active imagination), Publius (the wit, sarcastic and sceptical), and Flavius (timid and meek but has nice writing).

Blending historical fact with hilarious blunders, rich with snappy dialogue and runaway clues, it's highyl enjoyable from the start all the way to the surprise ending. I love it!

I read this book when I was a child, being book-eating, book-loving from the age of six onwards. This book is real fun for kids , telling a charming story of little Roman boys who have kindness, a sense of adventure, and the right spirit to help their friend. They solve a dark mystery, hiking throughout the City of Ancient Rome (not very ancient for them, but their home) in order to do that. The novel has sinister characters as well, with sinister names (but I should not tell what this is about...), but it is not cruel or violent. I liked the book very much, and the fact that I remembered it after such a long time when I came across it in the amazon catalogue, is telling. I want to be its champion here, because it gives - like a good historic fiction book should - you a familiarity for the characters their life and life style. After reading I wanted to have the second book in the series (which exists, by the way), because I could not wait for the next adventure. I ended up never minding to learn Latin at school, after all it was the language of Caius, Rufus and the rest of the gang. (Charlotte Esser, Germany)

This book is a comical mystery about seven rich boys who live in ancient Rome and go to the Xanthos school for boys. Cauis isn't very bright, Rufus is the class clown, Aucius is a hard worker, Flavius is the slow boy, Antonius is the fast boy, Publius is the poorest one, and Julius is the boy with the best ideas. In the beginning of the book, Cauis and Rufus pick a fight with each other. Rufus, the class clown wrote, "Cauis is a dumbbell" on a writing tablet. The teacher cruelly punishes Rufus and kicks him out of school. The next day, when the teacher didn't show up for school, they went to his house and found him manacled. Everything in his house was demolished. The same day, another crime was committed. Graffiti was found on the temple wall that was dedicated to Cauis' father, Senator Vinivius...I think this was a great book with an unbelievable ending. The ending was so awesome because I never saw it coming.

This book is hilarious and one of the greatest mysteries ever written. When I read a mysery I usually at least have a guess of how it ends, but i couldn't even immagine the ending of this book.

My fifth grade class just read this book for our reading group. It was amazing! The suspense and the humor added just the right touch to this woderful book. I won't give too much away because it would ruin yhe suspense. Seven young Romans attend the Xanthos school. Two students, Rufus and Caius, get into a fight over a tablet reading 'Caius is a Dumbell' that Rufus wrote. The next day in red paint, the same thing is written on a temple dedicated to the Emperor, who is Caius' father! But rufus is innocent. I really enjoyed this book, and you will too! Enjoy!

This year for my 6th grade english class we had to read Detectives in togas. this book has a very slow beginning but after a few pages it takes you into this amazing mystery . where a group of boys are trying to save there friend rufus from jail after being framed. So dont be discouraged by its slow beginning because if you do you wont get to read the rest of this amazing book. Take my advice and get this great book.

This is wonderful mystery, set in Ancient Rome, about a group of friends and their wise Greek teacher. When I was in fifth grade my teacher read this book to us in class. I think I can trace my love for mysteries and for books in general due to Mr. Milward reading "Detectives in Togas" to the class. Thanks Mr. Milward!

I searched for this book for months in used book stores around town before it occured to me to look here. Regardless, I read this thirty years ago and recently to my 5 year-old son Felipe. As I have read much Greek and Roman mythology to him I had been at a loss trying to relate ancient Rome as a living city to him. He understands the ruins and the appearances thereof from Nat'l Geographic . . . . This book filled him with the images of the ancient city as a regular place for kids and people-something different than the decadent structures we see today. My fondest recollections of this book from my childhood were picturing the images of the academy the boys attended, Caius' home, the temple and other places in Rome. Until I studied Western Civ and read more sophisticated literature, my clearest and most descriptive pictures of Rome were somehow related to this book whose title I only recently recalled. A kind of archaic Hardy Boys thing that was really quite fun! to read.

My kids really enjoyed this book. I read it aloud to them last year, when they were in 2nd & 3rd grade, as part of our study of ancient civilizations. The book is set in ancient Rome, but the children are essentially modern. My kids related to them much more than they did to, say, Laura and Mary Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie. Those girls were very much part of the pioneer era they lived in and my kids consider them humorless and boring (blasphemy -- I loved those girls!), unlike the lively boys in this book.

At any rate, the book is a delightful way to learn many interesting facts about daily life in Rome, from how people got their daily news to what their homes and schools were like to what people ate to how the roman baths were cleaned, etcetera.

If you are not inclined to read aloud to your child (and if not, check out Jim Trelease "The Read-Aloud Handbook" - it may change your mind!), I think this book is better suited for the older elementary child, or for one with superior comprehension. My children did ask lots of questions during the reading of this book.

Detectives in Togas is a great book! This book starts out with a big practical joke. Detectives in Togas is about a boy named Rufus who finds out a deep dark secret. He is thrown in jail where he is starved and beaten. It's up to Rufus' friends to crack the case and get Rufus out of jail. The boys' teacher, Xantippus, is assaulted. When the boys scour the house for clues, they find a gold chain, which must have belonged to the assaulter. The boys take the chain to Lukos, the seer. When the boys show it to him, he goes into a rage and throws snakes at the boys. When the boys sneak back into Lukos' chamber, they to find out the deadly secret themselves. Do the boys get Rufus out of jail? You'll just have to read this excellent book!