Customer Reviews

The Hamster of the Baskervilles: A Chet Gecko Mystery

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

 

 

We have laughed our way through the Chet Gecko books. What a fun introduction to reading for my son. Bring on the cheesy jokes, Bruce ...we can't wait for the next Chet Gecko book.

It is not at all violent .it is humorous. It has no violent actions what so ever and has humorous characters and lines. I think you should buy the whole Chet Gecko series.

I think of this as sort of an advanced chapter book. It isn't for a very early reader, mainly because of the more advanced vocabulary, the length, and the wordplay. But, once your young reader gets her sea legs and wants a little more advanced fare, this series would be very appealing.

The books are reasonably well-plotted, with each one built around some sort of school-based mystery that p.i. Gecko has to solve. The stories follow mystery conventions , with clues, suspects, and red herrings, and a big reveal at the end, and so are actually pretty good introductions to the mystery style.

Characters have a lot more personality, and are more individually styled, than you might expect from such an early reader, and Chet Gecko actually has a distinctive and appealing p.i. patter.

As you can tell from the character names, there are lots of puns and lots of fun with names of characters and places and things going on in the school. If anything there can be too much wordplay and a reader might occasionally become overwhelmed by the cleverness.

So, this isn't necessarily going to be every young reader's favorite, mostly because of the mystery angle and the puns, but it is most definitely worth a try for an adventurous, slightly advanced reader.

The book is funnny, exiting and has lots of details. I would highly reccomend this book for grades 4 and above. The funniest part of the story is when Chet Gecko is thinking about flying donuts. What a surprise! My family is going out for donuts today!

This was purchased for a children's program at our local library. Can't comment on the book itself, as I haven't read it. But shipping was fast and book was in the condition promised.

Bruce Hale encourages violance and judgemental attitudes. As a teacher, there is no way I would allow my students to read this book.