Gummshoes Mission #1: The Nobbled Numbskull

Gummshoes Mission #1: The Nobbled Numbskull by E.J. Gore (Coppertop Press) RRP $8.99 ISBN 978-0-9873708-8-4

Reviewed by Elizabeth Vercoe This first book in the Australian series of adventures by the Gummshoe Gang has a big heart. It contains a familiar, important message hidden in the question of just who IS sabotaging the school’s star soccer player (and erstwhile bully) Nits – and why?

We are rapidly introduced to a large cast of characters including the ‘nerdy’ Frankie and Ollie who befriend a younger, also ‘nerdy’ Alex, and welcome him into the Gummshoe Gang. Together and separately, the three deals with challenging situations that are translatable to most school playgrounds.
There’s something for most kids in this story that centres on school and football, with a mystery to be solved and bullies to be thwarted. Unrequited tween love also makes an appearance, and the realisation that things are not always as they seem among children, and among adults too.

Author and primary school teacher EJ Gore’s own mission to equip young people with strategies for social inclusion, dealing with bullies and standing up for the ‘right’ thing, is a generous one that works. The characters recognise and build on their own strengths in a way that opens up possibilities for young readers’ own lives. These skills touch on the ideas of being a good friend, harnessing resilience and solving problems. Gore’s gentle, humour-laden writing style reveals a thorough knowledge of her readership and what will have them entertained. 

After initially having to re-read the opening in order to be clear about ‘who was saying what’, I was transported into the world of the book where I willingly stayed for the duration. There’s a lovely balance between mystery and drama in this story that will appeal to both boys and girls.

The end pages feature a word-search puzzle, and children are invited to become part of the Gummshoe Gang via a website. 
   

All the Wrong Questions — Shouldn't You Be In School?

All the Wrong Questions — Shouldn't You Be In School? Written by Lemony Snicket, Art by Seth (Hardie Grant Egmont)
ISBN 978-107429-7298-5
HB $16.95 RRP
Reviewed by Nean McKenzie

This is the third installment in the All the Wrong Questions series by Lemony Snicket. Sporting a striking fluorescent orange cover, Shouldn't You Be In School? gets straight into the action with the opening sentence: 'There was a town, and there was a librarian and there was a fire.' The distinctive voice of the main protagonist (also Lemony Snicket) carries the reader through a mystery that twists and turns. Although it doesn't quite get solved at the end, in this book there are a couple of answers along the way.

In the town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, there's a problem with arson, a crime which Lemony Snicket's chaperone, S Theodora Markson, attempts to solve. Starting at the very suspect Department of Education, an equally suspect Sharon Haines, directs them to a house that burns down. The innocent local librarian, Dashiel Querty, (the best name in the series so far) is accused and arrested. When the school goes up in flames as well, all the kids are transferred to the Wade Academy for a so-called 'top shelf education.' Lemony and his gang are found truanting and transferred to the school where they find out what is really going on. The old villain Hangfire is behind the whole thing.

The gang consists of friends from previous books -- Moxie Mallahan (journalist), Jake Hix (chef), Cleo Knight (brilliant scientist), and Pip and Squeak, two kids who between them, drive a taxi. A newcomer is Kellar Haines, son of the misguided Sharon. Lemony Snicket is a character with secrets but so is Ellington Feint, a girl Snicket is equally fascinated with and distrustful of. It is Ellington who gives the friends strong coffee to overcome the laudanum they are drugged with at the school. But then she is an accomplice to the attempted arson of the library, part of Hangfire's dastardly plan.

This return to the town with the Clusterous Forrest and Hungry's Diner is a slightly confusing but thoroughly enjoyable book for middle readers. Illustrations, complete with shadows, add beautifully to the quirky, fast-paced and clever story. The question is, whether the next book will have any answers, but maybe that is the wrong question!

 

All the Wrong Questions — Shouldn't You Be In School?

All the Wrong Questions — Shouldn't You Be In School? Written by Lemony Snicket, Art by Seth (Hardie Grant Egmont)
ISBN 978-107429-7298-5
HB $16.95 RRP
Reviewed by Nean McKenzie

This is the third installment in the All the Wrong Questions series by Lemony Snicket. Sporting a striking fluorescent orange cover, Shouldn't You Be In School? gets straight into the action with the opening sentence: 'There was a town, and there was a librarian and there was a fire.' The distinctive voice of the main protagonist (also Lemony Snicket) carries the reader through a mystery that twists and turns. Although it doesn't quite get solved at the end, in this book there are a couple of answers along the way.

In the town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, there's a problem with arson, a crime which Lemony Snicket's chaperone, S Theodora Markson, attempts to solve. Starting at the very suspect Department of Education, an equally suspect Sharon Haines, directs them to a house that burns down. The innocent local librarian, Dashiel Querty, (the best name in the series so far) is accused and arrested. When the school goes up in flames as well, all the kids are transferred to the Wade Academy for a so-called 'top shelf education.' Lemony and his gang are found truanting and transferred to the school where they find out what is really going on. The old villain Hangfire is behind the whole thing.

The gang consists of friends from previous books -- Moxie Mallahan (journalist), Jake Hix (chef), Cleo Knight (brilliant scientist), and Pip and Squeak, two kids who between them, drive a taxi. A newcomer is Kellar Haines, son of the misguided Sharon. Lemony Snicket is a character with secrets but so is Ellington Feint, a girl Snicket is equally fascinated with and distrustful of. It is Ellington who gives the friends strong coffee to overcome the laudanum they are drugged with at the school. But then she is an accomplice to the attempted arson of the library, part of Hangfire's dastardly plan.

This return to the town with the Clusterous Forrest and Hungry's Diner is a slightly confusing but thoroughly enjoyable book for middle readers. Illustrations, complete with shadows, add beautifully to the quirky, fast-paced and clever story. The question is, whether the next book will have any answers, but maybe that is the wrong question!