Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock

by Linda Bailey, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)

Overview

The adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the legendary Sherlock Holmes, come to life in this inspiring picture book biography.

What if you wrote a story about a detective, and he became the most famous detective ever? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Or . . . would it? Arthur has always loved stories. Even as he grew up poor, endured hardships at school and experienced danger on the high seas, Arthur was always thrilled and inspired by stories. Eventually, he writes his own, and after many years of struggle as a writer, he finally finds success with a series of mystery stories starring his genius detective, Sherlock Holmes. But is it possible for a character to become too successful? Too popular? And if that happens to Arthur, will he really throw his greatest literary creation . . . over a cliff?!


From the author of Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein comes a riveting and humorous picture book about the incredible life of Arthur Conan Doyle: doctor, adventurer, tireless campaigner for justice . . . and creator of the world’s most famous detective!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735269255
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Series:	Who Wrote Classics
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	8.88(w) x 11.31(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

LINDA BAILEY is an award-winning author who has written nearly forty books for children. Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein was cited as a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the Globe and Mail, the New York Public Library, CBC and Booklist, among others. In addition to these, Linda has been awarded the Blue Spruce Award, the Silver Birch Award the Shining Willow Award (twice), the B.C. Chocolate Lily Award (five times), the Red Cedar Award, the California Young Reader Medal, the Georgia Storybook Award, the Christie Harris Award, the Hackmatack Award and the Arthur Ellis Award (twice).

ISABELLE FOLLATH is a freelance illustrator based in Switzerland who has created art for advertising agencies, magazines and publishers for over 15 years. Her clients include Lufthansa, La Perla and children's publishers across Europe. She has illustrated Jeanne Willis's book of nursery rhymes, What Are Little Girls Made Of, as well as the picture books Joy by Corrinne Averiss and The Incredible Hotel by Kate Davies, and the middle-grade novel series Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen by Marthe Jocelyn, Sally Nicholls' In Time series and Jack Meggitt-Phillips The Beast and Bethany series.

Editorial Reviews

"Bailey . . . writes with a sure sense of her audience. . . . Follath's droll illustrations capture the look of the Victorian era, the drama of Doyle’s imagination, and the dry wit of Bailey’s text. A lively, memorable biography." —STARRED REVIEW, Booklist

"[A] lavish testament to the life of Arthur Conan Doyle. . . . This book will surely inspire wonder, breathe new life and cement conviction into minds doubting the power of their own curiosity and imagination." —STARRED REVIEW, Quill & Quire

"[P]recise, detailed watercolor, pencil, and digital illustrations provide a lot to pore over. . . . An informative biography for an older picture-book audience." —Kirkus Reviews

"Bailey’s homage to the iconic Sherlock Holmes, once called 'the world’s most famous man who never was,' and his incredibly talented creator is sure to please fans of the books and just might entice new ones." —CM Reviews

"Linda Bailey [makes] Arthur the star of his story. . . . Young readers may learn a little bit more about Sherlock Holmes, but they will most definitely learn loads about Arthur Conan Doyle and understand better how he became the man who wrote Sherlock." —CanLit for Little Canadians

"Linda Bailey and Isabelle Follath . . . devise a rational, beautiful, and entertaining introduction to the inventor of one of literature's greatest sleuths. . . . Whatever the goals of the children in your life, Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock encourages them to both dream and pursue what they love." —Imaginary Elevators

From the Publisher

08/19/2022

Gr 3–5—This biography covers Arthur Conan Doyle's life from early experiences with the delights of storytelling in an otherwise difficult childhood to (in the afterword) his controversial later belief in spiritualism—but it centers so thoroughly on the sometimes contentious relationship between the author and his most famous creation that none of his (many) other works are even named. Additionally, his private life as an adult is relegated to a single, late sentence in the main narrative that is barely elaborated on in the back matter. Along with a truly terrifying Hound (of the Baskervilles), Follath supplies in a mix of fictional and real-world settings actively posed figures of the great detective, his inventor, and excited readers, all in proper Victorian dress. However, though she does include a visual nod to Doyle's worthy public campaign to free a British citizen of Indian descent who was wrongfully convicted of a crime, adding dark-skinned people to nearly every group scene (including even young Doyle's class of fellow school children) creates a misleading impression of racial diversity, or if actually accurate requires an explanatory note. VERDICT Well-intentioned though this may be, it bombs—both because the pictures convey an improbable racial mix for the depicted times and places, and because fans of the original stories will find more value in fuller introductions to the author's life and works.—John Edward Peters

School Library Journal

2022-09-14
The life story of a famous mystery writer.

Smoke wreathes a pipe-smoking silhouette, a magnifying glass and violin completing the opening mise-en-scène. Initial questions ask readers, “What if you wrote a story about a detective, and…the whole world loved [him]?” Then, as Bailey launches into an account of the author’s life, a young Arthur Conan Doyle sits on the floor of his Edinburgh home while his mother tells him and his unnamed sister fantastical stories. Doyle’s life includes many twists and turns. First he’s a poor medical student sacrificing a meal to buy books. Next, he has multiple adventures on the high seas and focuses on his writing while failing to establish a practice as an eye doctor. Each stage of his life and literary career is explained in a matter-of-fact tone, accessible though slightly dry. Long blocks of text on almost every page would make this challenging to read aloud, but the precise, detailed watercolor, pencil, and digital illustrations provide a lot to pore over. In addition to addressing Doyle’s eventual resentment for Sherlock Holmes, the story doesn’t shy away from describing Doyle’s father’s alcoholism, and in-depth backmatter provides more information about other compelling aspects of his life, like his interest in spiritualism and his defense of a “young Anglo-Indian lawyer victimized because of his race.” Most characters present as White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An informative biography for an older picture-book audience. (sources) (Picture-book biography. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews