By Simeon Kai
If you love testing your lateral thinking and enjoy brain teasers, THE READING DETECTIVES by Steven Harris is a fantastic addition to your coffee table. What makes this book stand out is how the puzzles are laid out; these puzzles are written in an interview/conversation form, which the target audience may find more interesting and engaging than the standard obscure wordplay in some other riddle books which leaves readers guessing for hours on end.
Harris uses friendly and fun language with the occasional pun, which creates a rapport with readers and is suitable for the age range, however, some of the puzzles are designed for readers with prior knowledge of children’s fables, which some readers may not have, e.g. “A HEATED ARGUMENT” (The Gingerbread man), “THE LAST LAUGH” (The Boy who cried wolf), or “A SUNDAY STROLL” (The Tortoise and The Hare).
I found the cover and title slightly misleading, because at a first glance they gave me the impression that this was a story about two children who were amateur detectives and ‘bookworms’, looking to solve ‘the questions’ however upon reading the back cover, I soon discovered what this book was about.
The questions are of good difficulty for the age range; however, some younger children may struggle with some of the puzzles. Harris’s unique, droll and witty writing style is suitable for older teens also, so I would suggest a range of 7-13+ (I am 14 and still found this book quite amusing!)
I like how there are free downloadable resources available for parents/teachers, and the fact that the stories may be photocopied for educational purposes; this would especially work well for group teaching settings.
