THE GREAT SHELBY HOLMES by Elizabeth Eulberg and WHEN ANGELS SING: THE STORY OF ROCK LEGEND CARLOS SANTANA by Michael Mahin

First, Big Congratulations to one of our Book Group members, Colleen Paeff, whose first book, The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem (Margaret K. McElderry, 2021) just received a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor from ALSC, a division of the American Library Association. Here's a complete list of all of the awardees and honorees:
https://ala.unikron.comYMA%202022%20Wrap%20Release%20FINAL_01212022.pdf

We had a great discussion at our last meeting and were mostly positive about both of our books. We began with our novel, The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg. We mostly liked the characters and the story, and thought it was quite clever, well-written, and excellently plotted. We agreed that it could have been a bit shorter...some readers got tired of all of the time spent being 'inside' of John Watson's head as he described meeting, getting to know, and finally being accepted as a friend of Shelby, a young female neighborhood super-sleuth a la Sherlock Holmes, while trying to solve the mystery of a missing dog, owned by a very rich family. It was Shelby who decided to just call John 'Watson' since there were several other 'Johns' that she knew. We liked the way the two of them and the other young folks in the story acted like real kids; the way they navigated living in New York without helicopter parents; and the realistic portrayal of a New York neighborhood with its shops and local characters. We felt it was great that Watson was the one telling the story, and that the Shelby/Watson relationship was quite similar to that in the actual Sherlock Holmes stories by A.C. Doyle. (The author is a fan.) There was some question as to why the author and illustrator chose to make Shelby white, while Watson and the rich family were black, since some of the actions and situations just didn't make sense, and nothing regarding their races was ever mentioned -- only shown in the illustrations. One reader felt it was a 'cute story,' but she didn't 'buy' the fact that Watson's mom, a black woman, was an Afghanistan veteran who now worked at Columbia University, as well as a few other plot points, such as no explanation of why Watson's parents were separated, even though Watson's dad was constantly in his thoughts. We particularly liked the way the writer kept the mystery going, and a few of us really wanted to know 'whodunit' -- the answer to which we finally got, very near the end of the book -- after several very well-plotted misdirections. We all felt that kids in the intended readers' age group would enjoy the story, and it would be a great introduction into reading mysteries.

We all loved our picture book, When Angels Sing: The Story of Rock Legend Carlos Santana by Michael Mahin; illustrated by Jose Ramirez. We agreed that the colorful, vibrant illustrations were marvelous, and we loved the musical poetry of the text. We felt that by using the second person, "When you were born..." the writer puts us directly into Carlos' head as he tries to figure out his place in the world of music -- listening, trying out different instruments, feeling that music makes angels real, and trying to find his own angels as he continues to grow and improve his musical skill. We see his creativity flourish as he internalizes different genres of music and is also aware of the problematic world around him in the late 1960s and his wish to use music as a uniter between people comes to a guitar-riffing, cymbal-clashing climax at Woodstock in 1969, where the 400,000 music fans in attendance cheer for his multicultural band. A link to that performance is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPauXWjY4T8  We felt that young readers who are interested in music would enjoy this short picture book biography, and might be interested in further exploring the resources that are mentioned in the Back Matter of the book.