Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1944
WEBSITE: http://www.jimeldridge.com/
CITY: Kent, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY:
http://www.jimeldridge.com/chief-inspector-stark-novels/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
Note from sketch writer: Dozens of other books at British National Union Catalog, including children’s books under pseudonym Lee James
=====
LOC AUTHORITY:
LC control no.: nr2003024453
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/nr2003024453
HEADING: Eldridge, Jim, 1944-
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100 1_ |a Eldridge, Jim, |d 1944-
370 __ |a London (England) |e Cumbria (England) |2 naf
372 __ |a Children’s literature |a Motion picture authorship |a Radio authorship |a Television authorship |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Authors |a Screenwriters |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Men |2 lcsh
377 __ |a eng
400 1_ |a Eldridge, J. |q (Jim), |d 1944-
500 1_ |w nnnc |a James, Lee, |d 1944-
500 1_ |w nnnc |a James, Eldridge, |d 1944-
663 __ |a For works of this author entered under other names, search also under: |b James, Lee, 1944-; |b James, Eldridge, 1944-
670 __ |a London siege, 2003: |b t.p. (J. Eldridge) cover (Jim Eldridge) half-title (b. 1944, London; lives in rural Cumbria; writes mostly for television and radio)
670 __ |a Deadly skies, 1999: |b t.p. (J. Eldridge) BL AL sent 23 Nov. 2000
670 __ |a RLIN, July 28, 2003 |b (hdg.: Eldridge, Jim, 1944-; Eldridge, J.; usage: Jim Eldridge; J. Eldridge)
670 __ |a Jim Eldridge’s website, 9 Apr. 2010: |b credits (lists writings for TV and radio; also books, incl. those publ. by Puffin, Scholastic, Red Fox, Robert Hale, etc.; has also written under the name Lee James for Bloomsbury) |u http://www.jimeldridge.com/index.htm
670 __ |a Death in Drygulch, 2010: |b t.p. (Eldridge James) t.p. verso (c. Jim Eldridge)
670 __ |a Wikipedia, Aug. 23, 2016 |b (Jim Eldridge (born November 1944) is an English radio, film and television screenwriter with hundreds of radio and TV scripts broadcast in the United Kingdom and across the world in a career spanning over 30 years ; Occupation: Children’s author and screenwriter ; Genre: Comedy, drama, adventure, science fiction)
PERSONAL
Born November, 1944, in London, England; married.
EDUCATION:Trained as a teacher.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked as a schoolteacher in Luton, England, 1970s; full-time writer, 1978-. Works as radio and television scriptwriter, with more than 500 scripts to his credit; writer for children and young adults, sometimes under pseudonym Lee James; author of fiction and nonfiction for adults.
AWARDS:Shared Royal Television Society Award for best children’s drama series, 1988, for Bad Boyes.
WRITINGS
Author of nearly one hundred books for adults and children, published almost exclusively in the United Kingdom. Book series include “Black Ops,” “Disgusting Dave,” “Malichea Quest,” “My Story,” and “Wrestling Trolls.” Television credits as creator and writer include Bad Boyes, Ghost Hunter, Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde, and Powers. Creator and writer of the radio series King Street Junior, broadcast by BBC-Radio 4, 1985-98.
SIDELIGHTS
Jim Eldridge is a veteran British scriptwriter and author. He grew up in London in the 1950s and worked at odd jobs in the 1960s, including appearances as a performance poet. Eldridge worked as a writer in the 1970s while supporting himself with teaching assignments. In 1978 he committed himself to a full-time writing career.
A Versatile Portfolio
Eldridge has written hundreds of radio and television scripts, mainly for the children’s market. His radio career began in 1970, with a little series called Parsley Sidings. He achieved greater success as the creator (and writer) of King Street Junior, a children’s series that ran for more than a decade.
Eldridge got his first television break in 1978 with Time of My Life, a short situation comedy series about a poor fellow whose story begins when he’s fired from his job and spirals downward from there. British viewers might also remember him from several “Uncle Jack” adventure series, the short-lived Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde, and Bad Boyes, which earned a Royal Television Society Award for best children’s drama series in 1988. In 2004 he became the creator and scriptwriter for the teen science fiction miniseries Powers.
By the 1990s Eldridge was a well-established book author, primarily for young readers. Since 1972 he has published one hundred or more books for all ages, in genres ranging from juvenile silliness to science fiction to joke books to biographies of historical figures. For young adults Eldridge has favored fictional stories based on historical events, with an emphasis on World Wars I and II. Examples include The Trenches: Billy Stevens, the Western Front 1914-1918; Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 1942-1944; and Flying Ace: Jack Fairfax, Royal Flying Corps 1915-1918, whose hero will make an encore appearance of sorts as a murder victim in a later novel. One series that found acceptance with adults and young people alike was “Black Ops,” a collection of combat adventure stories about a brotherhood of special forces heroes, including the volumes Jungle Kill, Death in the Desert, and Urban Assassin.
The Inspector Stark Mysteries
In 2017 Eldridge made his debut as an adult mystery writer. His protagonist is Inspector Paul Stark of the London Metropolitan Police, a crime fighter in the politically sensitive years following World War I. Stark is a widowed veteran and family man. His partner is Detective Sergeant Robert Danvers, who is estranged from his upper-class family but perhaps not far enough removed from their circle of influence. Both men harbor secrets that could compromise their investigations—or their lives.
Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery begins one day in 1921, when anti-Communist cabinet minister Lord Amersham is assassinated in front of his home. Stark’s services are solicited by no less a dignitary than Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies and a colleague of Amersham’s. Churchill points the finger of blame for Amersham’s murder on the Bolsheviks. Special Branch suspects the Irish Republicans, who are agitating for home rule against Amersham’s strenuous objections. Danvers interviews Lady Amelia Fairfax, a childhood acquaintance with a Communist connection, but he thinks the assassin could actually be his own father, whose wife may have been the object of Amersham’s romantic advances. Then someone else is murdered, a man who seems to have no enemies at all. His assassination sets off a series of killings that has the upper class on edge.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews appreciated the historical setting of this mystery but offered special commendation to Eldridge, who “depicts his lead characters with complexity and compassion.” Booklist commentator Michele Leber also noted the “appealing cast” and the postwar political intrigue. She called Assassins “a smart start to a proposed series.”
The suspense intensifies later that year in Shadows of the Dead: An Inspector Stark Mystery, when “flying ace” Jack Fairfax, now Lord Fairfax and ex-husband of Lady Amelia, is found gruesomely poisoned in his home, along with an American man of mystery named Carl Adams. Either victim could have been the target of the assassin, but the investigation focuses at first on the known quantity—Fairfax. Churchill steps in again, this time to raise the specter of a revenge killing related to Lord Jack’s wartime service in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
In the meantime, however, Stark has received an anonymous letter accusing Lady Amelia of the murder, and his boss emphasizes that poison is typically a woman’s weapon of choice. Stark could rule her out as a suspect, but he would have to reveal that she was with him at the time—as his secret lover. He chooses to pause the love affair for the sake of her reputation and his career, while Danvers pursues an alternate line of investigation. His own mother (and possible former love interest of the late Lord Amersham) provides intriguing clues about the other victim, Carl Adams. They lead the investigators to the flamboyant British playwright Noel Coward and promising film director Alfred Hitchcock and, through them, to a potential Hollywood connection.
The postwar political situation in England and growing economic unrest set the scene for multiple conspiracy options. The personal entanglements of the protagonists add flavor to the suspense. “It’s all quite the tangled web,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly commentator described Stark as “a sensitive man with genuine depth,” albeit a “complicated private life.” The result, according to that critic: a “splendid second mystery.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2016, Michele Leber, review of Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery, p. 52.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2017, review of Shadows of the Dead: An Inspector Stark Mystery.
Publishers Weekly, August 8, 2016, review of Assassins, p. 46; March 13, 2017, review of Shadows of the Dead, p. 61.
Resource Links, February, 2007, Philip Mills, review of The Trenches: Billy Stevens, the Western Front 1914-1918, p. 31; April, 2007, Philip Mills, reviews of Flying Ace: Jack Fairfax, Royal Flying Corps 1915-1918 and Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 1942-1944, p. 43.
ONLINE
Jim Eldridge Home Page, http://www.jimeldridge.com (April 16, 2017).
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (Oct 1, 2016), review of Assassins.
Jim Eldridge is an author and scriptwriter. He has had 90 books published which have sold over three million copies. He has had over 250 TV and 250 radio scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world.
He is the creator and writer of Radio 4’s long-running KING STREET JUNIOR, CBBCTV’s Sci-fi drama POWERS, and was a key member of the writing teams on THE GHOST HUNTER and JULIA JEKYLL AND HARRIET HYDE, as well as many more TV and radio series. Two of his TV movies have had theatrical releases. His books include the best-selling MY STORY series, DISGUSTING DAVE, BLACK OPS,WRESTLING TROLLS and THE MALICHEA QUEST Series.
Trenches UA Roman Invasion D. Dave Dog
Biog:
Jim Eldridge was born in the Kings Cross/Euston area of north London in November 1944. He left school at 16 and did a variety of jobs, before training as a teacher. He taught during the 1970s in disadvantaged areas of Luton, while at the same time writing. He became a full-time writer in 1978. He lives with his wife in Kent.
To get any of Jim’s books, order through the publishers at their websites, or your bookshop, or www.amazon.co.uk
You can also read reviews of Jim’s books at:
http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/author/1497/Jim-Eldridge.html
To get in touch with Jim, e-mail him at: jimeldridge@jimeldridge.force9.co.uk
For his children’s and Young Adult books, Jim is represented by Hilary Delamere at The Agency, London, UK.
Contact: hd-office@theagency.co.uk
website: www.theagency.co.uk
For his adult fiction, Jim is represented by Jane Conway-Gordon.
Contact: jane@conway-gordon.co.uk
Jim Eldridge Interview
Posted on 03 May 2005. © Copyright 2004-2017 WriteWords
A longer version of this interview is available to WriteWords Full and Community Members.
Click here to learn more about becoming a member.
Jim Eldridge has written over 250 TV and radio scripts and has sold over 1 million books worldwide.
How do you find writers?
I first started writing for pleasure (poems and stories) as a child. Then, in 1965, I found an audience for the poems I was writing, and became a Performance Poet. I appeared at various venues, and also appeared in 1968 as guest poet on John Peel’s Radio 1 show, before deciding my future lay in scriptwriting.
Who are your favourite writers and why?
I like George Orwell because of his view of society … he bows neither to Right nor Left, but tells it like it is, particularly in “Animal Farm” and “1984”.
Books I reread for pleasure include Georges Simenon’s “Maigret”; and also P G Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” books.
I am an avid reader of crime fiction, and am currently enjoying Henning Mankell.
How did you get your first agent/ commission?
In 1970 I sent the manuscript of a novel to a literary agent in London, and they took me on. Although they couldn’t get that novel published (and it remains unpublished) they got me some writing work, writing a thriller (published in 1971) called “Down Payment on Death”..
Also, in 1970 I sent an idea to BBC Radio Light Entertainment Dept about a small rural railway station. It was called “Parsley Sidings” and the BBC cast Arthur Lowe, Ian Lavender, Kenneth Connor & Liz Fraser in it. We recorded a pilot show, which went out on Radio 2, and did well, and I got a series. Then followed a second series. In 1978 I sold an idea for a sitcom to BBCTV. This was called “Time of My Life”. BBC suggested I used an agent who was familiar with TV rather than a book agent. They recommended Sheila Lemon, an experienced agent who had just set up her own agency. I joined Sheila, and since then her agency has expanded to become The Agency. Sadly, Sheila died in 1998, but I remain with the same Agency, and they are invaluable to me.
What's the worst thing about writing?
Working on a new idea, taking it through development, and then finding out that someone else has had the same idea and has got to production/ publication ahead of you … so all that work has been in vain. (Although I usually recycle ideas I love in another format).
And the best?
Being paid for doing something I love.
Tell us what kind of responses you get from audiences\ readers.
When writing for TV and radio, if the audience don’t like the work you have produced they won’t watch/listen to it … which means that producers won’t hire you/ commission you … and so your writing career will vanish.
I have been very lucky: My radio 4 series “King Street Junior” has been running for 20 years, and is still very popular with the audience; and every TV show I’ve either created or worked on for BBCTV’s Children’s Dept over the last 20 years has been in the Top Ten. This has meant I’ve been able to carry on writing for 35 years, and am still working today. So, to answer: I am very influenced by my audience.
What was your breathrough moment?
Getting the commission to write the pilot of “Parsley Sidings” by BBC Radio in 1970.
What inspires you to write?
Everything. I just love doing it. It’s like breathing, I can’t imagine not doing it.
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Print Marked Items
Eldridge, Jim: SHADOWS OF THE DEAD
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Eldridge, Jim SHADOWS OF THE DEAD Creme de la Crime (Adult Fiction) $28.99 5, 1 ISBN: 9781780290959
In order to save the woman he loves from a charge of capital murder, must a veteran detective reveal their affair?
London, November 1921. DCI Paul Stark is in bed with his secret ladylove, Amelia Fairfax, when she receives a call
informing her that her exhusband, the esteemed Lord Fairfax, has been murdered along with a guest, mysterious
American Carl Adams. Stark's ethical dilemma is made no easier by an anonymous letter he receives identifying
Amelia as the killer. Both men were poisoned, and Stark's superior at Scotland Yard, DCS Benson, points out that
poison is traditionally a woman's weapon. Should Stark provide Amelia with an alibi that would vindicate her while
exposing her to social ostracism? The secretary of state, who happens to be Winston Churchill, presses for a quick
solution to the case. Deciding that he can't keep the affair a secret, Stark ends his affair with Amelia for the duration of
the case. Meanwhile, Stark's trusted sidekick, DS Danvers, learns more about sketchy Carl Adams from his own
mother, of all people. Stark and Danvers question Noel Coward in his dressing room. Both interviews implicate flashy
American movie mogul Edgar Cavendish, who visits Stark at Scotland Yard and dismisses the notion that Adams was
the target. <
The second case from Eldridge (Assassins, 2016) features colorful characters, crisp prose, and interesting nuggets of
history.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Eldridge, Jim: SHADOWS OF THE DEAD." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485105372&it=r&asid=0ee93098832365ebd374ac48c636f5d2.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485105372
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A Shadows of the Dead: An Inspector Stark
Mystery
Publishers Weekly.
264.11 (Mar. 13, 2017): p61.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* A Shadows of the Dead: An Inspector Stark Mystery
Jim Eldridge. Creme de la Crime, $28.99 (256p) ISBN 9781780290959
Set in 1921, Eldridge's <
(after 2016's Assassins) finds Stark in an awkward position. He has become the lover of Lady Amelia Fairfax, an affair
that could cost him his job if it is revealed. When Lady Amelia's exhusband and a visiting American are murdered, the
motive and, indeed, the main target of the crime are not at all clear: was it Lord Fairfax, a former colleague of Winston
Churchill's at the War Office, or the mysterious American? As he investigates, Stark begins to realize that the motive
may be something far beyond a simple vendetta. Stark is <>, whose <
and the potentially treacherous political undercurrents that could reshape Europe. Cameo appearances by such people
as a young actor named Noel Coward and an ambitious aspiring film director named Alfred Hitchcock add lightness.
(May)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"A Shadows of the Dead: An Inspector Stark Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 13 Mar. 2017, p. 61. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485971630&it=r&asid=ee65cacbae89c815fb78e1166fe92595.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485971630
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Assassins
Michele Leber
Booklist.
113.1 (Sept. 1, 2016): p52.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Assassins. By Jim Eldridge. Oct. 2016. 240p. Creme de la Crime, $29.99 (9781780290881); paper (9781780295718);
ebook (9781780107981).
The assassination of a nobleman in broad daylight in front of his London house in 1921 upsets the ruling class. DCI
Paul Stark of Scotland Yard, who heads the case, soon hears about probable suspects: Secretary of State for the
Colonies Winston Churchill fingers the Bolsheviks, while Special Branch detectives look to the Irish, as talks about the
Irish Free State are going on. Stark's boss is just ordering him to find a scapegoat when more assassinations occur, soon
enabling Stark to find a connection between victims and identify the killer, even as a greater threat is posed. Eldridge
presents an <
now lives with his parents, who help care for his eightyearold son; and his able assistant, DS Robert Danvers, who's
estranged from his upperclass father for his choice of occupation. <>, with politics
threaded through procedure, plus a hint of romance. Michele Leber
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Leber, Michele. "Assassins." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2016, p. 52. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463755120&it=r&asid=b7dabebdcc31fad626b7d2116c677b98.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
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Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery
Publishers Weekly.
263.32 (Aug. 8, 2016): p46.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery
Jim Eldridge. Creme de la Crime, $29.99 (256p) ISBN 9781780290881
YA author Eldridge (The Lethal Target) makes his adult debut, a historical mystery launch, with mixed results. In
October 1921, Winston Churchill, at the time secretary of states for the Colonies, asks Det. Chief Insp. Paul Stark of
Scotland Yard to investigate the murder of Lord Amersham, a cabinet minister, who was gunned down in front of his
London home. Churchill is certain that Bolsheviks were behind the assassination. Meanwhile, Special Branch
inspectors Burns and Rogers would like Stark to look into Amersham's involvement with the Irish delegation
negotiating for home rule. The skeptical Stark, aided by Det. Sgt. Robert Danvers, pursues other leads as well, one of
which ends up having a personal connection. Danvers's sister, Lettie, reveals to her brother that their father, jealous of
Amersham's attentions to their mother, may have wanted the man dead. Other murders follow, building up to a
dramatic, if not fully plausible, denouement. A romantic subplot feels forced. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Assassins: An Inspector Stark Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 8 Aug. 2016, p. 46. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460900367&it=r&asid=53ad745fcce73652ee46692caaed7dab.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460900367
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Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 19421944
(My Story Series)
Philip Mills
Resource Links.
12.4 (Apr. 2007): p43.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Resource Links
http://www.atcl.ca
Full Text:
Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
ELDRIDGE, Jim
Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 19421944 (My Story Series)
Scholastic Canada, 2007. 187p. Gr. 610. 9780439935524. Pbk. $6.99
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Students will really enjoy this novel. It is excellent for the junior grades as well as high school reluctant readers. The
short novel could be used in the grade 10 history course for additional reading for an eager student. Paul Lelaud is a
young boy, almost 13, and he hates his proNazi teacher. The new French government in Vichy is in charge. Paul's
father was killed in action when the German army invaded. He hates the fact that everyone in his town seems to
support the Nazis. Why are his Uncle, the town merchants, and even the local aristocrat so friendly to the soldiers?
Paul hates what he sees and has to live with in the town, as he sees everyone as cowards. He refuses to agree with the
teacher that he and the other French boys will soon be ready to join the German forces. He beats up the teacher and
lands in jail. His Uncle eventually bribes the jailer and gets Paul out, and tells him he was stupid because he would
have been shot for what he did, if he had stayed in jail. His uncle decides to bring Paul in and he becomes part of the
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resistance. That was why everyone was friendly to the Nazi soldiers; the resistance smuggled spies to England, and did
not want to attract Nazi attention.
The book contains black and white photographs, a time line, and historical notes.
Thematic Links: World War II; French Underground; History
Mills, Philip
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Mills, Philip. "Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 19421944 (My Story Series)." Resource Links, Apr. 2007, p. 43.
General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA164257814&it=r&asid=6df4b26dabefa1640aee945322e64185.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
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Flying Ace: Jack Fairfax, Royal Flying Corps
19151918 (My Story Series)
Philip Mills
Resource Links.
12.4 (Apr. 2007): p43.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Resource Links
http://www.atcl.ca
Full Text:
Good, even great at times, generally useful!
ELDRIDGE, Jim
Flying Ace: Jack Fairfax, Royal Flying Corps 19151918 (My Story Series)
Scholastic Canada, 2007. 158p. Illus. Gr. 610. 9780439935517. Pbk. $6.99
At the beginning of the novel, Jack Fairfax, soon to be Lord Fairfax, is at a British boarding school and we learn all
about his 'boarding school highjinks'. I found the early part of the book to move slowly and didn't like the boarding
school part with the canings from the Headmaster.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
After school finished, Jack wanted to get into the Flying Corps. It was easier to get into the Corps if you already knew
how to fly, so Jack and his friend enrolled at a private flying school. His father truly wished him to join the traditional
family regiment, the Royal Scotts Dragoon Guards, but Jack, a teenager, had his own ideas. All the young men were
eager to learn to fly. It was a new innovation. Jack went through the war in his early teens in the Flying Corps first as
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an aerial observer, gunner, and then pilot. We learn about Fokkers, Sopwiths, De Havillands and other planes used in
WW1. Jack tells us his and his comrades flying stories until he is wounded and sent home to recover at the tender age
of 21 as the War comes to a close. His brother was killed in the trenches, and Jack assumes his title as Lord Fairfax.
The book contains an epilogue, a time line, historical notes, and black and white photographs
Thematic Links: World War I; Great Britain; Flying Corps; History
Mills, Philip
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Mills, Philip. "Flying Ace: Jack Fairfax, Royal Flying Corps 19151918 (My Story Series)." Resource Links, Apr.
2007, p. 43. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA164257813&it=r&asid=41cb4c667cb8e8a63aac39d9f138e175.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
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Smalley, Roger. The Adventures of Marco Polo - NOT SAME GUY!
Francisca Goldsmith
Booklist.
101.14 (Mar. 15, 2005): p1308.
COPYRIGHT 2005 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Smalley, Roger. The Adventures of Marco Polo. Illus. by Brian Bascle. 2005.32p. index. Capstone, lib. ed., $16.95 (0
736838309). 910.4.
West, David and Gaff, Jackie. Hernan Cortes: The Life of a Spanish Conquistador. Illus. by Jim Eldridge. 2005.48p.
index. Rosen, lib. ed., $26.50 (1404202447). 972.
Gr. 46. Debuting this spring are two curriculumconnected, fullcolor comics series aimed at elementary and middlegraders:
Capstone's Graphic Library and Rosen's Graphic Nonfiction. Both series cling to popular socialscience topics,
with an eye toward multiculturalism (e.g., both offer volumes about Harriet Tubman), and though the individual
volumes have been created by diverse authors and illustrators, the series themselves each have a consistent look and
feel. Both include glossaries and other appendixes for student use; they also have tight bindings that will help them
circulate longer, but may intrude on their appeal to reluctant readers.
Marco Polo is an engaging introduction to the Italian explorer's travels to the court of Kublai Khan, with art that
occasionally rises above simple illustration to provide narrative content. A good representative of the series, it uses a
broad approach to its subject's life and achievements, and it includes traditional narrative front matter (written at a
higher level than the main text) and maps, which are often overly busy.
Cortes, like others in the series, focuses on one aspect of its subject's life, and creators have been careful to include
Native American and female viewpoints in their depiction of Cortes' contact with the Aztecs. The illustrations make
cunning use of Aztec glyphs, but otherwise add no new information.Francisca Goldsmith
Goldsmith, Francisca
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Goldsmith, Francisca. "Smalley, Roger. The Adventures of Marco Polo." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2005, p. 1308. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA131083356&it=r&asid=d6d157e5a7da4bad233cae74c3e68468.
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The Trenches: Billy Stevens, the Western Front
19141918 (My Story Series)
Philip Mills
Resource Links.
12.3 (Feb. 2007): p31.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Resource Links
http://www.atcl.ca
Full Text:
Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
ELDRIGE, Jim
The Trenches: Billy Stevens, The Western Front 19141918 (My Story Series)
Scholastic Canada, 2006. 139p. Illus. Gr. 510. 9780439938822. Pbk. $6.99
The Trenches: Billy Stevens, The Western Front 19141918 would be an excellent reading resource for high school
Canadian history units on WWI. The story is fast paced and realistic. The boys in the book are not much older than the
students in the grade ten class. The horror and futility of the long drawn out stalemate is so realistic you can almost feel
and smell the surroundings in the trench.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Billy Stevens and his lifelong playmate enroll in the army at their first opportunity. Both are underage. Billy trains as a
Royal Engineer because he had a part time civilian job as a Morse Code operator at the local train station and is trained
to be responsible for the communication lines. His friend is in the infantry at the front and Billy is faced with the fact of
his death.
4/10/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
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Thematic Links: World War, 19141918; Trench Warfare
Mills, Philip
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Mills, Philip. "The Trenches: Billy Stevens, the Western Front 19141918 (My Story Series)." Resource Links, Feb.
2007, p. 31. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA160193341&it=r&asid=8afb3b29144c92a0aeab99a8211b2c23.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A160193341
ASSASSINS
by Jim Eldridge
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KIRKUS REVIEW
Against a backdrop of political unrest, a multiple murderer wreaks havoc in post–World War I Britain.
October 1921. Shots are fired outside the residence of Lord Amersham’s home in Regent’s Park. When Scotland Yard DCI Paul Stark arrives with his sergeant, Robert Danvers, he’s confronted by a furious Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Three bullets found their mark, indicating that the killer was an experienced gunman. Amersham’s vocal opposition to both the British Communist Party and the fight for Irish independence made him the target of many. Suspicion naturally falls on charismatic Irish Republican Army leader Michael Collins, who at first bristles under Stark’s questions but ultimately offers his assistance. As Danvers tangles with Lady Amelia Fairfax, a childhood friend who’s now a Communist sympathizer and sponsor, Stark shakes loose the name of a suspect, hotheaded Daniel Harker, whose gun doesn’t match the murder weapon. The contentious relationship Amersham had with Danvers’ parents provides awkward complications. Should the sergeant protect his family or come clean with his boss? A second, equally efficient murder intensifies the urgency of the investigation. Kind, gentle MP Tobias Smith, shot in his home, was very different from Amersham, reportedly having no enemies. A group calling itself “The Hand of Justice” takes credit for the murders in a threatening letter to the press. Who could they be?
Besides providing interesting nuggets of history, Eldridge <
Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2016
ISBN: 9781780290881
Page count: 246pp
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Review Posted Online: July 20th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1st, 2016