Review: A Nice Little Taste
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 27, 2013
These books and short stories are set in 1950's Britain, and many editorial reviews and descriptions compare them favorably to the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and the Famous Five series. The comparison to the work of Enid Blyton, especially her Famous Five and to a lesser extent the "... of Adventure" books, (which may be for a slightly older crowd), is particularly apt. That does mean you get a bit of an old fashioned read. No magic, no fantasy, no alternate dimensions, no prophecies or fairies or demons. Also, no teen angst, sibling rivalry, family drama, or school days bullying or trauma. These are calm books, and the characters talk, bicycle about, think through their next steps and try to reason out what their adventure is about. The derring do is within the realm of the plausible - climb a rope, follow a passage, explore a ruined castle, or hide in the shrubbery to watch the activities of smugglers. If your young reader has a taste for high fantasy or imaginary worlds, these probably won't fit the bill. If your reader likes to imagine himself or herself into a more grounded and possible adventure, then these books offer all of the raw material for a very satisfying daydream. You can mess about in boats, explore abandoned buildings, look for strange lights in the woods, follow clues, figure out codes, maybe even stowaway on a cargo plane or be abandoned or shipwrecked for a while on a mysterious island. Good stuff.All of that said, the Moxham books are more rewarding than the short stories, which shouldn't be surprising. In the books you have more characters, more red herrings, more adventures and ripping incidents. The short stories are nice little snacks. The kids are just sketched in because you are familiar with them. There are fewer scenes, a little less suspense and the wrap ups are a bit more pat. But, that's the nature of the short story and it shouldn't dissuade one from scooping them up to read as samplers, (or appetizers).  Consider this story. I've never explored an abandoned castle on a deserted island, as these kids do. But, I remember old farmhouse foundations amidst abandoned fields that served perfectly well as castle standins. Any bit of ground surrounded in some way by water can be a deserted island. Just about any hole in the side of a bank can be a cave. Any shrubby hill can be a lookout. And that weird neighbor down the street might be a spy. So I'm all set and this story can just help my imagination along. That's what I mean by calm and suggestive. I'm glad there are books and stories like these.Please note that I found this book while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.