Two Crafty Criminals!: and how they were Captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang
Set in late Victorian London, this features two adventures (not to mention the attendant misadventures) involving the New Cut Gang, a group of children who attempt to solve crimes in their neighborhood and, by luck as much as brains or pluck, manage to discover the culprits. In “Thunderbolt’s Waxwork,” young Thunderbolt’s pa is falsely accused of counterfeiting. In “The Gas-Fitters’ Ball,” Benny attempts to nab a thief, while the other gang members plot to break a friend out of jail. The two stories were first published in England in 1994 as the first and second (and evidently final) volumes of the New Cut Gang series. Pullman writes with the younger reader in mind, creating some larger-than-life characters and spicing the stories with humor, though some of the terms used may convey little to American children. New for this edition, Brown’s droll, expressive line drawings add to the book’s appeal. A possible read-aloud choice for Anglophile households.      High-Demand Backstory: Pullman is on of the best youth authors writing today. A new book from him always engenders interest. Grades 3-6. --Carolyn Phelan