After the success of the young adult novel Olga (Read my review here) Ted Kelsey takes up his writing to another exciting and hilarious level in Shasha and Wally Watson VS. The Faker.
Kelsey did it again with his signature snappy, witty, conversations and this time brought into consciousness two characters that joins Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in the detective world. Meet siblings Shasha and Wally Watson, two distinct personalities who live in the same house with a hardworking mother and a former investigative reporter for a grandfather (whom they call ‘Grandad’).
The story gains momentum when someone knocks on the door of the Watson family’s home looking for a missing girl. From there, the story unfolded and we are absorbed in a novel which involves a boy who loves counting and a girl who thinks she is the world’s greatest detective only that the world does not know it yet.
I like this story better than Kelsey’s Olga – which I liked for the giants-meets-children turnout – because the main characters, Shasha and Wally, are so different and yet they worked together to solve a case. Bringing together all the characters in this novel required a great deal of directing and conducting. I actually pictured a director putting a movie together and a maestro waving his baton at the orchestra. Kelsey was able to do both jobs pretty well.
I picture the setting of the story to happen in a historic downtown of a city, which was once considered the center of trade and commerce but has now suffered a lackluster reputation. Having a rundown theatre in this story adds to that feel and I think it was perfect for Kelsey to include that in this story.
What I like in the two novels that Kelsey has written is his sensitivity to chapter length; they are neither too long or too short. I like that factored in novels of this genre.
The characters were downright fun to be with in the two hours that I read this story with occasional read aloud sessions when my five-month-old infant woke up for his milk break.
What I don’t seem to like in this book is the rather anti-climactic twist at the near-end part of the story when the antagonists have been captured but suddenly something suspicious happens. Well, it may be the jump off point for Shasha and Wally’s next case but I don’t like how that part ended. I think it would have been best to let the story end with a tea party.
And then there’s the matter of the identity of the missing girl, whose name I won’t mention in this review. Although her character was pivotal in the whole story, the nature of missing girl’s rather weird personality was not described in detail in this book. Maybe we’ll read more of her in the sequel.
Having mentioned the reading aloud session and a child, it follows that this book is a wholesome reading material for everyone in the family. Okay, I don’t expect my husband who reads books on zombies, doomsday, and vampires to read this but it can very well be a material that Daddy can read aloud at 8:00 p.m. on a Sunday night when everyone is done with dinner and are now seated in the living room for that night-before-manic-Monday moment.
My kids are still too young for the one-chapter-every-night routine – we’re still in the stage where Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are considered hallmarks of great literature – but I can really see myself having a printed copy of this book and reading one chapter every night to them. I’m already excited thinking about that.
I dig Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, and C.S. Lewis. I recently finished the four books of Miralee Ferrell’s Horses and Friends series and is now planning on exploring Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I am in the lookout for books under the teen and young adult genre with a splash of reading materials for older children in the mix. Two years of exposure – but feels like a lifetime – to Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, and Dr. Seuss makes you look forward and daydream about moving away from the rhyme-words-and-colorful-visuals genre.
After reading Kelsey’s second book, I think he has earned the honor to be added in my world famous (one that I shamelessly declare in this platform) list of authors whose works I will now look forward to reading and then recommend to my children.
I wasn’t exaggerating when I said in my Olga review that Kelsey is an upcoming YA writer to look forward to. He did it in Olga and he has done it again in Shasha and Wally Watson versus The Faker.
Really, don’t miss this man’s works. You’ll spend two hours of your life feeling young, carefree, and happy.
That’s a promise.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book from Story Cartel for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write positive reviews. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”.
