Sherlock Holmes Connection by Martin Widmark, Katarina Genar, Anushka Ravishankar and Bikram Gosh and published by Duckbill Books was a wonderful gripping and political a book, through this adults eyes. 

It’s a children’s chapter book. A dear friend and a library educator encouraged me to read Anushka Ravishankar’s hook books and this one had a story by her and some other brilliant children’s book writers. 

Reading this book as an adult has taken me to many places in my heart. I’ll leave the typical blurb in the next image so you know the landscape of the book. I however want to immerse myself in the heart of this book, atleast what it was for me. 

As someone who holds space for young people and squeals in excitement at their straight talking and wise being, reading about young people be supported in their voice, in their curiosity, in the ways in which these can 

be cultivated pleasured me endlessly.

You’ll find two women( Anna and Martha Watson) from Watson’s lineage appearing in the lives of young people in these stories, to support their curiosity, informed intuition, and knowingness. 

Having hunches, collecting clues, swirling in riddles, making deductions, following leads, gathering evidence, waiting and letting answers come, oh! What joy there is in reading about mystery and how young people come to answers, to save friends, to find family and make friends. 

The stories by both the Indian writers are incredibly pertinent to the fascist nation we are becoming and ways in which young people are protesting, resisting and engaging to build a kinder, more just world. 

In a world where adult literature is increasingly become hard to read for me, I find that children’s chapter books allow me to engage in the world in a softer, gentler and more welcoming manner. 

Children’s books are political and in being so they are also gentler, they transport me to a place where I can look at the world and engage in it too without being incredibly angry or resentful. This book did that for me. 

Oh and..you’ll also know by the end of the book what makes a really good detective.

Take a guess…is it Sherlock Holmes or Dr. John Watson? Or someone else?