Detectives in Togas

Rating:
Summary: A great mix of fun and mystery
Review: My fifth grade class just read this book for our reading group. It was amazing! The suspense and the humor added just the right touch to this woderful book. I won't give too much away because it would ruin yhe suspense. Seven young Romans attend the Xanthos school. Two students, Rufus and Caius, get into a fight over a tablet reading 'Caius is a Dumbell' that Rufus wrote. The next day in red paint, the same thing is written on a temple dedicated to the Emperor, who is Caius' father! But rufus is innocent. I really enjoyed this book, and you will too! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A great mystery
Review: Roman history, boring? You wouldn't think so, reading "Detectives in Togas." Seven high-spirited Roman boys and their crabby teacher make up the cast of this outstanding head-scratcher, set in the heydey of Rome's domination.

Rufus disrupted Xantippus's class by writing "Caius is a dumbbell" on a tablet, provoking Caius to start yelling. In the blink of an eye, Rufus has been thrown out of the schoolmates, alarming his classmates. What's even more alarming is that the same message is scrawled on a sacred temple's wall the next day -- in Rufus's handwriting. This act of sacrilege will destroy Rufus's life, and for some reason he won't deny it.

The day of the defacing, Xantippus's house is robbed and the wax tablet is taken, but the robber leaves behind a beautiful golden brooch. The boys go to the soothsayer Lukos, but that goes horribly wrong when the soothsayer chases them out, and they leave behind Mucius, who then proceeds to fall into the Baths of Diana -- discovering that Rufus spent the night there before. The boys soon become enmeshed in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse centering on politics, money and revenge.

Henry Winterfield clearly had solid memories of being a teenage boys. His gaggle of young boys are entirely realistic -- they bicker, they make idiots of themselves, they make all the wrong decisions, they all have distinct personalities. With a cast including seven young boys from similar backgrounds, you would think that they would all be the same, but Winterfield manages to make each one unique. Xantippus is the crabby grandfather with a marshmallowy interior. He clearly cares about all the boys, but is impatient about their blunders.

Kids may leave this charming mystery with a wish to learn a little more about Rome (and to read the sequel, of course). And don't be surprised if you hear someone shouting, "Mike asinus est!"

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Summary: Review of Detectives in Togas -by Sean Cook
Review: This book is a comical mystery about seven rich boys who live in ancient Rome and go to the Xanthos school for boys. Cauis isn't very bright, Rufus is the class clown, Aucius is a hard worker, Flavius is the slow boy, Antonius is the fast boy, Publius is the poorest one, and Julius is the boy with the best ideas. In the beginning of the book, Cauis and Rufus pick a fight with each other. Rufus, the class clown wrote, "Cauis is a dumbbell" on a writing tablet. The teacher cruelly punishes Rufus and kicks him out of school. The next day, when the teacher didn't show up for school, they went to his house and found him manacled. Everything in his house was demolished. The same day, another crime was committed. Graffiti was found on the temple wall that was dedicated to Cauis' father, Senator Vinivius...I think this was a great book with an unbelievable ending. The ending was so awesome because I never saw it coming.

Rating:
Summary: Good and Bad
Review: This book is full of adventure and mystery. However this book have a lot of grmmer mistakes. I recomend this book to young readers that likes mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: Not just a kid book
Review: This book is suitable for any ages. It's so funny and deftly written I was laughing on the bus and everyone though I was nuts. Read it and see why...

It starts around dawn, when two boys at a prestigious school have a fight, and one of them gets kicked out. Later, he's accused of a horrible crime and arrested, and his friends all rush to save him.

The author skillfully puts in all the boys, and you get to know them along the way. Rufus (the one who's kind of poor; his father's a general, who cause the trouble; Caius (the oaf, who fought with Rufus), Mucius (the leader, hard-working and a little pompous at times), Julius (the bright one, with sound logic and perception), Antonius (the daredevil with an active imagination), Publius (the wit, sarcastic and sceptical), and Flavius (timid and meek but has nice writing).

Blending historical fact with hilarious blunders, rich with snappy dialogue and runaway clues, it's highyl enjoyable from the start all the way to the surprise ending. I love it!

Rating:
Summary: Not Worth the Money or Time
Review: This delightful mystery set in the time of ancient Rome gives in depth details of the life of a Roman without your child realizing they are reading about historical culture!! It has all the elements of a good book - suspenseful mystery, vivid imagery, intriguing characters, humor, friendship, enemies, and danger.

Young students of a Greek schoolteacher have an argument that culminate with a mean statement written on a student's wax tablet. When that same statement is found written in red paint on the emperor's temple the next morning, their young friend finds himself in serious trouble. But are things as they seem? If you are like me, you won't figure this one out 'til the very end!


Rating:
Summary: Detectives in Togas Review
Review: This is one of the best ancient fiction novels I have read. It teaches a lot about ancient rome yet keeps the reader entwined in its exciting plot. I have been to Rome recently and I think I saw the very temple that may have been defaced (but my father doesn't think so). Anyhow, its a great story, unlike any other books I have read.