A Mystery for Thoreau

Sixteen-year-old Oliver Puckle makes it his business to gather the news, as an employee of his uncle's publication, the /Concord Freeman/. His life in the small Massachusetts town is running as usual until a mystery is dropped on the town. As Oliver leads the charge to unravel the mystery, he looks to its most reclusive citizen, Mr. Thoreau, for help in finding the solution. This novel, published posthumously by its very prolific author, is entertaining and engaging. It is set in the year 1846, so the language may be a bit of a challenge for the young reader, but I think it's an excellent read and not at all too much of a challenge. Reviewed by Kim Shults

Writer Kin Platt (1911-2003) was known for a variety of work in his time, and he even won an Edgar Award in 1967 for Best Juvenile Mystery (for "Sinbad and Me"). After his death, his son Christopher sifted through a file of unpublished manuscripts and found this text. Thus can we have a "new" release that is technically posthumous. The tale is told by Oliver Puckle, a young journalist who works for the Concord Freeman, the newspaper serving Concord, Massachusetts, in the mid-1800s. We learn quite a bit about the town through Oliver's eyes, since he's been trained to pay attention to details. We can also understand his youthful emotional state when he becomes smitten with Margaret Roberts, a lovely woman newly arrived from Boston. But all is not idyllic here. When a local resident is murdered, Oliver wants to get to the bottom of the crime and to also find Miss Roberts, who has seemingly disappeared altogether. Oliver enlists the help of sheriff Sam Staples and of naturalist Henry David Thoreau, since the events happened near the latter's Walden Pond house. At the same time, we know that Thoreau cannot possibly be linked to the tragedy directly because when it happened, he was sitting in jail for deliberate non-payment of the state poll tax. Eventually the truth surfaces, and life resumes a normal pace. And Thoreau returns to the pond. Platt obviously did his homework before writing this historical YA novel. The setting has more historical accuracy than can be seen in some nonfiction books published in recent years. That's not to say that a few quirks didn't find their way onto the pages. Purists and native New Englanders might bristle at the author's use of the term "town square" for what is decidedly a quintessential "common." And Thoreau's mother shouldn't claim that she pays her own poll tax, when those bills were issued only to the adult males living in the Commonwealth. Still, "A Mystery for Thoreau" weaves an intriguing storyline. Teen readers may be nudged to learn more about some of the famous folk who make cameos here -- Thoreau, yes, but also Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott. This is a worthwhile read.

This is yet another great Kin Platt book. Young adult fiction at its best. Now they just need to do a re-printing of Sinbad and Me!