E-Wally and the Quest is a children's book that should appeal to all ages. Not since an eleven-year old wizard joined our household, has a book enthralled all members of our home. As computer network engineers, my husband and I were excited to find a book that takes the complex and often confusing land of the Internet and makes it understandable to even the least technical reader. Our children, ages 7 and 9, have learned a great deal about what Mom and Dad do at work. This wonderful book opened a communication channel for our family and has been the catalyst for several lengthy conversations. Even a non-tech family should find a great deal for discussion as the book tackles such subjects as Internet ethics, fighting for a cause and helping your friends even when it is not easy to do so. As one friend suggested, "Maybe my kids can use it to explain the whole thing (Internet) to me".

While I would strongly encourage families to read E-Wally together, educators will also find this book an inspiring tool for the classroom.

Pay particular attention to "Releve", the story contributed by Patricia Wallace and her daughter. This story introduces us to Sydney Bryant, the private eye that Pat Wallace has featured in a terrific series for adults. The titles in the series include "Deadly Devotion" and "Blood Lies".

Other outstanding stories include those by Wendy Hornsby, Scott Turow, Stuart Kaminsky, and Sharyn McCrumb (and their collaborators). This is a book that parents can read and enjoy with their children. It might inspire them to collaborate on some mystery stories of their own!

I look forward to reading the companion volume, "Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories". I

"When you think of a mystery, what comes to mind? A dark secret? An unsolved crime? A curious detective hunting for clues?"

The only mystery, the only secret, the only crime is how this anthology could be so easily overlooked. "Great Writers and Kids Write Mystery Stories" (1996) is a collection of stories written by some of today's greatest mystery authors in collaboration with their children and grandchildren. Jonathan Kellerman, Sharyn McCrumb, and Scott Turow are three of the thirteen award-winning writers that create wonderous whodunits with their offspring, ages 6 to adult.

While written at about the junior high/ middle school level, this complilation is enjoyable to all. The stories are five to several pages. Some are written with the child as the amateur detective, some are written as a type of psychological thriller.

The introduction serves as a "mini-lesson" on mystery writing. And, each story features a short personal introduction by the adult and child writing team on what it was like to collaborate on their included story. Other contributors include Barbara D'Amato, Ed Gorman, Stuart Kaminsky, Elizabeth Engstrom, and many others.

This book has the unique ability to be educational as well as entertaining. Those that enjoy this book may also enjoy the first volume as well: "Great Writers and Kids Write Spooky Stories" (1995).

We pick up the plot in medias res--the hero has stumbled, uninspired through a few years of peacetime which hold none of the promise that seemed evident prior to the war. The author does a good job of plugging us into this man-and-his-family plot without either the soap suds or a preachy tone taking over. Nothing in the book is a particular revelation--there are no real gasps in the plot. But the enterprise is carried off in a competent, undecorated style which keeps one hooked right through to the end. There's a world of metaphor here, but these characters feel real, and the metaphoric situations that the hero and his family must endure to find a place in a changed world come off more live than memorex. A domestic drama can indeed be written without losing the reader or drenching the reader in soap.

This is one of those good rainy afternoon reads. It won't save your soul, but it might help you slog through another cloudy day.

The narrator, Daniel Weiss, is exploring his parents' lives after the death of his mother, Esta. He never knew his father, and is curious as to what happened. Each truth as it is reveals both shocks and frightens the reader. Esta, a refugee fleeing from Hitler's camps, met Archie Rawlins and tried to relate the Jews' experiences to British intelligence. Authorities were determined to silence her, and anyone who believed her story. What started out as a relatively simple communication between two humans became a tempestuous affair, and no one emerged unscathed.