Do you hate when someone change and you don't know who they are anymore. Well, that exactly waht I fell when a fiction character has re-written by another people beside the original writer. No matter how good the new writer wrote the character, it is just not feel right. Beside, if s/he really good, why doesn't s/he write her/his own character rather than using some old famous one.

This is one of those book. Holmes and Watson without Doyle. Nothing classic about it. No suprising twisted. No glorious moments of truth. Holmes is rather puffy and Watson... well, Watson is almost invisible. It just a cheap story dobling up with the Sherlock greatness. Even of you are a BIG mystery reader, it's not worth the effort. Better read the old classic things.

Really 2.5 stars.

I'm definitely not the intended target age for this book so I can't attest to its viability in that area but, imo, it's still weak overall.

My biggest gripe with it is that it dumbs down both Sherlock and Watson, and throws the latter under the bus multiple times to raise up the Irregulars (a perfect example found within the preface). The mystery, as well, is simple and boring and the fact that Ozzie is basically a child Sherlock really makes you question why Sherlock is there at all. Ozzie and the other Irregulars seem to be perfectly capable of solving mysteries on their own so his involvement seems more like an easy way to draw in readers than to be an integral part of the book.

Another problem I have with it is the writing. For a book aimed at young readers, some of the words used are way beyond the reading level. Another issue I have is that there were several tangents where the paragraph (or chapter) would start on one topic but then spiral into a story about one of the kids for several pages which would force the writers to have to revisit the topic later on to actually deal with it. I get the purpose of establishing the characters so the readers can feel more attached to them but there had to have been a better way to go about it that wasn't so jarring and slow.

That being said, the book is not all bad. The twist at the end was actually well done and by far the best part of the book. I also appreciated that, though the authors seem to have some sort of problem with Watson, they didn't write Sherlock as having an issue with him (which would've been very out of character lbr, but then again there are a few OOC moments from him within the book so *shrug*). Something else I appreciated though was that (at least the version of the book I have), there were extras tidbits of info included about how to deduce like Sherlock and Victorian life, which is something I would've ate up as a child.

Anyways, maybe a child on the young side of the intended age-range who likes Sherlock/mysteries would enjoy this, but I find it hard to believe that a 12 or 13-year-old would.

You know that one mystery book that you think about weeks after reading it? This is that book. Have you ever read that one book with a secret message that has you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what it is? This is that book. You know those awesome books with witty, adorable orphan boys in Victorian England? This is one of those books.

You wanna read it? Let me tell you about it. Book 1 is an amazing twist to Sherlock Holmes, putting the spotlight on the group of under appreciated boys who helped him on many cases. I read the 3rd book first, having picked it up in the library then read this one. It was amazing from the very start. They both were, though I have to say nothing will beat the first book.

Ozzie had just joined the Baker Street Irregulars roughly two months ago but has never met Master (Sherlock Holmes). He grows close with the group; the Leader, Wiggins; Rohan, the gentle giant; Alfie, the youngest one; Elliot, the tailor and many more.

As a case comes up, the boys are happy to be back in business. They are investigating the deaths of tightrope walkers, which Holmes says were murders. While investigating the circus they meet the fortune tellers daughter, Pilar and uncover startling truths: the 3 tightrope walkers, named the Zalindas, were indeed murdered and in a very clever, evil genius way; it’s the work of London's most dangerous man, Professor Moriarty.

As they go along the boys discover much more is involved. Penelope, one of Pilar's friends from the circus who ran off with the youngest and fourth Zalinda brother, emerald eggs, professors, forgers, royal books, conspiracies and theft. Will the boys and Holmes uncover this mystery and what's at stake? Or will it all go down the drain?

This book was good for what it is! It’s a middle grade book and that is how it’s written, but I enjoyed it a lot still!! I always forget how brutal children’s books can get omg

I loved this book! It was fun to read, and it reminded me of why I love Sherlock Holmes! I'm not sure the portrayal of Holmes was completely accurate (he was super dismissive of Pilar, which I don't think canon Holmes would be) and I didn't like the portrayal of Watson at all. But it was a fun story with cool characters!

Tracy Macks and Michael Citrin’s Sherlock Holmes and The Baker Street Irregulars: The fall of the Amazing Zalindas is one of the best books I have read in while. Unlike the more popular Dystopian novels, this book takes you into the past to an unfamiliar environment where you are to witness it through the eyes of what at first seems to be a simple minded boy on the streets with a few hidden talents that gradually through time, evolves into a quite logical young man that yields such skills of deduction as the great Sherlock Holmes himself. Overtime, Ozzie Manning proves himself through great acts of courage, street smarts, and his skills of deduction, as an important asset in the investigation of the mysterious death of the Amazing Zalindas. As you acclimate to the bustling city of Victorian London, you become completely aware of the character’s surroundings and become more interested in the Irregular’s adventure to stop the uprising of a highly unpredictable and dangerous villain. The authors made it their number one priority to make the reader to feel completely Amherst into the book. It is a nice change from the original Sherlock Holmes story line. I highly recommend this book and I hope more people pick up this book and become interested with the series.

This is a very adorable book in which the main characters are a bunch of homeless orphans in Victorian London, with Sherlock Holmes as their occasional employer. The kids are smart, adorable, daring and take care of each other. This story is for young adults, but it's interesting for any age, especially since I've always had a crush on Holmes.

This Sherlock Holmes series centers around the Baker Street Irregulars, those ragamuffin street urchins engaged by Holmes to be his eyes and ears around the markets, docks, and alleys of Victorian England to garner information and help solve the case.

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars: The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas: Casebook No. 1 by Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin is the first in a series. This adventure not only introduces children to an England of the past and the dangerous life of the poor and destitute children of London but to a bit of the history of the monarchy, the awe of Buckingham Palace and the excitement of the strange and somewhat bizarre world under the big top — the Grand Barboza Circus!

The authors bring together a diverse group of young boys with a range of skills from Stitch who does the tailoring, making slippers and sewing up cuts, to Ozzie who not only reads and writes but is well on his way to being a master forger, to Wiggins the generally acknowledged leader of the group who not only commands respect of all the boys but has a pet ferret called Shirley. Just to keep things interesting, a young girl from the circus, Pilar, is added into the mix. She is the daughter of the fortune teller and has a talent for reading lips.

After a brief preface, the story very quickly draws the reader into the thrilling and tense act of the Amazing Zalindas, tightrope performers, both experienced and daring. Suspicious characters observe from the shadows as, barely into their death-defying act, the three Zalindas totter, then fall as their rope unravels quickly under their weight and they crash to the ground far below.

How does this relate to the silent arrival of the carriage of the Prince of Wales at 221B Baker Street? What does the theft of a precious book from the Palace have to do with the murder, for murder it is, of the Amazing Zalindas? It is for Holmes to tie everything together and just when everything seems to be going well, that is when the master criminal slips from their grasp, the book is more than a book, the master forger becomes a prisoner, and Pilar proves to be her weight in gold.

The back of this book contains a cast of the Irregulars as well as the other characters from the book, a dictionary of Cockney rhyming slang, how to create your own slang, the importance of hats as disguises, and a glossary of Victorian travel — in other words, a wealth of information to help the uninitiated understand the story and enjoy it more fully. This is a great novel for boys and girls in the junior grades who love adventure.

I enjoyed reading this, ifn only to see another perspective to the Sherlock Holmes books.
However, I did not like at all John Watson's portrait.
I did like the Circus bits and I wish the story was more developed in that point.

I wish that I had read this book back when I was a kido. This was definitely the kind of book that I was always looking for but never found. And the thing is that I discovered Twilight and romance novels and that was all. I still read middle grade books, but I know that I'll be more into it if I had read something like this back when I was 11, but no, 11 year old me was reading about Lestat the vampire...sigh...well, anyway!
I really really enjoyed this book. Is a quick and easy read and ia also a way for the kid to get involved in the actual Sherlock Holmes' stories and into deep books.
I will definitely make my little cousins read this. They are just getting used to our bookish Wonderland and I want them to go deeper.
I will look for more of this series.

This book has good suspense and you should read it because it’s Sherlock Holmes and he is generally amazing.

I enjoy this story.