Author:Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud (like a plant, not short for 'Buddy', as he determinedly tells everyone) is a motherless boy on the run. He's determined to find his father but doesn't really know where to start. The only clue his late mother left him was a bunch of flyers about Herman E Calloway and his famous jazz band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression! Bud's search for his dad is a tough one but just occasionally he hits a note as high as even the Dusky Devastators can play! A superbly entertaining, prize-winning novel.
This is a fast paced, tightly plotted story, which deserves promotion, especially with boys
—— Books for KeepsBoth boys - me in 1955, my son in 1996 - seemed to be drawn into this story in some way beyond the usual...The main pleasure of the book is in the way in which it plays to the fantasy of omnipotence in a child: that a team of kids could really organise themselves into a team of detectives and catch a thief
—— Michael Rosen , GuardianA great political story: democracy in action
—— Philip Pullman , Ten books every Year 7 child should readThe perfect introduction to the world of fictional crime detection
—— IndependentEmil is a wonder... the book had, and still has, the effect of making me feel part of Emil's little gang of boys... Emil and the Detectives is a little masterpiece... Read it and you will be happy
—— Maurice SendakEmil for me personally is very important, but also it's very important in the history of children's books, and again it reminds us that Germany is not just simply about the period 1933 to 1945
—— Michael Rosen , BBC News