Reader's Journal #17 Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

                I have been reading Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld.  It is a really good suspense book, and very funny at points.  Here is a quote from the book on pages 28 and 29 that I enjoyed:

                “Xantippus was tightly wedged into the wardrobe, but by pulling together they managed to pry him loose.  He fell roughly to the floor, growling furiously.  Mucius unwound the gag, bent over their teacher and asked with concern:  “How do you feel?”

                Instead of replying, Zantippus closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

                “He’s dying,” Antonius said.

                At that, Xantippus opened his eyes again and growled ferociously:  “By Jupiter and the heavenly gods!  Why did you wait so long?  I almost suffocated.  Quick, untie me!  My arms and legs are dead.  You’d better get a knife from the kitchen.”

                Antonius and Publius managed to untie the ropes around Xantippus’ legs.  With the big bread knife that Flavius brought from the kitchen, Mucius freed their teacher’s hands.  Xantippus moved his arms cautiously and began clenching and unclenching his fists, groaning softly.  “Help me!”  he ordered the boys.  “I can’t stand up.”

                I chose this passage because it has suspense in it and funny in it at the same time.  This passage is significant to the book because without it the suspense wouldn’t even begin.

                My two before reading strategies are to skim and scan the book and to read the synopsis.  My two during reading strategies are to read the title and try to understand what each chapter is about and find context clues for vocabulary words I don’t understand.  My two after reading strategies are to understand what I have read and to prepare for Reader’s Journal.

                The genre of this book is humor and the characteristics are events that are exaggerated or written for laughs.  The characters in the book are Caius, Rufus, Antonius, Mucius, Flavius, Julius, Publius, and their teacher Xantippus.  Most of these characters are flat because they always have the same idea.  The protagonists are all of the main characters.  The antagonist is a mystery and has not been revealed yet in the story.  The protagonists are their own foil because they discuss their ideas among themselves. 

The setting of the story is Ancient Rome and so far the conditions have been sunny.  The exposition is when Rufus makes fun of Caius by writing “Caius is a dumbbell” and Rufus is threatened with being expelled from the best school in Ancient Rome.  The rising action is when one day they find that Xantippus has been abducted and thrown in his wardrobe.  The boys find him and take him out and then try and find who did this crime.  Then they find “Caius is a dumbbell” written in red all over the new church in the same handwriting.  The climax, falling action and resolution I haven’t gotten to yet.

The conflict right now is external and is man vs. man because they need to find the person who wrote on the church and abducted Xantippus.  The tone and mood is silly because no one can stop being silly.  There is always some joke being told.  The theme and moral I cannot say because I haven’t finished the book.

The point of view is third person.  The pattern of organization is chronological order because most of the time it uses dates.  The author’s purpose of the book was probably to entertain.  The author’s perspective is probably subjective because technically this could have happened in real life. 

I would rate this book definitely a ten out of ten because it is outstanding and ha suspense in every corner of the book.  I would recommend this book everybody in middle school.

Sincerely,

Michael Heskiel