A STUDY IN SCARLET WOMEN BY SHERRY THOMAS

Bibliographic Information:

Author: Sherry Thomas

Title: A Study in Scarlet Women

Copyright: 2016

Publisher: Penguin Group

ISBN: 9780425281406

Summary: Charlotte Holmes has always felt that she was different. Shying away from traditions she wanted to pursue a career as a headmistress of a girl’s school. When a promise to fund her training is reneged, Charlotte rebels by getting herself “ruined by a married man. However, that choice has brung greater consequences then she had imagined, and now suddenly she is not only publicly disgraced but treated as a social pariah. To make matters even worse, there is a mysterious trio of deaths and now it is in question whether her sister and father are to blame. Will Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, be able to clear her family name and save the day?

Critical Evaluation: Charlotte, the main character, is very interesting but is her own independent character. It was difficult in the book to see the connection to Sherlock Holmes due to their strong differences, besides the pseudonym. The characters are well developed. While the story starts up, it picks up speed and is very engaging. Unfortunately the investigation lead by Tredwell and Holmes appeared to slow the pace of the book down again. In that particular way it felt like the book was uneven, more developed and fast paced in some areas and randomly slow and slightly boring in others. It was interesting having a heroine exhibit imperfect behaviors such as becoming involved with a married man. While it may have been upsetting to some I found it to be very refreshing in a sense that her flaws are what made her more real.

Reader’s Annotation: Will Charlotte, also known as Sherlock Holmes, be able to clear her family’s name and save the day?

Author Information: Sherry Thomas- Sherry Thomas is a best-selling author. One thing that makes her stand out as an author is that she decided that it was a goal for her to write a book according to the genres that she enjoys reading. So far, she has published books in the genre of mystery, romance, mystery, and a wuxia- inspired duology. English is her second language.

Her books have been consistent in receiving good reviews as well as best of the year honors including the New York Times and National Public Radio. Sherry has won the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award. Among her plans for future books, she plans to write historical mysteries. Her last eight historical romances have required strict, high pressure timelines, so she isn’t looking to commit to anymore historical romances. If she does happen to write a historical romance, she wants to let the ideas come to her naturally as opposed to there being so much pressure on her.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/266470.Sherry_Thomas

Genre- Historical Romance

Curriculum Ties- English

Book Talk Ideas- Women’s roles in Europe

Interest Age/Reading Level– Grades 9-12

 Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation

Challenge Issues: Women’s Roles

Selection Policy: http://ccclib.org/policies/CollectionDevelopmentAccess-1999-11-16.pdf

Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/intfreedom/librarybill/lbor.pdf

Book Reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28588390-a-study-in-scarlet-women

Right to Read: http://www2.ncte.org/statement/righttoreadguideline/

Rationale:

Author: Sherry Thomas

Title: A Study in Scarlet Women

Copyright: 2016

Publisher: Penguin Group

ISBN: 9780425281406

Intended Audience: The intended audience is young adults specifically the upper grades of 9-12. This particular book would be beneficial for an English or social studies class. Primarily the book will be used for individual study in which every member of the class should read the book, and then afterwards there can be a group discussion of what transpired in the book as well as observations and thoughts concerning the book. “A Study in Scarlet” can be utilized to demonstrate the roles of women in Europe in the 1800s.

Summary: Charlotte Holmes has always felt that she was different. Shying away from traditions she wanted to pursue a career as a headmistress of a girl’s school. When a promise to fund her training is reneged, Charlotte rebels by getting herself “ruined by a married man. However, that choice has brung greater consequences then she had imagined, and now suddenly she is not only publically disgraced but treated as a social pariah. To make matters even worse, there is a mysterious trio of deaths and now it is in question whether her sister and father are to blame. Will Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, be able to clear her family name and save the day?

Relationship to Program: The relationship of the book to school objectives would be helping 9th graders develop their literal and inferential understanding skills and comprehension skills. Through reading this book they would learn SLE # R.9.9.1 Connect own background knowledge, including personal experience and perspectives shaped by age, gender, class or national origin, to determine author’s purpose. R.9.9.5. Draw inferences from a sentence or a paragraph (including conclusions, generalizations and predictions) and support them with text evidence. Concerning summary and generalization students will utilize R.9.9.8 Summarize and paraphrase structures in informational and literary texts, including relationships among concepts and details. Concerning analysis and evaluation students will utilize R. 9.9.11 Recognize and define various points of view (e.g., omniscient narrator, third person limited) and R. 9.9.13 Identify and discuss a position using concepts gained from reading (e.g. debate, discussion, position paper, etc.).

http://www.fayar.net/edvision/language/09_reading_0405.pdf

 

Impact: I think this book would have a positive effect on the attitudes and perspectives of the students. This book provides a unique twist concerning the traditional Sherlock Holmes character: a female version of Sherlock Holmes. By reading about Charlotte, teens can be assured that being different and having different aspirations isn’t always a bad thing. Charlotte provides a unique twist concerning women in the 1800s in general just by her wants and aspirations that don’t involve marriage. Female teens will be inspired by her and that can assist in developing the mindset that they can do anything that they put their mind to.

 Why Included- This is a unique work of historical romance. Hopefully girl teens can get the message that they can do anything that men can do by reading this book. Charlotte is an imperfect heroine, and that is what makes her character interesting. I would recommend this book to teens a book that has more than one genre: it is historical romance, but with a mystery feel