Philip Pullman

I've only read a couple of Philip Pullman's books and was turned off by his religious bigotry so I never expected to read anything else by him. However last week I was in the library looking for a quick read and saw Two Crafty Criminals: and how they were captured by the Daring Detectives of the New Cut Gang.

Deciding to give the author another chance, I checked it out and, to my surprise, loved it.

Many books for younger readers seem to try too hard to be adventurous, humorous, or both and after a while the attempts become boring. But Pullman's book kept the action believable and the humor was so well done I actually laughed out loud several times.

I assume there will be more books about the New Cut Gang and hope they're as good.