E. W. Hildick: Helping Kids Take Kids Seriously

One of the things I love the most about E.W. Hildick’s “The Case of the Felon’s Fiddle” is that it’s not some penny-ante neighborhood crime the McGurk Organization is worrying about here.

We’re talking $250,000 in stolen diamonds. That’s something that would even make Encyclopedia Brown gulp.

And what’s even better is that the case lands with McGurk by happenstance. Had that violin been purchased by anyone else, Fiddler Knight’s clues would have gone unnoticed, or at least unappreciated for what they are.

Hildick shows kids can do what adults can do when kids use their brains and their curiosity. Hildick also shows with this story if kids approach the adult world with their brains and with enough courage to insist adults treat them seriously, they can do what they set out to do.

And it’s all done with the aim of telling a good story, not necessarily carrying that societal message – which is even better.

Maybe this person says it better:

What makes the McGurk organisation so unique is the sheer normality of the events they investigate. Hildick, in all his books for children, realises how a child sees deep meaning in events that seem trivial to an adult. And in their way, dealing with minor thefts, incidents of bullying, and unjust accusations by parents and teachers, the McGurk organisation do a great deal to improve the world around them. Your kid sister's baby doll goes missing, leaving her heartbroken? Your pet cat is accused of killing the neighbours' homing pigeons? Your brother is accused of vandalising garden ornaments? Call McGurk.

(I question this blogger’s (Kevin Burton Smith) knowledge of McGurk and his friends, however, as he suggests erroneously, that The Case of the Secret Scribbler is the only time the McGurk Organization faces an adult-level crime, when clearly that’s not the case (The Felon’s Fiddle and The Snowbound Spy also fit that category). Also, it’s clear in the books, particularly The Felon’s Fiddle, that Hildick set his books in the United States, not England as this blogger assumes.) Hildick clearly states the fiddler’s crimes take place in Manhattan, and that he had less than a day to hide the jewels from his heist, clearly putting the McGurk Organization in the Greater New York area.

And to flip that coin, Hildick demonstrates the problems kids might face – a pet cat is framed for killing a neighbor’s dove, a sibling’s doll goes missing – can be treated with the same seriousness as a jewel heist by those who use their brains and skills to solve crimes, no matter that the stakes are a lot lower.

Hildick’s gift is that he takes kids seriously, and shows them they can be taken seriously, even when they get fooled by an “invisible” dog.

So I will keep reading them.