Amazon Dirkle Smat Category:  Children Publisher: James A. Rock and Company ISBN-10:  1596635533 Type: Fiction Pages: 49 Copyright: 2007 ISBN-13: 9781596635531 Dirkle Smat and Explorer's Club discover the secret to where flying statues go when they come to life.  The Explorer's Club is back! Join the gang in another exciting adventure, this time on the back of a flying Pegasus! This chapter book for early readers, ages 6 to 10, returns with Dirkle, his little brother Quid Smat, along with Toonie Oobles, Fiddy Bublob, and the inventor of the roto-scooter and the Lumleyline, the creative genius, Bean Lumley. Travel with them to the land of the Pegasi. Illustrated throughout with bonus pages at the end for readers to form their own Explorer's Club.

Stories for Children Magazine 5 Star Review
REVIEWED BY: Wayne S. Walker, reviewer with Stories for Children Magazine



Can you imagine what might happen if horses could fly? Dirkle Smat and his Explorers Club friends, Toonie Oobles, Bean Lumley, and Fiddy Bublob, along with Dirkle's younger brother Quid, are back. They have heard rumors about strange sightings in the sky late at night at a certain time each month and are planning to investigate these claims. Do these mysterious occurrences have anything to do with the statue that sits in the middle of town? And is there any truth to the theory that somehow the full moon can bring a statue to life? Bean has invented a special harness for the explorers, so hang on to your hat and be prepared for a wild ride. Yoips!



Author Lynn D. Garthwaite has created another intriguing story that will captivate the minds of youngsters. This second volume in the chapter book series about Dirkle Smat has just the right balance of true-to-life characters and fantasy situations to hold an early reader's attention. Not only is Dirkle Smat and the Flying Statue fun to read, but also it will stimulate children's imaginations and might even send them running to the encyclopedia to learn a little more about Greek mythology. A book like that certainly gets a high-five from me.

Adventure Reading for the Very Young!
Dirkle Smat and his Explorer Club friends are ready for adventure as they set out to determine the source of the midnight sightings in the sky over their small town. Some believe that it may be the Pegasus Statue in the town square that comes to life on a full moon, but how can a marble statue fly?

Author Lynn D. Garthwaite does a fine job of mixing adventure, gadgetry and perilous situations in just the right proportions for the curious minded young boy, keeping him engaged throughout the 41 pages. A sprinkling of well drawn black and white illustrations throughout, add a visual element to the story that serve to hold the young reader's attention as well. I especially liked the creativity of adding pages in the back of the book to start your own Explorers Club.

Although the book says that it is for ages 5-10, that is a broad age range and I feel that the nine and ten-year-olds would probably come away with a sense of wanting just a little bit more in the way of plot twists. I would recommend this book ideally for boys in the 6-8 age range who will undoubtedly be looking for other titles in this adventure series.

A very pleasing little chapter book for the wee ones
Dirkle Smat and the Flying Statue by Lynn D. Garthwaite is the third of a series featuring Dirkle and the band of kids that make up the Explorer Club. This is a short chapter book well suited for the 4 through 6 year old age group and is great, as are the other two in the series, to act as a read-a-long book.

The story here, as told by the imaginative Ms. Garthwaite, finds our five children that make up the explorer club noting that there have been rumors of a flying horse seen flitting through the night as it crosses the moon. Now these are particularly bright young children, and it does not take them long to figure out that these sightings occur during each full moon and it is noted by the group that there is a statue of Pegasus on the town square; a very large marble statue, that quite resembles the creature seen flying about at night.

As we all know, kids will kids, and this leads to speculation which in turn leads to a plan of action, and this particular group is all about action. Simplicity and meeting problems head on is their strongest characteristic they all share, and it is decided that the best route to take is simply strap themselves to the back of the statue during the first night of the full moon and see what happens. This they did! This cute little adventure starts as the winged horse takes flight with the kids "somewhat" tied securely to its back. Now I am not really much into giving spoilers in these reviews, but needless to say, this is where the fun begins.

This is a well written little book of only about 49 pages; short chapters and a plot that is quite easy to follow for the wee ones. Imagination coupled with an obvious knowledge of the workings of a child's mind has given the author plenty of room to maneuver through her story. The black and white drawings by Craig Howarth are well executed and fit the text perfectly.

The author has included a nice little addendum at the back of the book which allows kids to develop their own explorers club; something I thought was a very nice little touch.

Ms. Garthwaite has closed the story with the children speculating over the possibility of statues of dragons flying like statues of winged horses...hmmm, we shall see.

This is a neat little read and is bound to please children with its simple story line, plenty of action and the incentive to use their imaginations.