Talk:The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

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Contents 1 Series recommended for middle school curriculum 2 name changing 3 Summarizing Ideas and Information 4 Feature film?

[edit] Series recommended for middle school curriculum

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency has caught my interest as a teacher. I've read the first three novels and will probably finish the series this summer. They can be purchased locally for as little as $10.00 Canadian, and are listed at bookstores at about $18.00.

I am thinking of getting my grade eight classes to buy the first book as an Independent Activity. We need more books about other countries and about women, and this title covers both needs admirably. The simplicity of tone is useful as a writing technique, and the ability to convey much more about human nature than the words themselves imply is a good lesson in writing and thinking, too.

What do you think? -- Jim Ison, Surrey, BC, Canada

I agree completely. I must admit I'm not a big fan of literature about other cultures, but I really enjoyed this series. It also touches on many issues which could be studied alongside the books. Good luck! -- Hesperus

I dissagree. Dont make your 8th graders read this book. they all will go to sparknotes or some site like that.

[edit] name changing

I think the article names should be changed like this

• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to -> The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (series)

and

• The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (book) to -> The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

--Melaen 18:38, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Disagree: The present version of the two pages' names—i.e. the series unmarked, and the first volume with (novel) appended to the title—is sufficiently clear and as far as I know, not inconsistent with Wikipedia style. Furthermore, recent work on these pages and others in the series (since the above comment was posted) have used the present version for crossreferencing. -- Deborahjay 19:18, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Summarizing Ideas and Information

Hi

I also like the "The 1st Lady Detective Agency" series and would like to contribute. My idea is to locate the series a bit more in the literature about novels by following the Wikipedia stated goal of "summarizing ideas and information that have already been published elsewhere."

I got interested in doing this after seeing the analysis and article done on the book in the Gale Literary Databases (available through most libraries.) I think there are other sources as well that are fairly easy to access.

Soooo.... what do you think of what I propose? -- Delancy 03:16, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly appropriate to cite pertinent published sources (Web and print) and add a References section on the series page and the individual pages for each novel. -- Deborahjay 19:26, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Feature film?

The article in its current form mentions a TV series, but does not mention a film that was reported by the government of Botswana to be filming there in mid-2007 (see this link for the government report of filming). We need to make sure we are accurate and comprehensive in our info if there is a feature film already in production.Lawikitejana (talk) 16:36, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

After death of A.Minghella and showing of movie The production was broadcast on Easter Sunday 23rd March 2008 on BBC1. It is listed as completed by IMDb (on this page), where it has all the hallmarks of a motion picture, not the pilot of a TV series, although it was made by BBC, HBO, because others listed as involved are:

• Film Afrika Worldwide
• Mirage Enterprises
• Weinstein Company, The

Now, this was very much the last completed brainchild of Anthony Minghella. Many movies he made were written off as impossible to adapt for the cinema until he tackled them. Given that he died last Tuesday, I would suggest the chances of any others in the book series being adapted are a bit reduced even though Richard Curtis was also involved unless he wants to press ahead now, maybe taking over directing them (this is just speculation now). Iph (talk) 19:20, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Further note: IMDb does not have any other production listing in progress for Alexander McCall Smith. It follows that no other book in the series has started production yet, which would generally be the case if the completed and broadcast title was to be considered as a TV drama series. Therefore we should regard the adaptation of the first book as a feature motion picture, not a series pilot.