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Mandie and the Forbidden Attic

MandieForbiddenAttic#4 Mandie and the Forbidden Attic by Lois Gladys Leppard, 1985.

Mandie is unhappy because her mother and Uncle John are sending her to a boarding school in Asheville. It is the same school her mother attended years ago, and her grandmother lives in the same town. Mandie is upset about leaving all of her friends and family behind, but Uncle Ned says that he will still visit her.

By the time that Mandie arrives at her new school, everyone else already knows each other, and none of them seem interested in making friends with her. One girl in particular, April Snow, takes a dislike to Mandie, which is difficult because they have been assigned to the same room.

Things change when Celia Hamilton comes to the school. She and Mandie become best friends, and Mandie is allowed to share a room with her. Then, strange things start happening. Mandie and Celia keep hearing strange noises during the night from the attic floor above them, and some of Mandie’s clothes disappear. At first, they suspect that April Snow may be playing a mean trick on them, but it turns out that she is not actually at fault. There is someone at the school who doesn’t belong, but finding this person may get Mandie and Celia into trouble.

This adventure requires Mandie to meet with her grandmother again.  Mandie is nervous about seeing her grandmother because her grandmother helped break up her parents’ marriage and sent her away with her father when she was a baby. Surprisingly, Mandie’s grandmother seems to like her and her friend Celia. She admires their spirit and even says that Mandie reminds her a little of herself when she was young.  This meeting helps the granddaughter and grandmother to make peace with each other and the past.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Mandie and the Ghost Bandits

MandieGhostBandits#3 Mandie and the Ghost Bandits by Lois Gladys Leppard, 1984.

Mandie and her family are going to proceed with the plan to create a hospital for the Cherokees with the gold that they found in the cave. To do that, they need to take the gold to a bank in Asheville.  They decide to take the gold secretly on a train. Uncle Ned stays in the baggage car to watch the gold as they set out on their journey.

When the kids decide to leave their car to go visit him, strange things begin to happen. They see riders dressed as ghosts out the window. Then, the car with Uncle Ned and the gold inside is disconnected from the rest of the train, crashing into a ravine. The train comes to a stop, and the kids jump off to see if they can help Uncle Ned.

Before they can find him, the train starts up again, leaving them behind, and they are taken prisoner by the mysterious ghost bandits. They are after the gold in the baggage car, but how did they know it was there when Mandie’s family tried so hard to keep it a secret? Mandie and her friends must escape and find the others before it is too late!

In some respects, I would call this more of an adventure story than a mystery, although there is still the question of how the bandits knew where the gold was in order to steal it.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Mandie and the Cherokee Legend

MandieCherokeeLegend#2 Mandie and the Cherokee Legend by Lois Gladys Leppard, 1983.

Mandie is going to visit her Cherokee relatives with her mother and Uncle John. Mandie is eager to meet her relatives, and she hopes that they all like her. The Cherokees all knew her father well, and most of them are eager to meet her. All except for her cousin, Tsa’ni, that is.

Tsa’ni knows the stories of how white men have oppressed the Cherokees and forced them to move off of their land years ago, and he resents all white people because of it. The others tell him that he is wrong to hate all white people because of what some of them did in the past and that Mandie and her Uncle John are good people. However, Tsa’ni doesn’t listen to them, and he plays a mean trick on Mandie, Joe, and Uncle Ned’s granddaughter, Sallie. He offers to show them a cave, but then he abandons them inside.

The three kids have to find their own way out, but they discover a fortune in gold nuggets in the process. First, the children have to make it back to Uncle Ned’s house after a frightening night in the woods. Mandie, Joe, and Sallie accidentally stumble onto a still (machinery for making alcohol) that belongs to a white couple while they are wandering around in the woods after leaving the cave. The couple are worried that they will tell people about their illegal still, so they hold the kids prisoner.

Although the kids manage to escape, they must return to the cave to find the treasure again (while dodging Tsa’ni’s tricks to foil their efforts) and keep it safe (from the still operators and anyone else who might want to steal it) until they can decide what to do with it. As far as Uncle Ned and the other Cherokees are concerned, gold is bad luck because it was the discovery of gold which forced the Cherokees out of their old homeland. However, the origin of this gold may help to change their minds.

This book is one of the Mandie Books.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Mandie and the Secret Tunnel

MandieSecretTunnelMandie and the Secret Tunnel by Lois Gladys Leppard, 1983.

Young Amanda Shaw is almost twelve when her father dies, leaving her with a bully of a sister and a mother who doesn’t really love her. Her only friends are Joe, who is the son of the local doctor, and Uncle Ned, a Cherokee Indian. Amanda and her father are part Cherokee, and Uncle Ned helps to look after her now that her father is gone. Then, Amanda’s mother remarries and sends her to live with another family who want someone to help them look after their young son. However, the family is rather mean to Mandie, exploiting her for cheap labor, and Uncle Ned offers to take Mandie to live with her uncle in the town of Franklin.

Mandie never knew that her father had a brother (Uncle Ned is Mandie’s “uncle” by affection, not blood), but she readily agrees to go to him. Uncle Ned and some other Cherokees help Mandie to sneak away in the middle of the night and make the journey to Franklin. When she arrives at her uncle’s house, she is taken in by the servants, but she is told that her uncle is away in Europe.  Mandie’s uncle turns out to be rich, and Mandie is very happy in his house. She gets new dresses for the first time in her life and makes friends with Polly, the girl next door.

Then, word comes that her uncle has died in Europe. Her uncle’s will is missing, and no one knows exactly what will happen to her uncle’s property or to Mandie until it is found. Strangers come to the house, saying that they are also relatives of Mandie’s uncle, but Mandie wonders if they really are who they claim to be. With the help of Polly and Joe, who comes to visit her, Mandie searches for her uncle’s missing will and accidentally finds a secret tunnel leading out of her uncle’s house.

As Mandie and her friends investigate this mysterious situation, where things and people aren’t what they claim to be, Mandie learns that her own past isn’t what she believed it was.  Her family has kept many secrets from her, and learning these secrets leads her to a better future than she’d ever imagined.

This book is one of the Mandie Books.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Mystery Off Glen Road

Trixie Belden

tbglenroad#5 The Mystery Off Glen Road by Julie Campbell, 1956.

When their clubhouse is damaged by a storm shortly before Thanksgiving, the Bob-Whites realize that they will have get some money to fix it soon before the really bad winter weather comes. The Wheelers’ gamekeeper has recently quit, so they offer to patrol Mr. Wheeler’s game preserve for awhile to earn some extra money.

While Trixie and Honey are patrolling, they find a dead deer. They don’t tell anyone about it right away because their dogs, Patch and Reddy, were with the carcass when they found it. If the dogs killed the deer, they might be killed because people would be afraid that the dogs would go wild and start killing more animals. However, Trixie later finds signs that a human butchered and hauled away the carcass. There seems to be a poacher in the wood, and the dogs are innocent of the deer’s death, but how can Trixie and Honey tell the others about it when they tried to cover up the crime in the first place?

To make the situation more complicated, Trixie’s brother, Brian, wants to buy a used car from Mr. Lytell but doesn’t feel that he can spare the money until the clubhouse is fixed. To keep Mr. Lytell from selling the car, Trixie gives him an expensive ring that Jim gave her as security for the car. Since Trixie normally isn’t interested in jewelry at all, she pretends that she wants to wear it to impress Honey’s cousin, Ben, who is visiting for Thanksgiving. Trixie doesn’t actually like Ben at all, but it was the only excuse she could think of for getting her parents to take the ring out of her safe deposit box in the first place. Trixie’s reluctant efforts to fake a crush on Ben and act more girly add humor to the story.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Mysterious Visitor

Trixie Belden

tbvisitor#4 The Mysterious Visitor by Julie Campbell, 1954.

Now that school has started again, Trixie and Honey see more of the other kids who live in Sleepyside, including a girl named Diana Lynch. Trixie has known Diana for a long time, but ever since her father made a lot of money, Diana has been distant.

Di is deeply unhappy because her parents, particularly her mother, have been trying to live up to their new status by having the household run by fussy servants who don’t care much for children. Diana always has to wear formal clothes, she doesn’t get to play with her younger siblings as much, and she finds it increasingly hard to just relax and have fun with friends.

When Honey and Trixie invite Diana to become a member of the Bob-Whites, she tells them about her long-lost uncle who has recently come to visit her family. Her mother is happy about finally meeting the brother she has not seen since she was a baby, but Uncle Monty has been making Di’s life miserable. Whenever she makes plans to have a Halloween party or do things with friends, he tries his best to interfere and ruin everything. Uncle Monty is rude and offends people. Trixie is convinced that Di’s Uncle Monty is not what he seems to be, but she’s not sure how to prove it.

I love the description of the Halloween party that the kids have at Diana’s house!

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Gatehouse Mystery

Trixie Belden

TBGatehouseMystery#3 The Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell, 1951.

One day, Honey and Trixie decide to explore the old gatehouse on the property of Honey’s mansion. It hasn’t been used for years, and it is overgrown with vines. However, it looks as though someone has been there recently, and the girls find a diamond on the floor inside. There are signs of a scuffle, and the diamond looks like it was accidentally wedged into the floor. Have thieves been hiding out in that old cottage?

Honey thinks that they should turn the diamond over to the police, but Trixie wants a chance to investigate the crime first, just the two of them, and to prove to Jim and her brothers that she and Honey can be detectives as good as any man could. However, the boys become involved when someone attempts to enter Honey’s room at night to reclaim the diamond.

With their suspicions divided between the new gardener and the new chauffeur, the kids form a club they call the Bob-Whites of the Glen to investigate the matter and to trap the thieves.  This club continues for the rest of the series.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Cadet Kirk

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

STACadetKirk

#3 Cadet Kirk by Diane Carey, 1996.

McCoy and Spock meet again when they are both on their way to the Starfleet Academy Science Conference at Colony Cambria. However, the small ship that is supposed to take them there is piloted by Cadet Kirk, who is disappointed because he was originally supposed to be the pilot for Dr. Richard Daytrom, a famous scientist who will be speaking at the conference. McCoy isn’t happy about the situation either, remembering that Kirk got him in trouble the last time they met and caused him to miss his holiday.

Kirk seems entirely too self-assured and constantly quotes rules and regulations. As they pass the Atlantis Outpost, an automated research station, the ship is caught by a tractor beam and forced to the ground. A group of mercenaries hired by Klingons believed that Dr. Daystrom was on board the ship, and they want to kidnap him. Kirk does his best to follow regulations, but it only results in getting them all captured. Kirk is discouraged and worried about what will happen when Daystrom’s ship finally arrives.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Aftershock

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

STAAftershock

#2 Aftershock by John Vornholt, 1996.

Leonard McCoy is a medical student at Starfleet Academy. Shortly before the Christmas holidays, McCoy is tired from studying and looking forward to spending some time at home. However, he takes a break from his studies to play a game of football with the other students and ends up in trouble. A younger student, Cadet James Kirk, tackles him, and they end up crashing into a security fence and setting off an alarm. As punishment, Kirk is given kitchen duty, but McCoy is asked to sign up for the Disaster Relief service club.

The club has its training course during the holidays, so McCoy will not be able to go home after all. As disappointing as that is for McCoy, the situation soon becomes much worse. The training course is barely over when the club is called away on a mission. The planet Playamar has been ravaged by earthquakes, and the club will be called upon to deliver supplies, treat the wounded, and rescue survivors. The club is organized into groups, and McCoy finds himself in a group with pretty Lisa Donald and the serious Vulcan, Spock. McCoy feels overwhelmed by the experience and questions whether he really has what it takes to become a Starfleet doctor.

When Spock says that he knows what is causing the earthquakes and how to stop it, will McCoy be willing to take the risks necessary to save the planet?

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Crisis on Vulcan

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

STAVulcan

#1 Crisis on Vulcan by Brad and Barbara Strickland, 1996.

This is the first book in a series about characters from the original Star Trek series when they were young.

Young Spock accompanies his father, Sarek, on a diplomatic mission while he negotiates a peace treaty among different factions of the Marathan system. The different factions have been fighting for years, but now they must resolve their differences because they wish to join the Federation. Spock and his father journey home on the Enterprise, which is captained by Robert April. April’s first officer, Christopher Pike, takes a liking to Spock and shows him around the ship. Spock is surprised at the mix of different races aboard the Enterprise, how well they work together, and how easily they accept him.

Then, a group of Marathans attacks the Enterprise with the intention of capturing Sarek. They claim that Sarek betrayed them, although they do not explain why they think so. Spock helps the crew of the Enterprise to escape from the Marathans, and out of appreciation, Captain April offers to sponsor him for Starfleet Academy. Spock has already been accepted to the Vulcan Science Academy, so he does not accept the offer. The Vulcan Science Academy is the one of the best places for a young scientist to study, but they have extremely strict standards.

STAVulcanPicAll Vulcans believe in logic and reason and the suppression of emotions. Spock is half human, and Sarek is concerned that his control over his emotions will not be sufficient to allow him to cope with life at the Vulcan Science Academy. Sarek could tell that Spock was pleased with the praise that the crew of the Enterprise gave him when he was able to help them, and he urges him to keep a tighter rein on his feelings. To help Spock adjust to life at the Vulcan Science Academy, Sarek arranges for him to stay there over the summer, before the next semester’s classes begin.

As Sarek suspected, Spock is heavily scrutinized by his teachers and the other students. They are suspicious of him because they know that his mother is human, and they suspect that his ideas are not as logical as theirs. Although Spock excels in his studies, none of the others will give him the respect that he deserves. Then, Spock’s father calls him home because there has been an attack on his mother. Someone is out to harm Sarek’s family, and it looks like it is the same Marathans that attacked the Enterprise, possibly including a young Marathan Spock befriended earlier. What to do they want, and why are they so angry over a treaty that they had already agreed to sign?

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.