Posted on by TracyC

Key to the Treasure

keytreasureKey to the Treasure by Peggy Parish, 1966.

When twins Liza and Bill and their older brother Jed visit their grandparents for the summer, their grandfather tells them the story of a treasure hidden somewhere on their farm. Over a hundred years ago, their great-great-grandfather was friends with an Indian (Native American) woman. When she died, she left her belongings to him, including a feathered bonnet, a leather shield, a mask, and a doll.

When he grew up, he went away to fight in the Civil War. Before he left, he hid three of the items (the shield, the mask, and the doll) and made up a series of clues to help his children find them.  Unfortunately, the first clue was lost, and he never returned to tell his children where he hid the treasure. The only clue that was left was a picture of the feathered bonnet, a little pot, and a strange-looking key.  From then on, each generation in their family has tried to solve the puzzle. Since so many generations of their family have failed to find the treasure, Liza, Bill, and Jed don’t have much hope for success until they accidentally stumble on something that gives them their first clue.

keytreasurepic1Together, the three children quietly work on the clues, following each to the next.  They hope to surprise their grandfather with the solution to this old family mystery.  But, can they?

The clues to the treasure take the form of word games and codes (the first is a simple substitution code, and the other two are word games). Young readers will find it challenging to solve the codes along with the children in the book (Liza, Bill, and Jed walk readers through their solutions as they work on the puzzle, even showing how they correct for mistakes along the way), although older readers may find them rather easy.  It’s a good book for introducing children to codes and word games if they haven’t really encountered them before.  For the challenge of it, you can stop reading at each new puzzle and attempt to solve it before the kids do!

This is the first book in the Liza, Bill, and Jed Mysteries series.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Mystery at Camp Triumph

camptriumphMystery at Camp Triumph by Mary Blount Christian, 1986.

A year ago, sixteen-year-old Angie was blinded in a car accident.  It was shocking and devastating for her, especially since she was planning to become an artist.  She loved painting, and she feels like all of her dreams have died since she became blind.  Many of her friends no longer speak to her (partly because she has become angry and bitter and they don’t know how to cope with it), and she refuses to return to her old school, partly because of her fears of not being able to cope and largely because she doesn’t want to be the subject of ridicule or pity because of her new disability.  Her mother has been tutoring her at home, and her parents argue frequently about what’s best for her.

On the advice of a psychologist who has been trying to help Angie during her difficult adjustment, Angie’s parents have decided to send her to a special camp for children with disabilities called Camp Triumph.  Angie makes it plain that doesn’t want to go.  She feels that going to the camp with other disabled kids will just a painful reminder that she’s no longer “normal”, and she can’t imagine that there will be anything fun that she can do at a camp now that she can no longer see.  She knows that she’ll never be able to paint again, so she thinks arts and crafts are out, and how can she possibly ride a horse or go on nature walks?  However, her parents are firm with her, telling her that this is for the best.  There are things Angie needs to learn that they can teach her at camp.

Angie’s first days at the camp are miserable.  The other campers try to make friends with her, although she tries their patience with her bitterness and complaining that she doesn’t want to be there.  Then, someone messes with the guide ropes put up to help the blind children find their way around, sending a frightened Angie plunging into the river on her way back to her cabin.  Although she isn’t hurt, she becomes convinced that the camp is dangerous.  Everyone else thinks it was just a mean-spirited prank by one of the other campers.

Then, while visiting the doctor in town, Angie overhears a conversation between people she whose voices she doesn’t recognize, learning that what happened to her wasn’t just a prank.  Someone is deliberately committing acts of vandalism and sabotage at the camp, trying to get it shut down.  But why?   Angie flees the scene when she realizes that the people who were talking have heard her.  Unfortunately, she drops her cane as she flees.  Her cane has her name and address on it, and Angie later finds it lying on her bed in her cabin at camp.  Whoever these mysterious people are, they know who she is and can find her at any time.  Can Angie convince the other campers of what she heard and find the culprits before something worse happens?

Angie is terrified as she tries to solve the mystery, feeling helpless against her unknown enemies, who can see her while she can’t see them.  But, with the help of her new friends at camp, she comes to realize that she isn’t as helpless as she thinks she is.  Her experiences give her a new perspective on her life.  It’s true that things will never go back to being as they were.  Her life won’t be an easy one, and there are certain things that she can no longer do.  But, she comes to realize that there are still many things she can do, and there are other types of art that are still open to her.  In the end, Angie has friends she can count on, a life that’s worth living, and a better future ahead of her than she thinks.

Along with the story, the book describes some of the techniques that Angie has to learn to cope with her blindness: picturing a “clock” to remember the positions of objects around her (ex. “Your suitcase is at two o’clock.”), following the guide ropes with notches in them to know which path she’s on, listening for clues about her surroundings (she and other blind people recognize the sound of clinking from the flagpole at the center of camp and use that to orient themselves when things get confusing), putting notches in the tags of her clothes so that she knows which pieces of clothing match, using her sense of touch to make clay sculptures, etc.

Besides addressing Angie’s feelings and how she copes with them, the story also touches on how disabilities affect the people who are close to the disabled person.  At first, Angie’s parents don’t know how to help her, struggling themselves with coming to terms with what’s happened.  Her mother feels guilty because she was driving the car when they had their accident, and she wasn’t as badly hurt.  Her guilt leads her to baby Angie more than is good for her.  Angie’s father is a stern businessman with high ambitions, failing at first to understand and accept Angie’s feelings and the way her life has changed, reacting with impatience while Angie struggles.  Angie’s parents also had marital problems before the accident, which only added to the tension between them.  In the end, coming to terms with what has happened to Angie not only helps Angie to improve but helps her parents to improve their relationship with each other.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The View From the Cherry Tree

viewcherrytreeThe View From the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts, 1964.

Things have been difficult around Rob Mallory’s house since preparations for his sister’s wedding began, but things are about to get a whole lot worse. While his mother and sisters are rushing around, making last minute arrangements for the wedding guests and finding a replacement for a sick bride’s maid, Rob’s father is trying to help Uncle Ray stay out of jail after he stole some money from his boss. To make matters worse, old Mrs. Calloway, their unpleasant, eccentric next door neighbor, has been causing trouble again, spying on people with her binoculars and provoking arguments with everyone in the neighborhood.

The only peaceful place Rob can find to escape all the chaos at his house is the cherry tree that stands between his house and Mrs. Calloway’s. While he is up in the tree, Rob witnesses an argument between Mrs. Calloway and a man Rob can’t see inside her house. Then, Rob sees the man shove Mrs. Calloway out of her window. Her binoculars get tangled on a tree branch, and she is strangled to death. Rob runs to his house to get help, and the authorities come and take Mrs. Calloway’s body away. However, no one believes Rob when he says that Mrs. Calloway was pushed. Everyone thinks that her death was an accident. Then, a series of strange “accidents” happen that seem to threaten Rob’s life.

Rob’s family is too caught up in the wedding plans and family troubles to realize what is happening, but Rob is convinced that Mrs. Calloway’s murderer is trying to silence him forever.  Can he outwit the murderer and learn his identity?  More importantly, can he survive until the evening when his father is supposed to return home and can help him convince the police that he’s in real danger?

I have to say that I really hated the mother in this story.  She struck me as being a very silly and shallow woman, obsessed (and that is not too strong a word) with the trappings of her daughter’s wedding.  She speaks of the wedding as an “opportunity” that she doesn’t want spoiled, a word that seriously bothers me in this context.  “Opportunity” implies some kind of expected benefit, not just a momentous “event” in their lives or a rare “celebration.”  I kept wondering, and still wonder what kind of gains she was anticipating from her daughter’s marriage and why.  The only thing I can think of is a selfish desire to be at the center of attention, or as close to it as she can get.  As a married woman, she can no longer be the beautiful, blushing bride on her special day, but she might get a vicarious thrill from being the mother of the beautiful, blushing bride, reliving her own glory “day” from the past.

Maybe I’m getting a little too psychological with her, but that was the vibe I got, a grown-up mother-of-the-bride-zilla who can’t see past the champagne and pretty dresses to anything more important, whether it’s her own brother’s serious brushes with the law or the attempts on her young son’s life.  When Rob tries to tell his mother what’s happening, she almost slaps him because she’s so “overwhelmed” by everything that she has to do, but I’m not buying it because it seems like everyone else is really taking care of pretty much everything for her.  She has plenty of people around her and plenty of support if she wanted to recruit more.  She freaks out about any problems that happen, no matter how big or small, and wants to sweep every bad thing under the rug as much as she can because, apparently, weddings should be perfect at all costs and she wants nothing to invade that lovely bubble in her mind.  I didn’t like her when I read this story as a kid, and I’ve discovered that I hate her even more now.  Her motives have become less understandable and her personality less sympathetic now that I’ve grown older instead of more so, and that’s not a good sign.  As an adult, I would have urged her prospective son-in-law to reconsider marrying into this family on the basis of the mother’s behavior, although the bride’s offer to call off the wedding until her brother is found when he goes into hiding shows that she might have her priorities more straight than her mother’s in the end.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job

Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts, 1987.

Thirteen-year-old Darcy knows that babysitting the Foster kids isn’t going to be easy. Jeremy, Melissa, and Shana Foster are young children and rather spoiled. Their parents are wealthy, but they don’t spend much time with their children. When Darcy babysits them, the children go off in different directions and do things they know they aren’t supposed to do.

On top of that, Darcy is worried that someone will figure out that she and her friend Irene have been helping to hide their friend Diana, who ran away from home because her father was beating her. Diana is afraid to go to the police because her sister tried to tell them about their father’s abusive behavior, and no one believed her. She thinks that the police will just take her home and her father will beat her again.

One day, while Darcy is babysitting the Foster kids, some men break into the house and kidnap them all for ransom. Darcy feels guilty for not preventing the kidnapping, but she’s determined to make sure that she and the kids make it home safely to their parents.  When the kidnappers make a slip that allows Darcy to discover their true identity, she must come up with a daring plan to save herself and the children, who turn out to be surprisingly resourceful themselves.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

I enjoyed this book! The Foster kids start out being nightmares to babysit because they’re badly behaved, but Darcy can tell that their bad behavior is because they’re neglected. They act out for attention and because their parents haven’t paid enough attention to them to teach them about boundaries and how to behave. On the outside, it might seem like the Foster kids are fortunate because their family has money, but when Darcy starts babysitting for them, she can see that their lives aren’t really as great as they seem. However, the kids do turn out to be clever and resourceful, and they really help Darcy when they’re all in danger.

There is an element of mystery to the story about who has kidnapped the children. Part of what makes their situation dangerous is that Darcy actually knows their kidnappers, and when they realize that she has recognized them, Darcy fears that they will try to eliminate her and possibly the young children, to avoid being identified to the police.

Posted on by TracyC

Cousins in the Castle

cousinscastleCousins in the Castle by Barbara Brooks Wallace, 1996.

Young Amelia Fairwick is living a happy life in London with her father and her father’s fiancée, Felicia, when her father leaves on a business trip and word reaches her that he has been killed in a hotel fire. Now, the poor orphaned girl must go live with her deceased mother’s cousins in New York. Amelia leaves behind everything that is familiar to her when she accompanies her stern and gloomy Cousin Charlotte on the ship to New York.

On the ship, she makes only one friend, a young actress and singer named Primrose Lagoon, whom Cousin Charlotte forbids her to see. Although the future looks gloomy for Amelia, there are far stranger and more sinister events in store for her. As soon as they reach New York, Cousin Charlotte abandons Amelia on the docks. A kind woman named Nanny Dobbins and her son offer help her, only to steal her luggage and make her a prisoner in a small cellar in a bad part of town.

When her jailer, the drunken Mrs. Shrike, falls asleep, leaving the door open, Amelia escapes and attempts to find Primrose, her only friend in the city. Throughout Amelia’s adventures, she doesn’t know who to trust, and every step she takes seems to bring her closer to the mysterious Cousin Basil, who is supposed to be her guardian, and his castle-like home.

The time period for this story is never exactly defined, but it appears to take place during the 1800s because of the gaslights in use.  Like many of Wallace’s books, things and people are not what they seem, but in spite of the villain’s sinister intentions, it all ends happily.

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Ghosts in the Gallery

ghostsgalleryGhosts in the Gallery by Barbara Brooks Wallace, 2000.

Eleven-year-old Jenny was raised in China by her mother and stepfather, who ran a dance studio. She has no memory of her real father, who died when she was a baby. When her stepfather dies and her mother becomes deathly ill, her mother writes a letter to her real father’s father, a grandfather that Jenny never even knew existed before. In the letter, her mother explains that she is dying and that she will be sending Jenny to live with her grandfather. Then, Jenny starts the long journey from China to the East coast of the United States alone.

Leaving her dying mother to head to a strange country to live with her previously unknown relations is frightening enough, but there is still worse to come. When Jenny arrives at her wealthy grandfather’s home, no one is expecting her or knows who she is. Her uncle, Winston Graymark, insists that her mother’s letter never arrived. Worse still, he believes that Jenny is an imposter, and that her mother merely made up the story about his long-lost brother being her father.

At first, he angrily threatens to send Jenny back to China, but Madame Dupray, a servant who cares for Jenny’s ill grandfather, suggests that she be taken on as a household servant. Jenny is given a dreary little room in the cellar and embarks on the drudgery of household chores. Could the Graymarks really be her relatives? If so, what happened to the letter that Jenny’s mother sent? Something sinister is happening in Graymark House, and Jenny will have to face suspicious servants and attempted murder before she finds the truth.

The “ghosts” in the title are the portraits of Jenny’s ancestors, which hang in the gallery. They appear grim and frightening at first, but when Jenny begins to recognize them as her relatives, they no longer frighten her.  Like many of Wallace’s books, this book contains sinister characters with hidden motives, but ends happily.  The story takes place at some point during the Victorian era.

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Peppermints in the Parlor

peppermintsparlorPeppermints in the Parlor by Barbara Brooks Wallace, 1980.

Newly orphaned Emily Luccock journeys to the home of her Aunt and Uncle Twice in San Francisco. She has not seen her aunt and uncle in years, but they are the only family she has now, and she hopes that she will soon feel at home in their lovely mansion, Sugar Hill Hall.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, however, she is met by her Aunt Twice, who seems to be a pale shadow of the woman she once was. Sugar Hill Hall is now owned by the sinister Mrs. Meeching, and Aunt Twice is forced to work as a cook and housekeeper. Aunt Twice seems very frightened of something, but she refuses to say exactly what she fears, and Uncle Twice is nowhere to be found.

Aunt Twice tells Emily that her wealthy parents lost all their money before they died, and she is now poor, too. Emily is quickly put to work as a housemaid alongside Tilly, another orphan girl. Her only real friend is Kipper, a fishmonger’s son who is paid to do chores around the mansion sometimes. The house is being run as a home for elderly people, but the elderly people are treated badly, fed rotten food, and punished severely for even so much as taking a single peppermint from the bowl in the parlor. Emily tries to do little things to make the old people happier, but all the time, she is right at the center of all the sinister events surrounding Sugar Hill Hall.

The book is available online through Internet Archive.

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Abigail

abigailAbigail by Portia Howe Sperry and Lois Donaldson, 1938.

Susan is a little girl living on a farm in Kentucky during the 1800s.  Her family has recently decided to move to Indiana, which is the new frontier of the United States.  Her uncle and his family are already living there, and he has persuaded Susan’s parents of the opportunities that await them.

As the family packs up to leave, Susan’s grandmother gives her a special present that she and Susan’s aunt made for her: a new doll.  Unlike Susan’s old wooden doll, this doll is a soft rag doll that she can sleep with.  They made the doll to look like Susan herself, but Susan names the doll Abigail after her grandmother.

Abigail accompanies Susan on her adventure as the family heads west to Indiana in their covered wagon.  Susan is sad and a little afraid at first, but when she thinks of what Abigail would say to her about her need to be brave and to explain to her all the strange things they will encounter on the journey, Susan regains her courage.

The family does have adventures on their two-week trek to Indiana.  They have to cross rivers, face down a bear, and worry about whether they will encounter unfriendly Indians (Native Americans).  Even after they arrive in Indiana, joining their other relatives, they will still have to get used to life in a new place.

Throughout the book, there are little side-stories, poems, and hymns that the family sings and tells each other.  Through it all, Abigail is Susan’s constant companion, helping her to feel at home in her new home.  I loved this book when I was a child because I always loved dolls.  This book was a bigger part of my youth than the Little House on the Prairie series, but it would probably appeal to Little House on the Prairie fans.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Great and Terrible Quest

greatterriblequestThe Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett, 1970.

This story takes place in a fictional kingdom during the Middle Ages. Trad is a ten-year-old boy who has lived most of his life with his abusive grandfather. He barely remembers his parents, who died in a plague when he was only four. This grandfather consorts with robbers and evil men. Trad often pretends to be stupid to avoid their notice and warns travelers away from their territory.

One day, he rescues a man who has been badly wounded and cares for him in a secret cave. This man, whose white hair makes him seem elderly, insists that he is on a mission, a great and terrible quest . . . but because of a head wound, he can’t remember what his quest is. All that he knows is that time is short, and he does not have long to complete his quest to find something very important.

Trad soon learns that his grandfather’s wicked friends are the ones who attacked this mysterious stranger. Taking Trad’s father’s old lute, a couple of coins, and a mysterious ring dropped by one of the robbers which seems to have once belonged to the stranger, Trad and the stranger embark on a journey across the land, making friends and pursued by enemies as they go. While the stranger struggles to remember his identity and the nature of his mission, Trad begins to learn a few things about his own forgotten past and the nature of his family. Nothing is what it seems. Their country is in trouble because of the evil men who have been controlling it. Everything depends on the success of the stranger’s mission, and Trad has a much larger role to play than he had ever dreamed.

It’s a beautiful and fascinating story about good and evil, loyalty, friendship, and determination to do the right thing, even against the odds. There are parts that might frighten younger readers. The fights are violent and bloody, and there are a couple instances of cruelty to animals (partly, it seems, to show how truly evil Trad’s enemies are). Still, it’s a great story for tweens and teens, and readers will want to cheer Trad on as he struggles to help those around him and find his own destiny.

Although the kingdom is fictional and the themes are similar to fantasy stories, there is no actual magic in the story.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Battle for the Castle

battlecastleThe Battle for the Castle by Elizabeth Winthrop, 1994.

This is the sequel to The Castle in the Attic.

William is growing up.  As William’s twelfth birthday approaches, he feels like he and his best friend, Jason, are growing apart. Actually, what he fears is that Jason is out-growing him. Jason has grown taller than William and much more muscular, thanks to his off-road bike training sessions with his father. William, on the other hand, is still short and feels like a shrimp next to Jason.

In their town, it is traditional for boys to “jump the trains” when they turn twelve. It involves grabbing hold of a ladder on the side of one of the cars as the train reaches a point on the track when it slows down, climbing over the top of the car, and jumping off the other side. It’s a dangerous trick to pull, and parents try to keep the kids from doing it. Still, the boys who don’t do it are considered to be wimps by the others. When Jason and William try, Jason makes it, but William gives up when his hand starts to slip. William is not hurt, but he is embarrassed at his failure.

To show Jason that he’s not just a wimp, William decides to let him in on the secret of the castle in the attic. Mrs. Phillips decided not to drop the magic token into the sea along with Alastor as she said she would (see previous book), and she sends it to William as a birthday present. After William explains to Jason how the token works, he convinces him to become small with him and visit Sir Simon and William’s other friends. When the boys arrive, they are welcomed by Sir Simon, who is about to leave for a tournament. William and Jason agree to help look after Sir Simon’s castle until he returns, along with his friend Dick, Dick’s son Tolliver, and Dick’s niece Gudrin. Sir Simon’s old nurse, Callendar, has died, but before her death, she made a prophecy of death and danger. Almost everyone believes that she was just raving, but Gudrin knows that danger is approaching. A strange ship of skeletons has been seen approaching the town, and bones have been floating down the river. Sir Simon had the ship towed out to see again, and Dick thinks there’s nothing more to fear. However, the ship has returned, and the boys and Gudrin know that something must be done in order to keep Callendar’s prophecy from coming true.

There is an army of rats aboard the ship, led by a giant rat that walks on its back legs like a human. The boys and Gudrin attempt to burn the ship, but the rats escape and begin attacking people across the countryside. When one of these people makes it to the castle to warn everyone, Dick finally believes them that something needs to be done. Most of the people are sent away from the castle, Tolliver is sent to bring Sir Simon back to help, and the others stay to wait out the siege. Although William is scared, he manages to keep his head and come up with a plan that defeats the rats once and for all.

In the end, when the boys return to their own world, William declares that he will never jump the trains because he thinks it’s a crazy stunt. Jason doesn’t mind because, as he says, “there’s more than one way to jump the trains.” William doesn’t need to prove that he’s grown up by performing a crazy stunt because he’s already behaved with courage and maturity while facing real problems and saving the lives of other people.