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The Talking Table Mystery

TalkingTableThe Talking Table Mystery by Georgess McHargue, 1977.

Annie Conway and her friend How are helping her great aunt to clear out her basement when they find a table that How thinks would work for his pet guinea pig’s cage. However, it’s not an ordinary table. It makes strange noises whenever they press on it, and in the box tied to the top of the table, they find a strange assortment of objects, including a little silver piccolo and some diaries.

Most of the diaries belong to Annie’s great grandfather, but there is one written by an unknown young girl. The girl apparently stayed in Annie’s great grandfather’s house years ago, and her diary refers to the girl’s mother’s strange behavior and the girl’s fears that something bad will happen. The diary itself is mysterious, but soon the kids start receiving threatening notes, telling them to hand over the diaries or something bad will happen. Who wants the diaries and why?

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

My Reaction and Spoilers

The basis for the mystery is 19th century spiritualism.  The former owner of the table was a spiritualist who used it for seances, creating rapping noises when the “spirits” were present.  Her daughter was the girl who wrote the diary.  She wasn’t happy about how she and mother kept moving around in search of new clients and how she had to help her mother by playing ghost during seances. They were staying with Annie’s great-grandfather because he was suffering from grief over the death of his young son, and the spiritualist was holding seances to try to contact his spirit.  At least, that’s what Annie’s great-grandfather thought.  The bad thing that the girl thought would happen was that she and her mother would be caught faking their seances, which turns out to be exactly what happened.  Annie’s great-grandfather was angry at being deceived and threw them out of the house, but he confiscated the rigged table and other things they used in their seances, including the girl’s beloved silver piccolo, so they wouldn’t be able to try their act on anyone else.

However, there is one more secret about Annie’s great-grandfather and the spiritualist. Annie and How eventually discover that they had a love affair during the spiritualist’s stay in the house. There is some discussion among the adults about how the spiritualist suffered more consequences and stigma for the affair than the great-grandfather did, although he was a married man when it happened.  As for what eventually happened to the girl and her mother after this incident, the clues are contained in the diary and with the people who now want them.

I thought that the use of the rigged spiritualist table in the story was fascinating. It’s basically like a piece of antique magician’s equipment that not everyone would know existed.  The story also introduces some interesting historical details about the concept of 19th century spiritualism and the types of people who followed it.  Annie’s great-grandfather was grieving for the loss of one of his young children, and like others of his time, he wanted to reach out to the spirit of the one he lost, in search of solace for the loss.  How much of the affair with the spiritualist was fueled by his grief and gratitude for someone he thought was helping him is unknown because we never hear his perspective on that, but his anger at discovering how he had been deceived shows that he did honestly believe that the seances were real and felt betrayed to realize they weren’t.  However, actions have consequences, and there were still some consequences from this incident that were never fully resolved.

The author is very knowledgeable on the subject of spiritualism, and she also wrote a nonfiction book on the subject.

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The Haunted Hotel

The Haunted Hotel

The Haunted Hotel by Janet Adele Bloss, 1989.

Laura and Bill are visiting their Uncle Joe, who is the caretaker of a large hotel in New Hampshire. The hotel is closed for the winter because it is too old and poorly-insulated to heat. The children think that the big, old hotel is fascinating, especially when they begin hearing stories about the ghost of a princess who is said to haunt the hotel and put people under her spell to do her bidding.  It’s just the sort of thing that Laura reads about in her favorite series of mystery books, and she’d love the chance to investigate something like the heroine, Gwen Gilderstar.

Bill rolls his eyes at Laura’s melodramatic mystery obsession, but then the children begin noticing that their uncle is behaving strangely, and they start to wonder if he is under the princess’s spell.  When they first arrived, their uncle told them that his sister, their Aunt Gigi, had gone away to visit a sick friend.  Then, Laura overhears him talking to Gigi on the phone, saying that she and her brother and parents went out to dinner, so she can’t talk to them.  Later, Laura gets the chance to talk to Aunt Gigi and finds out that she only went to visit her friend because Joe insisted and that her friend isn’t sick.  What is going on?  Why would her uncle lie?  Is he under the princess’s spell?

Laura and Bill see mysterious lights and a shadowy figure in the windows of the closed hotel.  Could that be the ghost of the princess?  Even though their parents have forbidden them to go inside the old hotel, the kids go there to investigate.  They hear organ music and a woman laughing, and they find a red rose on the floor, just like the roses in the portrait of the princess.  Then, Bill catches a glimpse of the princess in the elevator, carrying a silver axe!  Laura is determined to solve the mystery, just like Gwen Gilderstar.  She’s afraid, but she knows that she has to do something for her uncle’s sake.

My Reaction

I loved this book when I was a kid because it’s a fun mystery. Laura is a girl after my own heart, who loves mystery stories in the classic girl detective style. “Gwen Gilderstar” seems to be a character similar to Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, or other girl detective characters. Because of her taste in books, Laura looks at everything that happens through the lens of a spooky mystery story, initially not seeing the more practical explanations for the things happening around her. Although the setting of the book, a seemingly haunted hotel that’s closed for the winter season, reminds me of The Shining, the actual plot reminds me more of Northanger Abbey, the classic book by Jane Austen about a girl with an active imagination and a taste for frightening stories.

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The Ghost on the Hill

ghosthillThe Ghost on the Hill by Grace Maccarone, 1990.

This is the last book in the Third Grade Ghosthunters series.

The kids take another field trip, this time to a state park. Native Americans used to live on that land, but most of the tribe died from disease many years ago. There are stories about spirits that live in the hills and the forest. Young boys from the tribe used to perform a ritual where they would dance with the Great Spirit in order to become men.

The third graders have been studying Native American history and customs to prepare for the field trip.  Norma wrote a report about Native American names, which tended to describe some significant characteristic of the person.  Their teacher tells the students that they should think of names for themselves which describe something significant about themselves.  Most of the kids think it sounds like a fun idea, but Joey doesn’t.  He’s just one kid in a family with a dozen other kids, and he’s never felt like there was anything particularly special about him.  That’s why he makes up tall tales about himself that all the other kids find weird and annoying.

ghosthillpicWhen they reach the state park, Dennis Ten Foot Bridge, who is the last of his tribe, tells the students about his tribe, teaches them wilderness skills, and leads them in group activities.  One evening, Joey goes out to practice some rowing on the lake by himself, and he sees what looks like a large ghost at the top of a hill  However, everyone knows that Joey lies about a lot of things, so at first, no one believes him.  At least, no one except Adam.

Adam agrees to help Joey investigate the mysterious spirit. Eventually, all of the members of the ghosthunting group decide to go up on the hill together to see the ghost for themselves.  There, Joey finds the courage to face the spirit directly, and everyone sees the truth. Together, Joey and his friends end up repeating the ancient coming-of-age ritual that the tribe that used to live there would perform.

The solution to the mystery is a little strange, but the book is great for the characters alone. This final book in the Third Grade Ghosthunters series is a coming-of-age story. The other books in the series addressed personal issues and personality quirks in the characters as side-plots, such worrying about not being as smart others, worries about making and keeping friends, and the trouble with teasing. This one focuses on Joey and his sense of identity. He’s always felt that there is nothing special about him compared to his brothers and sisters. In this story, he develops his own character more and gains new confidence. In the process, he ends up becoming more comfortable with his role as a kid in a family with many children as well as appreciating his own uniqueness.  He also finds a name for himself that expresses his new sense of identity.

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Return of the Third-Grade Ghosthunters

return3gghostThe Return of the Third-Grade Ghosthunters by Grace Maccarone, 1989.

This is part of the Third Grade Ghosthunters series.

The same kids who were assigned to figure out the mysterious happenings at their school are now going on a field trip to a farm with their class. They’ll be spending a couple of days on the farm, sleeping over.  Adam has been looking forward to the trip, and he brings his ghost hunting gear with him, just in case.  He hasn’t lost his taste for ghost stories since their last adventure.

At first, things are pretty normal.  Then, during the night, the boys hear howling and see apparitions of a ghostly wolf in their bunk house. Could the farm be haunted?  Or is this some kind of mean joke?  Perhaps it’s the work of the class bully, Jeff? The ghost hunting committee assembles again to solve the mystery.

return3gghostpic2They try to use scientific methods to study the haunting.  They measure the placement of the furniture to see if anything moves while they’re out and sprinkle flour on the floor to get footprints.  But, even though they watch carefully and don’t see anyone enter the bunk house, when they go inside, everything is a mess, and the flour doesn’t appear disturbed.  Everyone else is about ready to admit that this one is a real ghost, but Adam has another theory.

The solution has an interesting twist to it. It’s a good mystery for kids beginning chapter books who like a little creepiness in their reading.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Haunting of Grade Three

HauntingG3The Haunting of Grade Three by Grace Maccarone, 1984.

Elwood Elementary has become overcrowded, so the third-graders have been moved to an old mansion, Blackwell House, which has been empty for years. The house looks kind of spooky, and there are a lot of local ghost stories about it. Fortunately, Adam Johnson likes scary stories, so he thinks that it’s wonderful to go to school there.

Soon after the students move into the house, strange things begin happening. Objects fall off desks and shelves, and door slam for no reason.  Some of the kids discover a grave marker on the property for a boy about their age who died during the Civil War.  The kids start getting nervous, and so does their teacher, Mr. Jenkins. Then, Mr. Jenkins decides to give the kids group assignments. Each committee gets to go to a different place in town and learn about it. Adam’s committee is assigned to study Blackwell House and decide if it’s really haunted. The kids think their assignment is pretty strange, but Adam is excited.  He wants to be a ghost hunter like on Ghostbusters!

HauntingGradeThreeMost of the group members are misfits in one way or another. Norma Hamburger is a shy girl, frequently teased about her last name. Debbie Clark is a talkative girl who’s really into science. Chuck Webber, Adam’s best friend, is the class clown, always telling stupid jokes (and one of the main people who teases Norma about her name). Danny Biddicker is strong and good at sports, but he worries that he’s not as smart as the others. Joey Baker feels overshadowed by his large family, so he tells tall tales to get attention. The other kids don’t understand and get annoyed with his lies. By working together, they not only learn the secret of Blackwell House, but they learn more about each other and become a real team and friends.

In the end, there is a reasonable explanation for the haunting of Blackwell House.  The kids take a methodical approach to the mystery, gathering their facts and ruling out various possibilities along the way.  Joey gets a chance to be a real hero, Danny proves to himself and everyone else that he’s smart and has good ideas, and Adam gets a new life ambition.

HauntingG3Pic

One other thing that I thought was interesting is that Adam, the main character in the story, is African American, but it’s never mentioned in the text of the story.  You only know because it’s shown in the pictures.  It’s just a little detail and not important to the story, but I thought it was interesting in a story that encourages kids to notice details.  I also liked it that Adam isn’t defined by race or appearance as so many characters in kids’ books are.  He stands by himself as an interesting character with his own ideas, courage, and leadership abilities.

This is the first book in the Third Grade Ghosthunters series.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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Wrapped in a Riddle

wrappedriddleWrapped in a Riddle by Sharon E. Heisel, 1993.

Miranda is living with her grandmother in Oregon while her scientist parents are away studying algae in Antarctica. Her grandmother owns a bed and breakfast called The Jumping Frog, which has a Mark Twain theme. At first, all Miranda is concerned about is finding some friends and fitting in at her new school, but soon strange things start to happen at the bed and breakfast.

First, someone attacks their housekeeper, hitting her over the head with a bust of Mark Twain. Then, some letters that were written to an ancestor of Miranda’s by Mark Twain himself are stolen.

Although Miranda’s grandmother likes to think the best of everyone, Miranda is convinced that the villain is someone living in the bed and breakfast. With her new friends (the main characters from A Little Magic, another book by the same author) Miranda begins her investigation, determined to find the letters for her grandmother, although it may mean solving a double mystery.  There is more that one person in the bed and breakfast with something to hide.

One of the fun things about this story is the riddles that Miranda and her grandmother like to tell each other.  Even her friends enjoy riddles, and they help provide Miranda with the inspiration to solve the mystery.

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

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The Mystery at Fire Island

mysteryfireislandThe Mystery at Fire Island by Hope Campbell, 1978.

Darcy Littlewood, called “Dash,” is appalled when her art teacher tells her not to draw anything over the summer.  Drawing comes almost as naturally as breathing to Dash, who wants to be a cartoonist when she grows up.  She’s always doing sketches and caricatures of people she sees, especially her younger brother, JC (James Colson Littlewood, also known as “Coleslaw”).  But, her art teacher thinks that her style has grown too strong and inflexible too early in her life.  He thinks that if she takes a break from drawing for the summer, she’ll be able to come back to it with a fresh approach that will allow her to try different styles as she grows older.

To Dash, the idea of not drawing at all is intolerable, especially since she broke her leg shortly before the start of summer vacation.  She can’t go much of anywhere or do much of anything while her family is staying at their beach house on Fire Island.  Without much to do, she doesn’t know how she’d entertain herself if she couldn’t draw.

Her older sister, Candace, isn’t happy about spending the summer on Fire Island, either.  She says that there’s never anything to do there, although their mother attributes part of her boredom to the fact that she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t have an outstanding talent or a particular goal in her life.  Everyone else in the family is artistically-inclined in some way.  Mrs. Littlewood is a writer, Mr. Littlewood teaches drama, JC has acting skills and a special talent for imitating people, and Dash has her art.  Mrs. Littlewood thinks that Candy’s attitude would improve if she found something that she was especially good at and truly cared about.

While Dash is brooding about her inability to stop drawing in spite of her art teacher’s request, she makes the acquaintance of Mrs. Guizot, an eccentric older woman who spots her drawing caricatures.  It turns out that Mrs. Guizot is an art lover, and she quickly becomes a fan of Dash’s work.  But, there is something mysterious about Mrs. Guizot, or at least the man they see her talking to.

Both Dash and JC notice that the man has a peculiar way of standing and walking.  Dash draws it, and JC imitates it.  So, when they see the same man on the beach later that night, looking different without his beard and wig, but still walking and standing the same way, they wonder why the man was in disguise.  Also, he seems to be going out surfing when there aren’t any waves for surfing.  Then, they discover that he’s bringing scuba tanks with him, and they aren’t real scuba tanks.  What is the man doing?

The kids try to investigate the mysterious man with JC doing much of the leg work at first because Dash can’t get around very well.  JC is worried about what they might learn because the man might turn out to be truly sinister and violent.  He even has suspicions about Mrs. Guizot.  Later, Dash’s leg improves and she’s able to take a more active role in the investigation, but the kids pretend like she’s still laid up as a cover for their activities.  The kids’ investigation doesn’t go as planned, but they do uncover a crime and also inadvertently help their sister to find her life’s vocation.

Part of the story has to do with seeing with depth.  Part of the reason why Dash’s art teacher wants her to observe more and draw less is so that her art will contain more depth.  Dash also learns to see the depths of people, the things they keep hidden behind their facades.  Her sister, Candy, also has hidden depths which even she doesn’t appreciate yet.

The story was later made into a tv movie by the same name, and the picture on the front cover of this edition of the book is from the movie.

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The Green Book

greenbookThe Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh, 1982.

The story takes place at an indeterminate time in the future. Earth is dying as the sun grows dimmer. The only hope for humans is to find new homes on other planets. In one of the last ships to leave Earth is a father and his three children: Joe, Sarah, and Pattie. They can take very little with them, only a few practical things, a couple of small keepsakes, and a single book each.

The journey to their new planet takes years, and people quickly go through their own books. Pattie, who is very young, brings a blank book with a green cover, which the others criticize and tease her about.  What use is a book with nothing in it that you can’t even read?

When they finally arrive on their new planet, everything is strange. The native plants seem to have a glass-like quality which makes them sharp, shiny, and dangerous to eat. Their guide came equipped with a set of rules to help them get their colony established, but soon they run out of rules and are completely on their own. Survival is a constant struggle, and everything involves a new discovery.

At first, it seems like they aren’t going to make it, but the children’s willingness to take a chance saves the day. Also, the little green book that Pattie brought gives the colonists hope. As they have exhausted all the old stories, she provides them with the first new one on their new world.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

greenbookpic

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The Treasure of Kilvarra

TreasureKilvarraThe Treasure of Kilvarra by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, 1974.

Christie and Kevin MacAlistaire go to Ireland with their mother to visit a family friend, Padraic O’Flaherty, and their visit turns into a terrifying treasure hunt!  Christie is fascinated by the gypsies living nearby and asks to visit them.  It’s her birthday, and the oldest gypsy, Sorcha, tells her fortune.  She says that Christie is fated to discover a treasure during her visit to Ireland, but there will be great danger involved, and she will need her brother to protect her.  Sorcha also gives Christie an amulet filled with holy ashes to help keep her safe.

Christie is eager to find the treasure Sorcha spoke of, although she doesn’t know what kind of treasure she is supposed to find or what kind of danger she will face along the way.  Their new friends tell them the history of the region with stories of ancient kings, fairy folk, and haunted castles.  Christie and Kevin visit some of these supposedly haunted ruins with their new friend Colum (a gypsy boy) and his pet crow, Ben.  Colum tells them the history of the castle ruins and the legends associated with it, and they discover that Christie has the ability to see and hear things that the boys can’t: spirits of the past.  Unfortunately, Ben is fascinated by Christie’s amulet and takes it, losing it in a nearby river.

KilvarraWithout the amulet to protect her, Christie continues her search for the treasure.  An accidental injury takes her to the place where it is hidden, but it’s a dangerous place.  Caught in a terrible storm, the children explore an ancient stone tower.  There, Christie sees the ghost of a long-dead monk, gesturing to her, begging her to follow him to the treasure that she seeks.  The monk died protecting it, and it’s a very unexpected but wonderful treasure indeed.  But, getting out of the place is going to be even more dangerous than getting in.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

This is actually the second book in a series about Christie MacAlistaire and her brother Kevin.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the first one and haven’t read it.  I do know that the first book in the series is called The Haunted Cove.  Christie and Kevin spend the summer in a cottage by the sea in Oregon, where they investigate a cove haunted by the ghosts of sailors and a woman who may be a witch.

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The Castle in the Attic

CastleAtticThe Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop, 1985.

Ten-year-old William’s life is being turned upside down.  Mrs. Phillips, his nanny, is leaving for good!  Mrs. Phillips has lived with William’s family and helped to take care of William ever since he was born. Both of his parents work, so William spends most of his time with Mrs. Phillips after school. She fixes him his snacks, takes him to his gymnastics lessons, spots for him as he practices his routine, and reads stories about King Arthur with him. However, now that William is ten years old, Mrs. Phillips thinks that she would like to go live with her brother in England, which is where she is from. William is upset because he can’t imagine life without Mrs. Phillips. Mrs. Phillips tells him that he will be fine without her and that his parents will start spending more time with him after she leaves. William tries everything he can think of to get her to stay, but she is determined that it’s time for her to go.

As a leaving present, Mrs. Phillips gives him a toy castle that has been in her family for generations, along with a little lead figure known as the Silver Knight. Still, William is determined to find a way to keep Mrs. Phillips from leaving.  Then, he discovers that the toy castle is magic! When the little knight comes to life and gives him a magic token that can make people small, William thinks he’s found the way he’s been looking for. With Mrs. Phillip’s impending departure and his fears of losing her, William suddenly realizes that he can use the magic coin to keep Mrs. Phillips with him.  Before she can leave, he shrinks her and puts her in the castle with the knight.

Of course, turning his nanny small and keeping her inside the toy castle was unethical, as Mrs. Phillips and the knight point out, but William’s mistake proves to be only the beginning of a fantastic journey that will fulfill a legend, free the knight’s kingdom from the reign of an evil wizard, and give William the confidence he’s been looking for.

Over the drawbridge of the castle is a poem about the beginning of a quest. Mrs. Phillips had said that there was a legend about the little knight, and when he comes alive, he tells William that his name is Sir Simon and that he was turned to lead by an evil wizard who has taken over his kingdom. The poem is the key to defeating the wizard, and the little token is really only half of one that the wizard was wearing around his neck. When William turns Mrs. Phillips small, he cannot reverse the spell because he lacks the other half of the amulet. To get it, he must become small himself and fulfill the poem by crossing the drawbridge as Sir Simon’s squire.  The two of them set out together to defeat the wizard and retrieve the other half of the token. Along the way, they become separated, and William must continue on to the wizard’s castle and finish the quest by himself. William has an inner strength that he doesn’t fully appreciate at first, and he can use it to defeat the evil wizard!

There is a sequel to this book called The Battle for the Castle.

My Reaction

I liked this story when I was a kid, and it’s a good coming-of-age story.  The sequel is also a coming-of-age story, but in a different way.  This book is about William coming to a better understanding of what kind of person he is and what he’s really capable of doing.  He can do more and handle more than he thinks he can.  In the end, although William is still a little sad at saying goodbye to Mrs. Philips when she leaves, he feels a little better about her going because he knows that he can take care of himself now, thanks to his magical adventures. Mrs. Phillips tells him that he always had what he needed inside himself but that he just didn’t believe it before.

The next book focuses on what it really means to be a man instead of a boy.  As William and his best friend grow up and are under social pressure from other boys to do a certain stunt in order to prove that they’re really grown-up, William and his friend set out on a magical adventure that teaches them that there are more ways of becoming a man than one.