Posted on by TracyC · 2 Comments

Mystery on the Isle of Skye

mysteryisleskyeMystery on the Isle of Skye by Phyllis Whitney, 1960.

Cathy MacLeod has lived with her grandmother for years, ever since her parents died when she was very young.  Now, her grandmother is very ill and will probably have to live in a nursing home.  Cathy needs to find a new place to live, and her relatives are debating about who is going to take her.  So far, the only relative who has offered her a home is Aunt Bertha.  Cathy isn’t enthusiastic because Aunt Bertha only has a tiny apartment where she lives alone, and she’s only offering Cathy a home out of duty, not real affection.  Aunt Bertha hasn’t spent much time around children and doesn’t really understand them.

But, there is one other prospect.  Cathy’s other relatives, the Corbins, are taking a trip to the Isle of Skye, where Cathy’s grandmother came from originally, and her grandmother has arranged for Cathy to go with them while Aunt Bertha is on a business trip.  Uncle Jerry (Cathy’s mother’s brother) and Aunt Lila Corbin have two boys of their own, Don (who is about Cathy’s age) and Humphry, who goes by the nickname of Punch.  Cathy is happy about the chance to go with them to visit the island that her grandmother has told her so much about.

At first, Cathy feels a little awkward around the Corbins because she doesn’t really know them, and they don’t know her.  Aunt Lila is warm and welcoming to Cathy, but Uncle Jerry is a tease.  Don is a tease as well and very impatient with the whole idea of the trip.  He doesn’t care about the history or legends of Skye as much as Cathy does.  His only real interest is in photography.  Young Punch is friendlier, sharing the excitement of the trip with Cathy.

Before they left on the trip, Cathy’s grandmother gave her a mysterious box to take with her.  Cathy doesn’t quite understand it at first, but the box contains several smaller packages with instructions to open them at different times during the trip.  Some of the instructions are vague and force her to rely on other people to tell her when to open them and what to do with the contents.  The packages are part present, part “spell.”  Thanks to them, Cathy makes new friends in Skye and goes on an adventure that she will never forget.

My Reaction

There is no real magic in this story, no real magic spells, and there actually isn’t much mystery either, except for the mystery Cathy initially feels about what’s in the packages and what their real purpose is.  Cathy’s grandmother has a love of legend and mystery, and these special gifts are meant to serve special purposes: to acquaint Cathy more with her past on the Isle of Skye and share some special memories, to heal Cathy’s sadness, to help draw her closer to her other relatives, and perhaps, to help her find her way to a brighter future than the one she currently thinks is waiting for her back home.

The packages help Cathy to bond with her aunt, uncle, and cousins.  They’re meant to be a shared activity.  She has to open certain packages with certain relatives, and they have to take her to certain places to do certain things with the contents.  These shared experiences help draw them closer to each other.

Although this story doesn’t follow the traditional mystery format and it can’t even be called fantasy or pseudo-fantasy, it’s enchanting because of the subtle hints of mystery and fantasy surrounding Cathy’s surprise packages.  Readers get to wonder alongside Cathy what’s in them and where they’re going to lead her.  It’s a little slower and more subtle than most modern children’s books, but I find it refreshing and magical for those reasons.

Posted on by TracyC

The Twenty-Four Hour Lipstick Mystery

24hrlipstickmysThe Twenty-Four-Hour Lipstick Mystery by Bonnie Pryor, 1989.

Cassie Adams, who is eleven years old, has never been happy with her looks, and now that her friends are starting to shave their legs and get interested in boys, she feels plainer than ever. One day, she sees an ad for Mrs. DuPrey’s School of Beauty and Charm and thinks that it might help her improve her appearance and develop confidence. The only problem is that she doesn’t have the money for it, and her parents won’t give her any. She decides that she needs to look for odd jobs in the neighborhood to help raise the money that she needs.

By coincidence, old Mr. Murdock’s granddaughter has recently moved into the old family house, which is huge and reputed to be haunted. In spite of the creepiness of the old place, Cassie finds a job there, helping Miss Murdock with cleaning and unpacking. Miss Murdock’s father made his money in cosmetics, and Miss Murdock employs a secretary named Victoria Presser, who used to be a model. Cassie admires Vicky for her beauty and elegance and looks forward to picking up some beauty tips from her. She also makes friends with Jason, a new boy in town, who also works for Miss Murdock, helping the gardener fix up the grounds. However, it isn’t long before Cassie, Jason, and Cassie’s younger brother, Danny, begin noticing that there is something odd about the old Murdock house.

lipstickmysterypicDanny is the first to notice that there is an octagonal window in the wall of the house, but none of the rooms has a window in that shape. Sometimes, lights can be seen through this window at night. Also, Cassie finds what looks like lab equipment among Miss Murdock’s boxes. Is Miss Murdock involved in something illegal? Does it have something to do with the burglaries that have been occurring around town? Why is the grumpy old gardener sneaking around? Just what is in that hidden room?

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

This is a good mystery for tween and early teen girls, who can identify with Cassie’s worries about being beautiful and popular. The moral of the story is that appearances are deceiving, and in the end, Cassie reconsiders what beauty really is and develops more confidence by appreciating the good qualities she already has and developing new interests.  While some of the other girls try to show how grown-up they are by looking grown-up, Cassie really grows up by taking responsibility for her life and the direction she wants it to go, making decisions about what she wants and who her real friends are.

Posted on by TracyC

The Valentine Star

The Kids of the Polk Street School

valentinestar#6 The Valentine Star by Patricia Reilly Giff, 1985.

Emily Arrow and Sherri Dent have been fighting ever since Emily refused to play a game with Sherri at recess.  It wasn’t because Emily didn’t like Sherri.  She was just having too much fun running around with her toy unicorn, Uni.  But, Emily made the mistake of running up on top of that huge snow pile near the school fence, the one that the kids aren’t supposed to play on.  Then, Sherri told on her to Ms. Rooney.  After that, it becomes a game of tit-for-tat, each of the girls telling on the other for little things.  While Emily is acting as room monitor while Ms. Rooney is out of the room, Sherri gets out of her seat to get a book instead of doing her work, so Emily writes her name down and tells Ms. Rooney.  Sherri promises that she’ll get even.

Around the same time, Ms. Rooney’s room gets a new student teacher, Ms. Vincent.  Ms. Vincent is very pretty and nice, and Emily likes her immediately.  The kids are making rhyming Valentine’s Day cards for each other because Valentine’s Day is just a few days away, and Emily wants to give a special one to Ms. Vincent.

valentinestarpic1But then, Emily and “Beast” (Richard Best) make a serious mistake.  It was hot inside at lunch, and they couldn’t resist the urge to run outside in the snow for just a couple of minutes without their coats.  Then, they got locked out and had to get Beast’s sister to let them in a different door.  They thought no one saw them, but a neighbor did and contacted the school.  Now, Emily is afraid of what will happen if their teacher finds out that it was her and Beast.  Will the school be angry enough to hold them both back a grade or maybe worse?  Maybe Emily will be spending Valentine’s Day in the school office instead of at the party, watching Ms. Vincent enjoy her special valentine . . . especially if Sherri happens to know what they did.

Many of the The Kids of the Polk Street School books are about the little problems that kids get into but that seem big because they’re young and inexperienced.  Ms. Vincent’s kindness and understanding help Emily and Sherri to work out their differences, and a President’s Day lesson about the honesty of both Lincoln and Washington help Emily and Beast to realize that tattling on yourself makes you a better person than tattling on others.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

Posted on by TracyC

Valentine Blues

valentinebluesValentine Blues by Jeanne Betancourt, 1990.

This book is part of the Aviva Granger Stories series.  (It’s the only one I have in the series right now.)

In the last book, Aviva’s best friend, Josh, came to live with her, her mother, and her step-father.  Josh was living in an orphanage before that, and since he and Aviva were close, her mother and stepfather thought that it would be natural to invite him to be part of the family.  At the time, Aviva thought that it was a good idea, but being friends with someone doesn’t mean that it will be easy living with them, and Aviva’s family life is already complicated!

Aviva’s parents are divorced, and both her mother and father are already in new relationships.  Her mother has remarried, and Aviva not only has a stepfather but a half-sister (college age) and half-brother (baby) living in the same house.  Aviva’s father has a girlfriend, Miriam, and Aviva doesn’t get along well with her.  Miriam would like it if she and Aviva’s father had a child of their own.

When Josh comes to live with Aviva’s mother and her family, Aviva realizes that sharing a family and house with him makes things even more complicated.  He takes too long in the bathroom and makes her late to school.  He’s one more person for her mother to pay attention to, so Aviva gets less attention.  Even her dog seems to like Josh better now!

Then, shortly after Valentine’s Day, Aviva overhears Josh and his friend Ronnie Cioffi talking about girls and giving them ratings based on their looks.  Out of 10 points, Cioffi rates Aviva as a 2, and Josh agrees.  Josh has a crush on Louise, a girl they know from school, and she has a much better figure.

It isn’t that Aviva is in love with Josh, who she sees more as a friend/brother, but it hurts that he seems to be taking her place in the family and doesn’t even really appreciate her, joining in with his friend in making fun of her body.  With her time divided between two households, two parents who hardly seem to have time for her these days, and Josh moving in and taking over, Aviva worries that maybe she doesn’t really belong anywhere or to anybody.

It takes a night when Aviva sleeps out in the barn without telling anyone where she is to make the people closest to her realize how much she needs them.  A sleepover at Louise’s house (where the girls candidly discuss their own ratings for the boys they know) and Aviva’s anonymous question in sex ed class also help to put the rating system into perspective for all the kids.

The book has some Christian themes because the children go to a Catholic school, although this book mostly focuses on family life and girls’ and boys’ perceptions of each other.  The kids are eighth graders, and there is also some talk about sex ed.

Posted on by TracyC

Number the Stars

numberstarsNumber the Stars by Lois Lowry, 1989.

Annemarie Johansen is ten years old and living in Copenhagen in 1943.  Denmark is now occupied by the Nazis, and she and her little sister Kirsti have become accustomed to the sight of German soldiers in the streets and the food rationing and curfews that have come with the war.  But, there are still worse changes to come in their lives. Jewish people like Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen Rosen, are in danger.  The Germans have been closing businesses owned by Jews, and worse still, some Jewish families simply . . . disappear.

Annemarie comes to understand the disturbing truth behind many of the things that have been happening around her, including the sudden death of her older, grown-up sister, Lise.  Although she had earlier been told that Lise had been killed in an accident, what happened to Lise was no accident.  Lise and her fiance, Peter, were both part of an underground Resistance movement, working against the Nazis.  Peter is still part of the Resistance, and he calls upon Annemarie’s family to help him save not only Ellen’s life but the lives of other Jews who are in danger.

When the Johansens learn that the Nazis are looking for Jews from the register at the Rosens’ synagogue, Annemarie’s family takes in Ellen and pretends that she is their third daughter, Lise, while Peter helps to hide her parents make preparations to get them out of the country.  They journey to the seaside, where Annemarie’s Uncle Henrik prepares to help take the Rosens and others to safety on his fishing boat.  At first, Annemarie is angry that the adults are telling her things that she knows aren’t true and keeping secrets from her about their plans, but they tell her that it is for her own good not to know too much because they don’t want her to be too frightened with the details.  She soon comes to see their point because, as they set their plan into motion, Annemarie must perform an act of bravery for it to be successful.

Besides being an historical novel, this is partly a coming-of-age story as Annemarie goes from being an innocent young girl to being more fully aware of the problems and dangers surrounding her, her family, and her friends.  The title of the book comes from a Biblical quotation about how God “numbers the stars” and Annemarie’s thoughts as she considers her situation and the danger everyone is in.  Ellen’s mother said that she doesn’t like the sea because it is too big and too cold, and on a starry night in the middle of their peril, it strikes Annemarie that night sky and the whole world is like that, too: too big and too cold.  Annemarie thinks that sky is full of more stars than anyone can count, and the world situation and its complexities seem too great for Annemarie to fully grasp.  The immensity and  dangerous nature of it all frighten her.

Annemarie’s older sister, the grown-up child in their family, understood the complexities and dangers of the world and risked her life to fight for their country’s freedom, ultimately losing her life in the process.  Annemarie’s younger sister is still largely unaware of the risks her family is taking to save their friends, still thinking in her innocence that the explosions from the destruction of the Danish naval fleet when the Nazis invaded were “fireworks” for her birthday.  At the beginning of the story, Annemarie is between her two sisters: more aware of what is going on than Kirsti is but not aware of what her older sister did or knew.  By the end of the story, Annemarie has moved to a more grown-up understanding but uses her innocent, little-girl appearance to fool the Nazis into thinking that she is just an ignorant child so they will be less suspicious of her.

Although this story is fiction, similar incidents happened in real life when people took great risks to help Jewish people escape from the Nazis. In the back of the book, there is an Afterword that explains more about the historical events behind the story.

This book was a 1990 Newbery Award winner.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 2 Comments

Soup

soupSoup by Robert Newton Peck, 1974.

This is the first book in a series about the author’s childhood best friend.  His friend’s real name was Luther Wesley Vison, but he always hated that name.  Because Luther refused to come home whenever his mother called his name for dinner, his mother took to just yelling, “Soup’s on!” when she wanted him to come home to eat.  After that, everyone else just started calling him “Soup”, which he liked a lot better than “Luther.”

Together, Soup and Robert had a reputation for getting into scrapes in their small town in Vermont.  The book is a series of short stories about the funny things they did as kids, like how they got revenge on the school nurse for asking embarrassing questions, how Soup got punished for breaking a window other than the one he’d actually broken, how Soup talked Rob into rolling down a hill in a barrel, and how Robert’s aunt let him tie her to a tree right before a lightning storm.

souppicSome of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny, and some of them have kind of a moral lesson to them, like the time when Rob realized that he didn’t have the heart to lie to his mother even if it would allow him to escape punishment for talking back to the school nurse, the time when Soup and Rob tried to cheat Mr. Diskin out of some money so they would have enough to go to the movies but ended up feeling guilty, and how the boys made themselves sick by attempting to smoke cornsilk.  Others are just stories of childhood events and friendship, like the story of how Rob and Soup played football and how Soup loaned Rob his new shoes when his were ruined.  Even though Soup often got Rob into trouble, he really was a good friend and went out of his way to make Rob feel better when he needed it the most.

Although it is a short chapter book that is easy to read, a couple of the stories might require some further explanations for young children reading them, like the one where the boys smoke cornsilk using homemade pipes and the one where Soup says that someone told him it was all right to cheat Mr. Diskin because he’s a Jew (a belief that they come to rethink when they feel guilty for cheating someone who was always fair with them and was kind to them even when he discovered the deception).  They deal with older practices and prejudices and can be the start of discussions about the lessons people learn by making mistakes. Other than that, these stories present a fascinating look at what it was like to grow up in the country during the 1920s.

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

Posted on by TracyC

The Curse of the Egyptian Mummy

cursemummyThe Curse of the Egyptian Mummy by Pat Hutchins, 1983.

The 15th Hampstead Cub Scouts are looking forward to their camping trip. Miss. Hylyard, who runs a guesthouse for retired people, lets the scouts camp on her land and enjoys having them visit her house and entertain her guests. Mr. and Mrs. Webb are coming along to do the cooking, and their daughter, Victoria, will be there, too. She’s one of their friends from school.

Things start to get interesting pretty quickly when they hear that a man died from a poisonous snake bite not far from where they are camping. The boys are eager to show off their tracking skills by helping the police find the missing snake.  But, strangely, no one can figure out where the snake came from because none of the zoos in the area have reported one missing.  That’s only the beginning of what becomes a very strange trip for the scouts.

Sam finds a strange bird statue in a public wastebasket and decides to use it as the scouts’ new mascot. Then, someone trashes the campsite, and strange figures are seen running around the woods at night.  When Albert makes copies of the bird statue to earn his art badge, the first one is broken, and the second is stolen after some adult shoves Albert into the river near the camp.  Some of the guests at Miss Hylyard’s look suspicious, and when Victoria unexpectedly stumbles into an evening’s entertainment there still wrapped in bandages from the scouts’ first aid practice, a guest who was supposedly unable to speak suddenly blurts out, “The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb!” in Arabic (which Miss Hylyard knows from her travels with her father).

Who are these mysterious people?  What is the importance of the statue?  And, is there really a curse?

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mona Lisa Mystery

monalisamystery

The Mona Lisa Mystery by Pat Hutchins, 1981.

Class 3 from Hampstead Primary School is taking a trip to France with their teacher, Mr. Jones. Miss Barker, their headmistress, was supposed to go with them, but she became ill, so their substitute French teacher, Miss Parker, will be going with them instead.  The kids aren’t happy about the substitution because they really like Miss Barker, and Miss Parker isn’t nearly as nice.

From the very beginning of the trip, strange things start happening. A black car follows them to the ferry and even around France. A doctor they meet on the ferry takes a room at their hotel, and unusual characters follow them everywhere they go, some of them in disguise. One of them even enters Jessica and Avril’s hotel room in the middle of the night.

At first, the children think that someone may be trying to kidnap Miss Parker since the mysterious strangers are showing unusual interest in her.  Then, the Mona Lisa is stolen while the children visit the Louvre!  The thief temporarily holds Jessica hostage before making his escape. Later, the painting shows up at their hotel, and Mr. Jones is arrested as a conspirator in the crime!

The children struggle to unravel the clues and the tangled mass of identities and prove their teacher’s innocence.  Who was really following who, who is the real conspirator, and can the children prove it and find the missing painting?

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

monalisamysterypic2

My Reaction

When I was a kid, I wished that my class could take a field trip to a foreign country! Technically, I suppose we could have since I live in a border state, but there’s nothing to see in the border towns here that would be as exciting as the Louvre. But, part of the fun of reading books like this is vicariously experiencing things you otherwise wouldn’t do.

This mystery story is the kind I think of as a fun romp – the characters are traveling around a bit and hijinks ensue as the students try to solve the mystery and save both the Mona Lisa and their teachers. One of my favorite parts as a kid was the running gag with the ketchup bottle.

Posted on by TracyC

The Ghosts of Cougar Island

cougarislandThe Ghosts of Cougar Island by Peggy Parish, 1986.

This book picks up soon after the previous book in the series ends.

The summer is almost over, and soon, the Roberts children will have to leave Pirate Island.  Their grandfather tells them the story of nearby Cougar Island.  The members of the Cougar family are all deceased, but the last member of the family said that anyone who trespassed on the island would be haunted by the ghosts of the Cougar family who are buried on the island.  Although no one lives there now, some people have seen lights out on the island at midnight.  The children’s grandfather even tried to go there once when he was young but turned back when he heard terrible moans.  Liza, Bill, and Jed decide that they can’t possibly go home without trying to investigate this haunted island!

Strange things are happening on Pirate Island, too.  Someone has been stealing food from Hermit Dan, but someone has also weeded his garden.  On the one hand, he appreciates the help, but he can’t understand the thefts.

The children’s grandfather borrows a canoe for them, and the three of them take a trip out to the island.  Sure enough, they encounter the terrible moans and a horrifying sound like the rattle of bones.  Hermit Dan later offers them an explanation that helps set them at ease, but he can’t explain every mystery.  Another visit to the island answers some of the children’s questions and leaves them with others, and a terrifying time in the old abandoned Cougar mansion convinces them of one thing: There is still someone on Cougar Island who shouldn’t be there. Someone who ate the lunch the children left behind earlier. Someone who lights candles at night in the old abandoned Cougar mansion. Someone who may even be responsible for the thefts on Pirate Island.

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

Posted on by TracyC

Pirate Island Adventure

pirateislandPirate Island Adventure by Peggy Parish, 1975.

The Roberts kids must solve another family treasure hunt! This time, they are staying with their grandparents at the family’s vacation home on Pirate Island. It has been many years since the family has been able to go there during the summer. For years, they rented the house out to a couple who lived there most of the time, and the grandparents could only go there when the couple left to visit relatives at Christmas. Now, the house is vacant again, and the grandparents have decided to take the Liza, Bill, and Jed there for the summer.

The last time that their grandfather spent the summer there as a child, his older brother decided to take something from every member of the family and make a treasure hunt just like the old family treasure hunt that the kids solved in Key to the Treasure. Just like that treasure hunt, other circumstances arose that kept the treasure hunt from being solved, so no one ever got back what grandfather’s brother hid. The only clue they have to the treasure now is a picture that grandfather’s brother drew. Since the children were able to solve the last treasure hunt, their grandfather is hopeful that they will be able to solve this one, too.

Unlike other treasure hunts that the Roberts kids solve, this treasure hunt does not involve codes and word games.  The clues are given in the form of drawings, most of which (unfortunately) are not shown to the readers.  The readers wouldn’t have a chance to solve the puzzles anyway because the objects in the drawings are things which the children’s grandfather has to recognize, places where he and his brother went as kids.  This book also introduces Hermit Dan, who appears in another book.

This book is part of the Liza, Bill, and Jed Mysteries series.