Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Basil of Baker Street

BasilBakerStreetBasil of Baker Street by Eve Titus, 1958.

Some people may recognize the title character from Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective.  This is the original book that the Disney movie was based on, although the movie was very different from the original book.

The part that is the same is that Basil is a mouse who lives in the house of Sherlock Holmes at 221 B Baker Street. He and some other mice have built a little town they call Holmestead in the cellar.  Although Sherlock Holmes is unaware of Basil’s presence, Basil studies his methods and copies them, becoming “the Sherlock Holmes of the Mouse World.”  Like Sherlock Holmes, Basil also has a narrator for his stories, his best friend and fellow mouse Dr. Dawson, and they solve cases for their fellow mice in trouble.

BasilBakerStreetPicIn this book, Basil’s skills are put to the test when he is hired by his mouse neighbors to find their two missing daughters, a pair of twins named Angela and Agatha.  The twins have been kidnapped, and soon, a note arrives, saying that all the mice in Baker Street have only 48 hours to evacuate their home if they ever want to see the twins again.  A gang called The Terrible Three want to use Holmestead as their headquarters.  With only two days to solve the case, Basil and Dr. Dawson set out to find the gang and rescue the twins so that they can keep their wonderful home!

Basil of Baker Street is actually the first book in a series about Basil’s cases, and I think it’s really the best book in the series.  It is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery Hideout

MysteryHideoutThe Mystery Hideout by Ken Follett, 1976.

The first time Mick Williams meets Randall Izard (called “Izzie”) is when the news dealer Mick works for asks him to train the new boy on his paper route, and Mick learns that Izzie will also be going to his school. Mick doesn’t like Izzie much at first. The new boy speaks with a posh accent and is riding an expensive bike that he says was a present from his father, who makes television ads for a living. Mick doesn’t have a father, and he stole the bike that he rides for his paper route.

Mick guesses that Izzie’s family used to have more money but have fallen on hard times, which is why Izzie needs the paper route.  Mick is worried about his own future.  Someone is building a new hotel on the street where he lives by knocking down the old film studios, and his mother says that they’re going to demolish all the old apartment buildings around it.  That means that they’ll have to find a apartment, which isn’t easy because they don’t have much money, and not everyone wants to rent to a lone woman with a child.

Mick kind of envies the criminal gangs that he reads about in the paper, like the Disguise Gang.  They stage daring raids on banks while wearing clever disguises so that no one knows that they really look like.  They fool everyone and get away with tons of money.  Mick wishes that he was that clever!  If he was, his mother would never have to worry about money again.

MysteryHideoutPicBut, Izzie turns out to be a good friend for Mick.  They both love to play soccer, and Izzie tells Mick that his father used to work in the old studio buildings that they’re tearing down to build the new hotel. In fact, Izzie even knows a secret way in, so the boys sneak in to explore a little.  They’re goofing off with some of the props when they make the startling discovery that the prop guns are loaded with real bullets! Then, the boys have to make a run for it because there are other people sneaking around the old studios. What is going on there?

This book actually takes place in London. I don’t think they actually say the name of the city in the story, but they do mention the Thames, the money is all in pounds, and there are children playing cricket.  But, it’s the kind of story that could take place anywhere.  Mick and Izzie are realistic characters.  Both of them are worried about their families’ hard times.  Mick in particular wants to be the man of the house and to help his mother in her struggles to provide for them.  His inner debate about which side of the law he should be on is also feels real, and it’s satisfying what he chooses when he realizes what criminals are really like and the danger they pose to people he cares about.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

The Adventures of the Red Tape Gang

RedTapeGangThe Adventures of the Red Tape Gang by Joan Lowery Nixon, 1974.

Hardcover editions of this book are called The Mysterious Red Tape Gang.

Mike’s father loves to read the newspaper every morning and rant about the stories that make him angry.  It annoys him how little gets accomplished because there’s so much “red tape” involved.  Take the case of their neighbor, Mr. Hartwell.  He has a large bush that’s dangerously close to the corner of their street and has caused several accidents. The city wants him to cut it, but he refuses to do so out of meanness and stubbornness.  Now, the city has to go through all kinds of red tape to make it happen.

His father’s rants give Mike an idea.  Why not put the new clubhouse he and his friends are working on to good use and form a club to right the wrongs of their neighborhood and make all of that red tape unnecessary?  Besides, cutting the Hartwells’ bush in the middle of the night would be a great joke on Mr. Hartwell’s nosy daughter, Linda Jean, who’s always hanging around, getting in the way of Mike and his friends.

Mike’s friends love the idea of being secret neighborhood heroes, but of course, it turns out to be harder than they expected.  After trimming the Hartwells’ bush as best they can, they decide that instead of just cutting the bush, it would be better to move it to a completely different spot so there will be no need to cut it again when it grows out.  But, Mr. Hartwell almost catches them in their midnight landscaping, and when Linda Jean finds Mike’s shears, they’re forced to let her into their club.

Their next project, boarding up the doors and windows of an abandoned house so that curious children won’t wander in and get hurt, also comes with complications.  It seems that the house wasn’t quite as abandoned as everyone thought.  Still, the Red Tape Gang accomplishes something even greater than just keeping kids out of the house and successfully keeps their identities secret.  But while they’re congratulating themselves on the wonderful job they’ve been doing, they discover that their neighborhood contains far more serious problems than they originally thought. Their activities are also starting to come to the attention of the wrong people.  And, for one member of the group, these problems hit dangerously close to home.

This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.  The descriptions of the kids’ midnight excursions are hilarious and make you want to cheer them on!

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Our Teacher Is Missing

TeacherMissingOur Teacher Is Missing by Mary Frances Shura, 1992.

Eliza is a quiet girl, and she likes to be that way.  Too many of her teachers try to make her be more “outgoing” or “lively.”  Mostly, Eliza wishes that they would just leave her alone.  That’s why she likes her new teacher, Miss Dixon.  Miss Dixon is quiet and soft-spoken, like Eliza.  Ben, the class bully, calls Miss Dixon “Mouse,” but in spite of that, Miss Dixon has no trouble controlling her class.

Then, one day, Miss Dixon doesn’t show up to class.  The kids wait around for her, goofing off, but Eliza is really worried.  She knows that it’s not like Miss Dixon to simply not show up.  Soon, other kids also start becoming concerned, and other faculty members realize that Miss Dixon is missing.  The principal arranges for a substitute teacher while they are looking for Miss Dixon, and the children continue wondering what could have happened to her. The students consider every possibility behind their teacher’s disappearance, from secret mafia connections and entry into the Witness Protection Program to alien abduction.

But, for Eliza, all these wild speculations, stupid jokes about their “Mouse” teacher being eaten by a cat, and the adults’ constant reassurances that they’re sure that there is a reasonable explanation and that no one should be “unduly concerned” are just not enough.  Whatever happened to Miss Dixon, Eliza is sure that she would have come to school or at least called if she could.  Eliza thinks that something terrible must have happened and that Miss Dixon needs help fast.  If the adults won’t do anything about Miss Dixon’s disappearance, then she will!

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

My Reaction and Spoilers:

I love this book because I identified with the main character from the time I first read it as a child. One of the themes of this book is about people’s perceptions of different personality types. Eliza’s teachers and even her parents underestimate her because of her quiet nature.  Eliza is an introvert, and she is under constant pressure from most adults to be more of an extrovert.  Eliza resents their attempts to reshape her into a more outgoing, forceful person, not recognizing that her real strengths are her intelligence, perceptiveness, and quiet determination to do the right thing.  Being a loud person isn’t the same as being a competent person, although some people have that perception.  However, the people around her come to understand her better in the end.  Eliza also finds some unexpected sympathy from friends who understand her impatience with the shallow immaturity of other kids and who also are content to not be completely understood by other people as long as they have the freedom to quietly be themselves.

Eliza succeeds in this mystery where the adults fail because she is perceptive and has insights into her teacher’s personality that other lack.  Although Eliza’s friends Robin, Stephen, and Chris are worried about getting into trouble by playing detective, when they see how determined Eliza is, they agree to help.  Soon, they realize that Eliza is right to be worried.  Miss Dixon intended to be home over the weekend, but something happened to keep her from coming home.  The more the children talk about what they really know about their teacher, the more they begin to put the clues together.  Finally, they realize where Miss Dixon was right before she vanished, but the situation is serious.  Miss Dixon is being held captive because she accidentally stumbled upon criminal activity.  When one of their classmates is also in danger, Eliza shows everyone that even a quiet person can have the bravery and determination to do what needs to be done.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School

SidewaysArithmetic

Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, 1989.

This is a companion book to the Wayside School Series.  Unlike the other books in the series, it doesn’t contain stories.  It talks about the things that kids at Wayside School study, partly from the point of view of Sue, a new student who is stunned to learn that kids at Wayside School do arithmetic with words, not numbers.

SidewaysArithmeticPicBasically, it’s a puzzle book.  In the Arithmetic section, the letters in the words stand for numbers.  The book gives an example to demonstrate how to figure out which numbers the letters stand for.  The problems get harder through the sections labeled Numbers, Pronouns, and Paragraphs.

From the Recess section on, there are logic puzzles.  In Recess, you have to use the information provided to figure out what games the children play at recess.  In Science, Geography, Etc. (that’s one chapter), you have to figure out who got the right answers to the tests from the information provided. You see the answers five of them got and know that only one of them got all the answers right and no two of them had the same score. When you look in the back to see if you solved the problem right, you get to see what the test was actually about, and that’s the funniest part.  The Lunch section combines logic puzzles with math.  The True or False section gives you true/false questions to answer based on a series of statements about which of them are true or false.  Finally, in the After School section, Joy and Sue give up and go home (as well they should).

I like the book because I like puzzles, and there are funny little stories around the problems and answers.  All of the puzzles are answerable (except for one or two where the correct answer is that they’re impossible, which is why Joy should definitely get up and go home, but you’ll figure that out way before she does).  If you like puzzles and the Wayside School series, you’d like this book.  If you don’t like puzzles, you can skip this and just stick to the regular books in the series (as regular as Wayside School gets).  If you like puzzles but don’t know about the Wayside School series, you could still find it interesting but you wouldn’t really appreciate the funny parts.  If you don’t like the Wayside School series or puzzles, you probably aren’t reading this right now, so don’t worry about it.

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

WaysideStrangerWayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar, 1995.

Just when you didn’t think it was possible . . .

Having finally managed to remove all of the cows from Wayside School (see the last story in the previous book in the Wayside School Series), Louis declares that Wayside School is ready for the students to return.  Everyone is glad because they were all sent to far more normal schools while Wayside was closed, and they hated it.  Nothing normal ever happens at Wayside, the school that was built sideways (and has a missing floor, where all the really strange stuff happens).

But, things are about to get stranger yet.  The school hires a new school counselor (they probably needed one) named Dr. Pickell (or Dr. Pickle, if you prefer).  He takes the job when he can’t practice psychiatry anymore because of his tendency to play practical jokes on people while they’re under hypnosis.  Can he finally cure Paul of his desire to pull Leslie’s pigtails?

WaysideStrangerPic1Meanwhile, the principal declares that “door” is a very bad word and that everyone should say “goozack” instead.  Mrs. Jewls tells the children to write poems about colors, but some colors rhyme better than others.  Kathy tries to convince everyone that Santa doesn’t exist.  Miss Zarves (who also doesn’t exist), laments about how difficult teaching really is.

Then, the children learn something really surprising: Mrs. Jewls is expecting a baby!  She has to take a break from teaching, and the children have a series of substitutes who are stranger than Mrs. Jewls.  Mr. Gorf turns out to be Mrs. Gorf’s son, and he wants revenge.  Mrs. Drazil turns out to be Louis’s old teacher, the one he was always afraid of, and she wants revenge.  Mrs. Nogard is an unhappy person who wants to make other people unhappy . . . until she realizes that isn’t what she really wants.  Wayside School may be strange, but it does have happy endings!

By the way, anyone notice what the substitutes’ names spell backward?

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Wayside School is Falling Down

WaysideFallingWayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar, 1989.

The books in the Wayside School Series are collections of short, funny stories about a school that was accidentally built sideways.  Instead of being a one-story school with thirty classrooms all in a row, Wayside School is a thirty-story school with only one classroom on each floor.  Strange things are always happening there. The stories mostly focus on the kids in Mrs. Jewls’s class on the top floor of the school.  Like the first book in the series, there are 30 short stories in this book.

It would take too long to describe all the stories in the book individually, but they’re just as funny as in the first one.  Mrs. Jewls has a new student, Mark Miller, except that Mark Miller is really Benjamin Nushmutt.  Benjamin would correct Mrs. Jewls except that he seems to be a much better and more popular student as Mark Miller.  But, as he soon learns, answering to a name that isn’t yours is about the least strange thing at his new school.

WaysidePic1Socks figure into many of the stories, with a special jingle invented by Mac, who used to be named Nancy until he traded names with a girl.  It’s fortunate that Mac invented the jingle because Allison uses it to free herself from the non-existent 19th story.  Myron chooses freedom over safety, emancipating himself from the school’s rules.  Bebe invents a younger brother, and things turn around for Leslie when her pigtails pull Paul.  Rondi fears that she’s no longer cute now that her front teeth have grown in.  Joy learns the best thing about the toy dog that Todd brought to school, and Ron actually tries the school lunch.

There are plenty of lessons to learn.  Watch as Mrs. Jewls teaches her class about gravity using her brand new computer!  Dana thinks that she hates stories until she learns that she actually loves them.  Mrs. Jewls teaches Jason not to chew pencils using masking tape.  Dameon learns about love via a dead rat.  Stephen explains how uncomfortable clothes and strangling ties make people look important, and Mrs. Jewls says that it’s what’s underneath that counts, so it’s best to wear expensive undies.  Then, everyone learns to tango in dance class (except Myron).

But, one windy day, the children are faced with an alarming possibility: Can their overly-tall school actually fall down?  (Lyrics courtesy of Kathy, who still hates everyone.)

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Sideways Stories From Wayside School

Wayside

Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar, 1978.

The books in the Wayside School Series are collections of short, funny stories about a school that was accidentally built sideways.  Instead of being a one-story school with thirty classrooms all in a row, Wayside School is a thirty-story school with only one classroom on each floor (the compensation is the extra-large playground).  Also, they accidentally left off the 19th story.  Strange things happen at the school.  Even stranger ones happen on the non-existent 19th story.  But, the stories mostly focus on the kids on the top floor of the school.

WaysideStoriesPic1Each of the books contains thirty stories, like the school (ha, ha!).  It would take awhile to describe them all, but there are stories about each of the kids in Mrs. Jewls’s class.  Mrs. Jewls took over the class on the 30th floor after Mrs. Gorf accidentally turned herself into an apple.  She used to turn her students into apples when they made her mad, but most forms of revenge backfire eventually.  Mrs. Gorf ends up turning herself into an apple when one of her students holds up a mirror, and then, Louis the yard teacher eats her.

Mrs. Jewls is a much better teacher.  She helps Joe learn to count.  Joe can usually only get the right answer when he counts numbers in the wrong order.  She helps John learn to read right-side up instead of upside down.  She teaches Bebe that when it comes to art, quantity doesn’t equal quality (although Bebe did have a pretty good system going there for awhile) and cures Dana’s mosquito bites with the power of arithmetic.  Mrs. Jewls even invents new flavors of ice cream when Maurecia gets tired of every flavor in existence.

The students in Mrs. Jewl’s class are pretty amazing, too.  Todd saves the day when confused bank robbers burst into the class.  Sharie shows her intelligence by sleeping in class, D.J. smiles constantly, and Kathy hates everyone and everything.  Rondi is cute for the things she doesn’t have (like her two missing teeth) and the stuff she doesn’t do (everyone laughs when she doesn’t tell a joke), but what can she do about it?  Paul just wants to pull Leslie’s pigtails, and Leslie thinks maybe she should sell her toes because she can’t find a use for them.

WaysideStoriesPic2Mrs. Gorf does make one more reappearance on the Friday before Halloween.  Mrs. Jewls and the children argue that she can’t haunt the school if it’s not Halloween, but when Halloween falls on a weekend, schools have to have their Halloween party on the Friday before.  Stephen’s just happy that the ghost of Mrs. Gorf justifies his costume.

As Louis the yard teacher says, “It has been said that these stories are strange and silly.  That is probably true. However, when I told stories about you to the children at Wayside, they thought you were strange and silly. That is also probably true.”  Fair is fair.

This book is available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 2 Comments

The Seventh Princess

The Seventh Princess

The Seventh Princess by Nick Sullivan, 1983.

Jennifer never remembers her dreams, so she doesn’t think that she’ll be able to complete the essay that her teacher assigned them to write: My Strangest Dream.  While she’s worrying about not being able to finish her homework, she dozes off on the school bus on her way to school.

Suddenly, Jennifer finds herself in a beautiful carriage being driven through a dark forest.  Jennifer is happy that she’s apparently going to have a dream that she can write about, so she decides to enjoy it as much as possible, trying on the beautiful gown, cloak, and jewelry that she finds in the carriage with her.  Eventually, the carriage stops at a huge palace, and Jennifer comes to the realization that the carriage never had a driver.

She is greeted by Duke Rinaldo, the Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom of Eladeria. Jennifer is informed that she is Princess Miranda, the king’s adopted daughter.  Actually, Jennifer is the seventh of the king’s “daughters.”  There were six others before her . . . and their fates are unknown.

This is no ordinary dream.  The king of Eladeria is ill, possibly bewitched.  The king’s son is missing.  There is treachery in the palace.  People live in terror of the evil enchantress Swenhild and her harpies.  Soon, they will demand a tribute: a golden-haired princess with blue eyes . . . like Jennifer, er, Princess Miranda!

The only one who seems to want to help Jennifer is her new friend, Samson the dwarf, who is the palace’s court jester.  He introduces her to his friend, Prospero, who can do magic and understands more of what’s happening than most people.  He tells her that her only hope is to find the Paladian Scroll and use its power.  Can Jennifer and Samson find this mysterious scroll in time?  It might still be possible to save the other princesses, but Jennifer worries about whether she’ll ever wake up in her own world again.

This book is available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

One of the things that I love about this book is how it brings in some lesser-used fantasy creatures, like the harpies, and characters, like the dwarf jester.  The “was it a dream or wasn’t it” trope has been used a lot, but the adventure within the dream itself is fun, exciting, and very well-done.

Posted on by TracyC

Twenty and Ten

TwentyTenTwenty and Ten by Claire Bishop, 1952.

The story takes place in occupied France during World War II.  Children were often sent to the countryside to escape the violence of war, and a group of twenty children, both boys and girls, are staying at a small school taught by a nun, Sister Gabriel.  Most of them are about eleven years old, although four-year-old Louis is allowed stay at the school with his older sister, Denise.

Janet, another student at the school, tells how a strange man comes to the school and begs them to help him hide ten Jewish orphans from the Nazis.  Sharing their school with these newcomers means that they will have to share their already meager rations with them and to keep their presence at the school absolutely secret.  In spite of the danger and difficulty, everyone at the school agrees to help.  They think of it as being like when Mary and Joseph had to take baby Jesus to Egypt to hide him from King Herod, a story they had recently acted out in play form.

TwentyTenPic1The two groups of children soon make friends, and one of the Jewish children, Arthur, shares something special with his new friend, Henry: a small piece of chocolate.  With the rationing, none of them have seen chocolate in a long time.  Henry decides to share a little with Janet because he likes her, and they decide to hide the rest and save it for later.  When Denise spies them with the chocolate and wants to have a little herself, she steals the piece of chocolate from where Henry has hidden it. The others chase after her to get the chocolate back, and they end up accidentally discovering a cave that none of them knew was there.

This becomes a vital discovery when the children spot a pair of Nazis heading toward their school.  Sister Gabriel is away, so the children have to take care of the situation themselves.  Quickly, Arthur leads the other Jewish children to the cave, where they can hide.  The other children remain at the school and try to keep the Nazis from learning anything.  They try not to even talk to the Nazis when they start asking questions.  But, how long can they keep it up?  Something has obviously happened to Sister Gabriel, and the Jewish children can’t hide in the cave forever.

There is a movie version of this book called Miracle at Moreaux.  The movie differs significantly from the book.  In the book, the children at the school are all welcoming to the Jewish children, but in the movie, some of the children at the school are afraid of the Jewish children (there are only three of them in the movie), one of them in particular hating Jewish people because she believes anti-Semitic stories she’s heard.  Also, instead of the cave that appears in the book, the movie uses a Christmas pageant as the device for confusing the Nazis and allowing the Jewish children to escape to Spain (instead of staying at the school until the end of the war, as they did in the book).

This book is available online through Internet Archive.