Posted on by TracyC

Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library!

Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library! by Eth Clifford, 1979.

Harry Onetree is taking his two daughters, Mary Rose and Jo-Beth, to stay with their aunt on a snowy evening because their mother is about to have a baby and will soon be in the hospital. But, Harry has a habit of being careless and doing things at the last minute. In spite of practical Mary Rose’s warning that they’re running low on gas, Harry doesn’t stop to get any until they finally run out, and he has to hike through the snow back to the last gas station they passed.

Before their father gets back, Jo-Beth, the younger sister, declares that she has to go to the bathroom. Long-suffering Mary Rose finds one for her in a nearby library just before closing time. But, it’s not an ordinary library. It’s actually an old mansion which has been converted into a branch library for children. It has some fantastic displays, including an old wooden wagon called a “kid hack” which was once used to carry children to school, like a school bus. Unfortunately, the girls get distracted by this strange library.  The girls forget about the library closing, and the librarian, not knowing that they’re there, locks them in for the night.

Meanwhile, the blizzard outside is getting worse, and their father has returned to the car and realized that they’re missing. The girls try to call the police, but they refuse to listen, thinking it’s a prank. Melodramatic Jo-Beth thinks that they’re doomed to starve to death in the library, trapped by the blizzard. Then, the girls hear a mysterious “thump” from upstairs. It turns out that they’re not alone in the library . . .

This is the first book in the Mary Rose and Jo-Beth Mysteries.  It is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

The Mary Rose and Jo-Beth books are fun with the way Jo-Beth delights in imagining doom and gloom while Mary Rose tries to work out a practical solution to their problems. The books in this series are also frequently about something other than the immediate mystery that the girls face. In this case, the girls learn about the history of the old house, how it became a branch library, and how old buildings, even though they are beautiful and have a history to them, may face destruction if people don’t care enough about them or find a way to put them to some useful purpose.

Posted on by TracyC

Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!

PerfectPersonBe a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! by Stephen Manes, 1982.
“Some people want to be astronauts or ballet dancers or plumbers.  Milo Crinkley wanted to be perfect.”
So begins the story of Milo’s journey toward perfection.”Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!”  Milo can’t resist trying it when the book by that title falls off the shelf at the library, hitting him on the head when he’s looking for a scary monster book.  The picture of the author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, looks a little strange, but Milo figures that it’s worth a try.  After all, the book practically jumped off the shelves at him, begging to be read.  Also, when Milo starts reading the pages, Dr. Silverfish practically seems to be reading his mind, even guessing that he’d try peeking at the end of the book to see how it ends.  (“Didn’t I tell you not to look at the last page of this book? Do you want to become perfect or don’t you?”)PerfectPersonBroccoli
But, Dr. Silverfish’s three-day program isn’t anything like Milo could have imagined.  Could wearing a stalk of broccoli around his neck for an entire day really be a lesson in perfection?  Or skipping all meals the next day?  Or drinking weak tea?  Dr. Silverfish is a bright man, and there are lessons to be learned, but as to whether or not Milo becomes perfect . . . don’t skip to the last page.

There is also a movie version of this book, but the last lesson is different in the movie version, giving the story a slightly different twist.  You can see a shortened version of this movie on Internet Archive. In a way, I kind of like the movie’s twist a little better than the book’s ending because it involves the reader doing something that he never thought that he could do.  The final lesson of the movie was that, while no one is ever perfect, people can do many things that they never thought they could do, which can give them more confidence.  The book focuses more on the boring nature of perfection.  Both of the movie and the book do have the same basic theme: that there may be other options in life that are even better than perfection.

Posted on by TracyC

Double Trouble on Vacation

DoubleTroubleVacation

Double Trouble on Vacation by Michael J. Pellowski, 1989.

The Daniels twins are at it again! Sandi and Randi are looking forward to spending their vacation at the lake with their family. Sandi is trying to work on her wilderness merit badge, and Randi just wants to go fishing. But, when Bobbi Joy, a bully they know from school, turns up at the lake, visiting her cousin, the girls make the mistake of accepting a bet from her. Randi bets Bobbi Joy that she can beat her in the fishing derby, not knowing that Bobbi Joy’s cousin, who is her fishing partner, is a fishing champion. Although the stakes are fairly harmless, just taking a jump in the lake with all her clothes on, Randi still can’t stand the idea of losing to Bobbi Joy.

Things get complicated when Randi is sprayed by the skunk that their little brother Teddy tried to befriend. Randi doesn’t want her team to be disqualified from the fishing derby, but she can’t go smelling like skunk! Instead, she talks Sandi into taking her place once again. But, Sandi has to give a speech later that day in order to get her merit badge. Can she help her sister and still make it in time to make her speech?

This book is currently available through Internet Archive.

DoubleTroubleVacationPicThis is the last of the four books I have in this series, but there are two other books in the series that I don’t have and haven’t read: A Double Trouble Dream Date and Double Trouble Mystery Mansion.  In A Double Trouble Dream Date, the twins conspire to get roles in a new music video with a teen star, when only Sandi is actually able to sing.  In Double Trouble Mystery Mansion, the girls are investigating a haunted house which holds a hidden treasure.  There is a real ghost in the story, but only Sandi has been able to see it.  At first, Randi doesn’t believe her that there even is a ghost, and the girls attempt another switch to see if they can convince the ghost to show himself to Randi, too.

Posted on by TracyC

Triple Trouble in Hollywood

TripleTroubleHollywoodTriple Trouble in Hollywood by Michael J. Pellowski, 1989.

This time, Randi and Sandi to go Hollywood to visit their cousin Mandy. Mandy is no longer the same snobbish girl that she was the last time they were together, but she still has ambitions. Right now, she’s trying out for a part in a commercial, but she’s up against some stiff competition.

The commercial requires the girl to sing a jingle and do a back flip. Although Mandy has an excellent speaking voice, the other girls know that she’s terrible at singing, and Mandy doesn’t think she can do the back flip, either. Her main competitor, Tara, can do both of those things. Tara is a wealthy girl whose parents hired coaches to teach her singing and gymnastics especially for this role.

The three girls don’t think it’s fair that Tara has such advantages, and she’s an even bigger snob than Mandy ever was. Then, Randi suggests that they use their similar appearances once again to turn the situation around. Randi is athletic enough to do a back flip, and Sandi is an excellent singer. With all three of them working together, the try-outs for the commercial would be a snap!

TripleTroubleHollywoodPicSandi doesn’t want to do it because it would be dishonest, but Randi and Mandy talk her into it. It’s partly to help Mandy, partly to get back at Tara for her rotten attitude, and partly for the chance to meet the heartthrob Judd Morrison who will also be in the commercial. Of course, as is always the case when the girls switch places, nothing goes as planned.  But, to the girls’ surprise, their younger brother Teddy helps to make things better in the end.

This is part of the Double Trouble Series.

The book is currently available through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Triple Trouble

TripleTroubleTriple Trouble by Michael J. Pellowski, 1988.

Randi and Sandi Daniels have a cousin named Mandy who is only slightly older than they are and who looks very much like the two of them.  Their two fathers were brothers, and their two mothers were sisters, which is why they look so much alike. When the three of them were young, they used to get along well and they were almost like triplets. However, when Mandy comes from California for a visit, it becomes apparent that she’s changed a lot.

The three of them still look a lot alike, but Mandy has become stuck up and snobbish. More than anything, she wants to be a big Hollywood star. Because she’s an only child, her parents have indulged her, but now they’ve become concerned that she’s become too wrapped up in her ambitions. She doesn’t really have any friends and isn’t interested in anything besides acting. They think that if Mandy spends some time with her cousins, it will encourage her to slow down and act her age more.

TripleTroublePicBut, Mandy’s snobbish attitude rubs Randi and Sandi the wrong way. Mandy doesn’t want to do anything because she might get dirty or break a nail, and she keeps bragging about how grown up she is compared with her not-much-younger cousins. The twins argue with their cousin, and they play tricks on each other. When Mandy takes advantage of acting skills and her similar appearance to the other girls to try spending time with a boy they like by pretending to be them, Randi and Sandi decide it’s the last straw! They decide to show Mandy that playacting is a game that three can play at.

Like the first book in this series, this one is also filled with black-and-white drawings.

This book is currently available through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Double Trouble

DoubleTrouble

Double Trouble by Michael J. Pellowski, 1986.

Sandi and Randi Daniels are identical twins with a younger brother, Teddy, who is in his Terrible Twos. Although Sandi and Randi look alike, they are still very different people. Sandi loves to read and is a good student, and Randi is loves sports, especially soccer. The problem is that Randi’s place on the soccer team is in danger because of her poor grades. Their father has told her that if she doesn’t improve her spelling, she won’t be able to play soccer anymore, and the championship game is coming up!

The two girls come up with a possible solution to the problem when Teddy accidentally mistakes Sandi for Randi one day because Sandi is wearing her sister’s favorite shirt. Since Sandi is much better at spelling than Randi is, Sandi will dress as Randi and meet her teacher for her special tutoring in spelling while Randi goes to play soccer with her sports team.

DoubleTroublePicBut, everything goes wrong when Randi’s coach talks to her teacher about the championship game, and it turns out that her teacher is secretly a soccer fan. When Sandi arrives for the tutoring session and the teacher and coach tell her the happy news that “Randi” can play in the championship game, Sandi has no time to tell Randi about it and switch places with her again. Will their hoax be exposed? Will the girls be able to switch places again in time to save the championship?

There are black-and-white drawings throughout the book.  This is the first book in a series.

It is currently available through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Case of the Lost Lookalike

LostLookalike

The Case of the Lost Lookalike by Carol Farley, 1988.

“I want to swoop in and spout out the answers to baffling mysteries while everyone around me blinks in befuddlement.  I want to reveal the amazing solutions to puzzles while everyone gasps in admiration.  Except the criminal, of course, who gasps for other reasons.”
— Flee Jay Saylor

This is the second book in the the Flee Jay and Clarice Mysteries.

In The Case of the Lost Lookalike, Flee Jay and Clarice are spending the summer at a lake with their aunt, and someone there says that Clarice is the very image of a little girl named Caroline who was apparently kidnapped 40 years ago.  Little Caroline disappeared from her own bedroom one night after her mother died under rather suspicious circumstances.  Most people assume that Caroline is dead, too.  The girl’s father is now a strange recluse who lives on an island in the middle of the lake.

LostLookalikePic

But, as the girls puzzle over this old mystery, other mysterious things begin to happen.  A woman produces pictures of the missing girl which look nothing like Clarice.  Then, her shop is broken into, and the pictures of Caroline disappear.

When someone persuades their aunt to let the girls visit the old recluse on the island, the man’s reaction is surprising, and they come to realize that Caroline’s disappearance might not be the real issue at all.  Clarice takes some frightening risks to get to the bottom of the mystery!

My Reaction

In a way, this story is two mysteries in one because Clarice figures out what really happened to Caroline when she disappeared years ago at the same time that the girls unravel the mystery that is affecting people who live in the small town by the lake now.  The mystery of what happened to Caroline would not have resurfaced at this particular time if someone else hadn’t brought up the issue as a distraction from something else.

What I like best about this series is the sense of humor and the way that Flee Jay says things as she narrates the story: “I mean, new cottages and magic lakes are terrific and all that, but nothing can ever take the place of a peanut-butter, brown sugar, and banana sandwich.”

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The Case of the Vanishing Villain

The Case of the Vanishing Villain by Carol Farley, 1986

As you can see, my copy of this book has been … well-loved.

This is the first book in a series about two sisters, Flee Jay (short for Felice Jennifer) and Clarice Saylor. Twelve-year-old Flee Jay wants to be a detective, just like in the books she’s read, but her pretty younger sister is a child genius who has more aptitude for it. Clarice is somewhat eccentric for a ten-year-old, but she is also intelligent and logical and has a memory for details and obscure facts. Throughout the series, the two of them kind of compete to solve mysteries. Although Clarice usually comes up with the solution before Flee Jay, it usually takes the two of them together to get to the bottom of things because Flee Jay is an average kid who behaves like an average kid and helps Clarice understand how average people behave.

The story begins with an explanation and a request for help from Flee Jay. She and her genius younger sister, Clarice, were taking an early morning ferry from Michigan to Wisconsin to visit their grandparents when a series of strange events connected with an escaped convict took place. Clarice managed to solve the mystery, but Flee Jay wants readers to go through the events as they happened to see whether any normal person could have solved the mystery like Clarice did.

From that point on, Flee Jay describes what took place from the moment they arrived at the ferry until just before the ferry docked at its destination. She introduces all of the strange passengers on the ferry, including a family of three women who may have unwittingly brought the convict on board, a woman with an annoying barking dog, a bearded man with a guilty secret, and the overly-attentive ship’s steward, Mr. Woolsey, who is keeping an eye on the girls during the trip.

VanishingVillainPic

From the moment that Flee Jay learns about the escaped convict from Clarice, who “accidentally” overhears the police and Mr. Woolsey talking about him through a vent while standing in the sink in the ladies’ room next to Mr. Woolsey’s office, Flee Jay wants to be the one to find him. At first, they don’t really know whether he’s on the boat or not, but when the boat is underway, a woman screams that there was a strange man in her stateroom, and then, they’re pretty sure. Flee Jay and Clarice take it upon themselves to consider all the hiding places and to question the other passengers. Of course, Clarice produces the solution to the puzzle, but she does credit Flee Jay with inspiring her. According to Flee Jay, she just figured things out because she’s nosy, but that’s left to the readers to decide.

Join eccentric 10-year-old genius Clarice and her long-suffering sister as they try to put the pieces together to keep the convict from getting away right under the noses of the authorities!

The book is written with humor and is fun to read. The clues fit together neatly, and the black-and-white pictures, list of characters, and map of the inside of the ferry help readers understand the action.

The book is currently available through Internet Archive.