Posted on by TracyC

A Clue in Code

ClueInCodeA Clue in Code by Marilyn Singer, 1985.

This book is part of a series about a pair of twin boys, Sam and Dave Bean, who solve mysteries with their friends.

One day, the boys’ teacher, Ms. Corfein, has one of their classmates, Roger, collect money from the students for a class field trip.  Ms. Corfien tells Roger to put the money in her locker, but later, the money is gone.

Anyone in the class could have taken it.  When Dave went into the classroom to feed the class’s pet gerbil at lunchtime, he saw Willie, the class bully, there as well as his friend Patti, who thought that it was her turn to feed the gerbil.  Of the two, Willie seems like the best suspect for the theft because he’s been in trouble before for stealing, but perhaps there was someone else in the room before any of them arrived.

ClueInCodeSneakingSam and Dave decide to begin their investigation with Willie.  His father is the school’s custodian, and Willie has been using a copy of his father’s key to the school to sneak around after hours.  To the twins’ surprise, when they confront Willie, not only does Willie deny stealing the money, but it turns out that he’s actually been scared and upset himself.  After being caught stealing the last time, his parents have been especially strict with him, sending him to bed early, limiting his time with friends, and not allowing him to watch tv or read comic books.  In fact, his father tried to get rid of his entire collection of comic books by throwing them in the trash, but Willie rescued them and has been hiding them in the school, sneaking away to read them when he can.  However, someone has discovered them and stolen them.  Willie wants his comic books back, but he can’t report them stolen because his father thinks that they’re already gone.  Worse still, his parents will be even harder on him if he ends up taking the blame for stealing the class’s trip money.

ClueInCodeMessageIn spite of Willie’s reputation, which he deserves, Sam and Dave think that he’s telling the truth about the thefts.  Then, they happen to find a strange message that appears to be written in code after some of their classmates were throwing paper airplanes.  With the help of Rita, a friend who is very good with codes, they decode the message and uncover a valuable clue that explains why the comic books were taken and leads them to the thief’s identity.

I was pretty sure, from the very first chapter, who had stolen the money, but I wasn’t completely sure of who had taken the comic books until the end.  At first, I thought perhaps Willie’s father had found his stash and got rid of it again, but that wasn’t the case.  The thief who took the comic books was the same person who took the trip money and for the same reason.  This person’s father has been out of work, and they need the money.  It turns out that Willie has a number of comic books that are now collectors’ items, and someone is willing to pay a lot of money for them.

Posted on by TracyC

Cranberry Easter

CranberryEaster

Cranberry Easter by Wende and Harry Devlin, 1990.

Mr. Whiskers is eager to talk to Seth, the owner of the General Store, about this year’s Easter egg hunt.  Seth hosts one every year, and Mr. Whiskers is full of plans.  However, Seth tells him that he’s thinking of closing the store and moving.  He’s been lonely in Cranberryport since his wife died, and he’s thinking that he might want to retire and move to a warmer climate.

CranberryEasterSethMoving

When Mr. Whiskers tells Maggie’s Grandmother what Seth said, she says that he’s not the only one thinking of moving.  A couple of her friends say that they can’t handle living alone on their farms in the winter anymore, and because they haven’t been able to find rooms to rent in town, they are thinking of moving to a warmer climate, too.

CranberryEasterMaggieSuggestion

Then, Maggie comes up with a possible solution. She reminds them that the building that the General Store occupies was once a hotel.  There are rooms above the store that Seth hasn’t been using.  If he cleaned up those old rooms, he could rent them out to Grandmother’s friends.  Seth is reluctant at first because the rooms need a lot of work to clean up, but with a little urging and help from his friends, they soon manage to turn the old hotel rooms into nice-looking apartments.

CranberryEasterRenovations

Grandmother’s friends love the apartments because, with rooms right over the store, they won’t even have to go out for groceries when the weather is bad.  The arrangement works well for Seth, too.  When members of the community help to clean up the old rooms, it reminds him that he has friends in town, and with some of them living right above his shop, there will be no need for him to feel lonely anymore.

CranberryEasterApartments

Of course, when Seth decides to stay in town and hold the Easter egg hunt after all, Mr. Whiskers has to follow through on his promise to dress up as the Easter Bunny.

CranberryEasterBunny

Like other books in the series, this book includes a recipe in the back, for Cranberry Cobbler.

CranberryEasterCobblerRecipe

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Jennie’s Hat

JenniesHat

Jennie’s Hat by Ezra Jack Keats, 1966.

When Jennie’s aunt tells her that she’s going to send her a new hat as a present, Jennie is excited.  She imagines that her new hat is going to be big and fancy and covered with flowers.  However, when the hat arrives, it’s just a very plain, ordinary hat with a single ribbon.

JenniesHatGift

Even though her mother thinks the new hat is nice, Jennie wishes for something fancier, more unusual.  She tries on various other things, like a basket, a lampshade, and a pot to see how they would be as hats.  Of course, none of them really work.

JenniesHatExperiments

Jennie has a habit of feeding the birds, and while she’s coming home after feeding them one day, she wishes out loud that her hat could be fancier.

JenniesHatFeedingBirds

Her bird friends, hearing her wish, decide to help her.  The next day, as she is leaving church, they bring her the things she’s been wishing for so that she can have the hat of her dreams!

JenniesHatChurch

The best part of the story is Jennie’s friendship with the birds and how they repay her for feeding them.  The pictures of all the amazing things they give her for her hat are fun, too!

JenniesHatDecoration

I also liked the unusual artwork style.  Jennie’s clothes are often a cutout of a patterned piece of paper, while the rest of her body is drawn in.

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Addy Learns a Lesson

American Girls

AddyLesson

Addy Learns a Lesson by Connie Porter, 1993.

AddyLessonArrivalAfter escaping from slavery, Addy and her mother finally arrive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they will start a new life.  Philadelphia is a big city, and at first, Addy feels lost, not knowing where to go and what to do.  They have no family or friends to turn to, and neither she or her mother can even read the street signs, never having been taught to read.  They are dependent on help from other free black people, former slaves who have already established themselves in the community.

The first people they meet in Philadelphia are Mrs. Moore and her daughter, Sarah.  They are part of the Freedom Society of Trinity A.M.E. Church, which helps new arrivals escaping from slavery, like Addy and her mother.  The Moores take them to the church, where they attend a church supper, along with some other new arrivals.  Mrs. Moore asks Addy’s mother what work skills she has, and when she says that she can sew, Mrs. Moore says that she might be able to get a job in a dress shop.  Mrs. Ford, the white woman who owns the shop, is strict and fussy, but she hires Addy’s mother and gives them a room to live in.

Life in freedom isn’t as glamorous as Addy thought it would be at first.  Her mother works hard for little pay, and the attic room where they live is small and uncomfortable. She misses the rest of their family and still doesn’t know where her father and brother are.  There are also things that black people in Philadelphia can’t do, even though they aren’t slaves, like riding on the streetcar.

However, there is one thing that Addy is looking forward to: going to school for the first time.  Sarah Moore is Addy’s age, and she tells Addy about her family escaped from slavery in Virginia.  Like Addy, she couldn’t read when she first arrived, but now, Sarah attends school.  Addy is excited about attending the same school as Sarah and happy that she has made a new friend.  Addy’s new teacher, Miss Dunn, was also a former slave from North Carolina, and she reassures Addy that, although she hasn’t been to school before or learned to read yet, it won’t be long before she learns.

 

All of the other children at school are black, many of them former slaves.  However, Addy can’t help but notice that some of their families are more prosperous than others.  In particular, a girl named Harriet wears beautiful dresses, the kind that Addy has dreamed of having herself.  Sarah and Harriet don’t get along because Harriet is snobbish, but Addy is fascinated by her, wishing that she could have things like Harriet has.  Harriet says that her family were never slaves, and as bossy as Harriet is, Addy can’t help but admire her.  Harriet is nice to Addy at first, bragging about how smart she is and how much she can help Addy, but she isn’t as patient or as helpful to Addy as Sarah is.

When there is a spelling match at school, Addy accepts Harriet’s invitation to go to her house to study.  Harriet always seems to do well in class, and Addy is curious to see what her house is like.  However, Harriet and her friends force Addy to be their “flunky,” carrying all of their books, and they say insulting things about Sarah.  Then, Harriet retracts the invitation to study.

As Addy sees the way Harriet takes advantage of her, she comes to realize some important things about the way people act and about herself and the type of friends she really wants in her new life.  Unlike Harriet, Sarah is Addy’s real friend.  Addy realizes that she doesn’t need to admire people like Harriet because she is smart and works hard and can do just fine without Harriet’s false friendship.

 

In the back of the book, there is a section of historical information about education during the American Civil War, especially for black children.  It was actually against the law to teach slaves to read during Addy’s time, although some were able to learn in secret.  Even for free blacks in the North, there were few educational opportunities.  Black children couldn’t go to school with white children, and the schools for black children were poor, unable to afford many supplies.  Over time, more and more black people were able to get an education, in spite of the difficulties involved, and education helped to improve their lives.  However, segregated schools remained the norm until the 20th century.

I liked the way they showed the medal that Addy wins in the spelling bee.  Students who particularly excelled at a subject in class were sometimes given a small medal on a pin to wear as a badge of honor, something that people don’t do in modern times.

 

Posted on by TracyC

A Hug for a New Friend

HGHugFriend

A Hug for a New Friend by Janet Anderson, illustrated by Ron C. Lipking, 1985.

Sarah is worried because her usual babysitter, Kim, is sick, and her mother says that she will have to have a new one until Kim is better.  Her temporary new babysitter is named Laura, and Sarah will meet her the next morning. Sarah really likes Kim, and she worries that her new babysitter will be mean or not like her.

When Sarah wakes up the next morning, before she goes to meet Laura, she sees an odd little person in her bedroom mirror. This odd little person is Tickles, one of the Hugga Bunch. She says that she likes making new friends, but Sarah isn’t sure that she feels the same way.

HugFriendMirror

Tickles says that she came to see Sarah because she saw her looking sad and invites her to come to Huggaland with her to meet the other Hugga Bunch. Sarah worries at first about what the other Hugga Bunch will be like and whether they’ll like her, but she is amazed at what she sees. Huggaland is soft and colorful, and everyone is very friendly.

HugFriendHuggaland

She asks Tickles how they can all like her when they don’t know her, and they explain that being friendly to other people encourages them to be friendly in return. That’s really how friends are made. When Sarah comforts one of the Hugga Bunch after she drops a tray of lemonade, she sees what they mean. Her kind gesture has earned her a new friend.

HugFriendSpill

When Sarah returns home and goes to meet her new babysitter, she discovers that Laura is actually rather sweet and shy, not mean, as Sarah feared. Sarah greets Laura with a friendly hug, and the two of them become friends.

HugFriendLaura

The Hugga Bunch’s advice to immediately start a new friendship with a hug may be somewhat awkward in real life, but the idea that kindness and friendly gestures inspire others to respond with kindness and friendship is a good one.

Posted on by TracyC

A Hugga Bunch Hello

HuggaBunchHello

A Hugga Bunch Hello by Phyllis Fair Cowell, illustrated by Ron C Lipking, 1985.

Bridget likes having her grandmother living with her and the rest of her family. Her grandmother always has time for her and is willing to give her a hug. Her parents are often too busy, her brother thinks hugs are just for girls, and her Aunt Ruth is too fussy.

Then, Aunt Ruth tries to persuade everyone that Bridget’s grandmother should go live in a nursing home. Bridget doesn’t want her grandmother to leave, but she doesn’t know what to do about it.

While she worries, a strange little person steps out of her bedroom mirror. This little person is Huggins, one of the Hugga Bunch. She says that she knows about Bridget’s problem and thinks that she can help. She invites Bridget to come with her to Huggaland.

HuggaBunchHelloMirror

In Huggaland, the Hugga Bunch take Bridget to see the Book Worm, who may have the solution that Bridget seeks. Both the Hugga Bunch and the Book Worm say that aging can be slowed by affection and “the knowledge that they are needed,” but Bridget thinks that the only solution is to find a way to actually make her grandmother young again.

The Book Worm says that if that’s what Bridget wants, then her grandmother must eat fruit from the Youngberry Tree. Unfortunately, the tree is in the territory of the Mad Queen of Quartz. Although the Hugga Bunch are afraid of her, Bridget is willing to face her for her grandmother’s sake.

Getting there involves going through a few obstacles, including walking sideways on a sideways sidewalk and facing a frightening beast who turns out to be a baby elephant who was under a spell. When they reach the tree, the mad queen takes them prisoner and turns Bridget into a statue. Fortunately, the others manage to break free and save her.

HuggaBunchHelloTree

Bridget is happy at being able to bring the Youngberries to her grandmother, but as she passes through the mirror into her room, she accidentally drops them, and they disappear.

Not knowing what else to do, Bridget runs to give her grandmother a hug before she leaves, encouraging her brother to do the same. Bridget’s father wasn’t happy about her grandmother leaving, either, and seeing how much the children will miss her, he declares that she should stay.

This book was made into a made-for-tv movie.  It is currently available on YouTube.  It follows the plot of the book pretty closely.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery of Sara Beth

SaraBeth

The Mystery of Sara Beth by Polly Putnam, illustrated by Judith Friedman, 1981.

This was one of my favorite books when I was young. It’s a nice mystery story for children in early elementary school.

When a new girl named Sara Beth joins their class, Becky and her friends go out of their way to make her feel welcome. However, Sara Beth barely acknowledges their attempts to make friends with her.

SaraBethPic2

Becky becomes concerned about Sara Beth and her lack of interest in making friends at school. Becky also notices some other odd things about Sara Beth’s behavior, which tends to change unexpectedly.  Sometimes, Sara Beth likes the class’s pet guinea pig, and sometimes she seems afraid of it.  One day, Becky catches Sara Beth taking a reading book home that was supposed to stay in the classroom.  Later, she sees Sara Beth hiding a cupcake from a class party to take home. Could these things help explain what Sara Beth is trying to hide?

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers:

The solution to Sara Beth’s problem is quite simple, but it may seem bigger to younger children. The story presents a good example of the use of observation and logical thinking when approaching a problem. As Becky tries to determine why Sara Beth acts the way she does, Becky watches her closely and makes a list of her observations before coming to her final conclusion.  Becky is not only compassionate toward Sara Beth in trying to help her solve her problem and make friends at her new school, but she is also a very logical thinker.  I really enjoyed her as a character!

The artwork in the book is nice, and I thought it was clever how the borders of all of the images kind of give a hint to Sara Beth’s problem.  Even when the characters are indoors, the pictures are surrounded by snow-covered trees because it’s important to the story that it takes place in winter.  The snow is the root of Sara Beth’s problem.  The girls live in a cold climate and “Sara Beth” comes from a poor family.

(Spoiler: Becky correctly realizes that “Sara Beth” is actually a set of twins, Sara and Beth, which is why they behave differently each time they switch places.  Their family moved to the area from a warmer climate because the twins’ father is looking for work, but they only had enough money for one warm coat for the girls, so one of them has to stay home while the other goes to school.  They take turns going to school, and the one who goes to school brings the other one books, school assignment, and class treats so she can follow the lessons and not miss out.  When Becky confronts one of the twins, Beth, she admits that they were afraid of making friends at school because they knew that someone would find out the truth.  Becky persuades Beth to talk to their teacher, and the teacher arranges for the twins to receive an extra coat that was unclaimed from the school’s lost and found so that they can both come to school.)

In the back of the book, there’s a list of vocabulary words that appear in the story. It does not provide definitions for these words, though. I think that the most unusual words in the book were guinea pig and tetanus shot.

One more thing I thought that I would mention is that Becky, the main character, is African American. This is not mentioned at all in the text of the book and is not important to the story, but it is shown in the pictures.  I didn’t think about it much when I first read the book as a kid, but looking back on it, I found it interesting because it reminded me of the character of Adam in the Third Grade Ghosthunters series.  It fascinates me that there is something about these characters that people wouldn’t know without looking at the pictures, and I also like it that the characters themselves are not defined by race.  It’s just an interesting detail, not central to their characters.

Posted on by TracyC · 3 Comments

The Happy Valley Mystery

Trixie Belden

TBHappyValley

#9 The Happy Valley Mystery by Kathryn Kenny, 1962.

Trixie’s uncle, Andrew Belden, after hearing about the mysteries that the kids have solved, invites them all to spend a week on his sheep farm in Iowa. He won’t be there because he has to take a trip to Scotland, but the Gormans, who are taking care of the sheep, could use their help. Someone has been stealing sheep from the farm, and no one seems able to figure out who it is or how the sheep keep disappearing.

Although Andrew Belden mainly wants the kids to relax, have fun, and learn a little about taking care of sheep, Trixie just can’t resist the challenge to save her uncle’s sheep.  In this book, Trixie is teased a lot for her detective ambitions, and she embarrasses herself a couple of times by suspecting the wrong people. Part of the trouble comes from the fact that she doesn’t know the people in the area and who can legally be the area of her uncle’s farm.

There is a harrowing scene where Trixie and her friends are caught in a flood.  This book also develops the relationship between Jim and Trixie more.  For awhile, each of them is jealous because they think that the other likes someone else.  At the end, Jim gives Trixie a bracelet with his name on it as a sign that they are now boyfriend and girlfriend.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Black Jacket Mystery

Trixie Belden

TBBlackJacket

#8 The Black Jacket Mystery by Kathryn Kenny, 1961.

Trixie and the other Bob-Whites are concerned about their pen pals in Mexico because an earthquake has damaged their town. To help them rebuild their school library, the Bob-Whites decide to hold a benefit carnival to collect books.

While they are planning the carnival, Trixie becomes worried about Regan, who is in charge of Mr. Wheeler’s stable. She overhears him speaking to her mother about a problem, asking her advice, but saying that he doesn’t want the kids to know. Although Trixie doesn’t want to pry to into Regan’s business, she can’t help but worry about him and wonder what he doesn’t want them to know.

Then, a boy called Dan Mangan comes to live with Mr. Maypenny. Dan wears a black jacket and looks like a member of some kind of street gang. At school, he brags about brushes with the law. The Bob-Whites try to be friendly with him, but something about Dan gets on Trixie’s nerves.

When someone sells Honey’s missing watch at Mr. Lytell’s store, people begin to suspect that Dan may be a thief. But, soon, Trixie and the others start to suspect that someone else may be hiding out in the woods.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC · 6 Comments

Mystery of the Silent Friends

SilentFriendsMystery of the Silent Friends by Robin Gottlieb, 1964.

Nina Martin loves her father’s antique store. Although selling antiques is how her family makes their living, there are some that Nina finds it difficult to let go of when someone wants to buy them. Nina especially doesn’t want her father to sell the two automatons that she calls Henri and Henriette. The automatons are beautiful mechanical dolls that each do something special. Nina calls the boy doll “Henri” because he writes the name “Henri Bourdon” on a piece of paper. (Her father points out that it might be the name of the maker, not the doll itself.) The girl doll, Henriette, is a little more complicated and draws a series of different pictures. Most of the pictures seem to be of a little Swiss village, although one of them is oddly of a monkey that looks like the “speak no evil” monkey in the saying “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.”

SilentFriendsAutomatonsFor a time, it seems like there’s no risk of the automatons being sold because no one seems particularly interested in buying them. Then, suddenly, two different men come to the shop and ask to buy the dolls. Weirdly, each of them tells the same story to Nina’s father: that their name is George Ballantine the Third, that their family once owned the automatons, that the dolls are actually part of a set of three, that they own the third doll (a girl doll that plays the spinet), and that they want to purchase the other two in order to reunite the set. Nina’s father is bewildered by these two men with identical stories and identical names and refuses to sell the automatons because of his daughter’s attachment to them and because he doesn’t know which of the two men to believe and doesn’t trust either of them.

Nina comes to think of the two men as “Red Ballantine” and “Brown Ballantine” because of their different hair colors. Brown Ballantine seems to be the more credible of the two. He invites Mr. Martin and Nina to his home in order to show them the third automaton and, hopefully, persuade Mr. Martin to sell him the other two. They visit Brown Ballantine’s apartment in an old brownstone, and he shows them the beautiful, spinet-playing doll as well as the rest of his collection of mechanical toys. However, Mr. Martin still refuses to make the sale.

SilentFriendsMechanicalToys

Nina tells her friend, Muffin, about the two mysterious Ballantines. The two girls are curious about which of the men is the genuine George Ballantine the Third and decide to investigate. When “Red Ballantine” comes to the shop again, trying to persuade Mr. Martin to sell the automatons, the girls ask if he would consider showing them the automaton he owns as a test. At first, the red-haired man is hesitant, but then he agrees that they can come and see his doll. Mr. Martin is embarrassed at the girls’ forwardness in asking, but he admits that he is also curious about the two Ballantines.

SilentFriendsSpyingAt first, they all expect that Red Ballantine won’t be able to show them the third doll and will give up trying to buy the other two, but to their astonishment, he takes them to the same apartment where Brown Ballantine said that he lived and shows them the exact same doll they saw before. Instead of clearing things up, the identities of the two men seem to get all the more confusing. However, Muffin notices something strange about the tune that the doll plays on the spinet that gives them a clue as to why the three dolls are so important.  Later, someone breaks into the antique store and uncovers a hidden secret about Henri as well.

Together, the three automatons are hiding a secret, and only by considering the message that each of them offers can the girls discover what it is.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.  There is also a sequel to this book called Secret of the Unicorn, which involves a secret message hidden in a tapestry.

My Reaction

Although I was pretty sure which of the two Ballantines was the genuine one, I was never completely sure until almost the end.  In a way, I was a little disappointed by the dolls’ final secret because I though it was something that was especially old, from when the dolls were first created, but the secret messages were actually a more recent addition to the dolls’ repertoire by an eccentric man with a treasure to hide and a taste for practical jokes and riddles.  Muffin is a habitual practical joker, and that partly figures into the solution of the mystery.

I thought it was kind of interesting, too, that Mr. Martin has the habit of walking around with a cigarette in his mouth that he never lights, like Inspector Cramer in the Nero Wolfe mysteries.