The Bobbsey Twins

#9 The Clue in the Classroom by Laura Lee Hope (Stratemeyer Syndicate), 1988.

Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge Sean Hagins, for supplying me with photos of this book! Usually, I take pictures of books myself, but I just couldn’t find a physical copy of this one. Sean is a big fan of the Bobbsey Twins, particularly the New Bobbsey Twins mysteries, and you can see some of his video reviews as well as videos about his photography work on his YouTube channel, SJHFoto. Thanks, Sean!

Nan and Bert are walking to school when Bert starts trying to follow Nan, practicing shadowing someone, like his favorite comic book detective, Rex Sleuther. Nan thinks that Bert’s attempts at following her are ridiculous, especially since she already knows he’s there. Then, she spots a tall man who is really being shadowed.

The tall man keeps looking over his shoulder and ducking into doorways, like someone is after them. It doesn’t take the kids long to realize who is following him because a man in a trenchcoat, who is walking behind the tall man, keeps pausing and pretending to tie his shoe or look in store windows every time the tall man glances back. It’s not very subtle. When the man in the trenchcoat sees Nan and Bert watching him, he gives them a menacing look and seems like he’s about to confront them, but then, he leaves. They lose sight of the tall man. It’s a bizarre experience, and it ends when the kids’ mother drives up with their younger siblings and gives them a ride.

At school, Nan meets her new science teacher, and she realizes that he is the tall man who was being followed by the man in the trenchcoat. He introduces himself as Mr. Newman (ha, ha), and he seems much more relaxed than he was before. That is, until they all see the message written on the blackboard in the classroom: “Newman, give up your plans. We’re watching you.” Mr. Newman exclaims, “Oh, no! They’ve found out! They know!” (I seriously wish that at least one of my old teachers had started their first day in class by saying that exact thing.) Mr. Newman doesn’t explain what it’s about. He just quickly erases the message on the board and begins talking about the science project he’s assigning.

When Nan tells her siblings about Mr. Newman and what happened in class, Freddie says that Mr. Newman will also be teaching the afternoon science club that he joined. Mr. Newman will be teaching them about robots, and they’re going to have a meeting at his house, where Mr. Newman will show the club his inventions. Bert says that Freddie can help them figure out what Mr. Newman is doing and what and who he’s afraid of after he’s seen the projects that Mr. Newman is working on.

Bert decides to take a walk past Mr. Newman’s house to get a look at it before Freddie goes there. While he’s doing his reconnaissance, Bert sees what looks like people fighting in one of the windows. When he knocks on the door to see if Mr. Newman is all right, Mr. Newman says that he is and insists that there’s no one else there. Then, a strange woman shows up and starts asking Bert questions about Mr. Newman. She says that she’s his former boss at a computer company and wants to know if Bert saw anything in his house. She seems very interested in what he might be working on, but Bert just says that Mr. Newman was too busy for visitors.

Is this woman really Mr. Newman’s former boss, and does she have anything to do with the mysterious man in the trenchcoat? Someone breaks into the school and trashes Mr. Newman’s classroom. What is this secret invention of Mr. Newman’s that everyone seems so interested in, and why would someone threaten him over it or try to put a stop to his work?

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

My Reaction

The kids’ first thoughts about the mysterious people who are after Mr. Newman is that they might be spies, and they’re partly right. This is a matter of industrial espionage. People are after Mr. Newman’s invention because they can make a lot of money from it.

The robot Mr. Newman is building is really impressive, even by modern 21st century standards. Back in the 1980s, when this was written, a robot that large and sophisticated would have seemed almost like science fiction, although increasing developments in robotics technology would have made it seem more possible. Companies were working on developing robots during the 1980s, and Honda was working on a humanoid robot that could walk on two feet. Kids had toy robots. (I wanted one but never got one.) I don’t remember any classes for building robots for kids, but there may have been some that I didn’t know about at the time because I was still pretty young in the 1980s. In the 21st century, there are modern robotics classes for kids, and they sometimes show off their robots at competitions.