So I've been away for so long that you would be justified in wondering
whether I had died. Well I'm actually still alive and kicking, I was
just giving the blog scene a bit of a rest and reevaluating what I
wanted to do with this blog. I've decided that I'm going to up the volume of posts on this blog. I've always written a short response to every book I've read for years and years. It will now be available on this blog, instead of in my scrappy old notebooks. The posts will be quick, painless and in a dash-and-run style. For books that merit deeper discussion, longer and more in depth reviews can be found on my more serious book blog, here.
Hey, I read a lot of books, okay?
So onto Sally Baxter. She's one of the lesser known titular girls series heroines when you put them up there with Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. I found my copy of this first novel in the series in massive book sale at my university for about 50c. It's missing the spine and they must've consequently thought that no one would want it. I was ecstatic.
[For a very neat, informative and organised website on the main series books for girls, see here. This has been a valuable resource to me. For really hardcore girls-series fans, an exhaustive list of girls series books published from 1840 to 1991 is available here.]
The first book in this series deals with the beginning of Sally's career in a well-known newspaper company, the Evening Cry. Sally has some hard knocks as a junior reporter and the editor's niece, but eventually she is given the chance to prove herself when assigned the scoop of the year - an Italian princess Roma might have some secret romance with famous Irish singer Pat Sullivan. To get the story, Sally must help Roma and Pat marry - but there's Roma's evil aunt and Countess standing in the way.
The Sally Baxter series, if I can judge by this first book, is a quintessential girls series book. It has the fast-paced plot with many complications like roots branching off the main stem. Sally gathers a small entourage of friends by the end of the book, achieving the requisite feel-good, homey atmosphere. There is plenty of excitement, fun and good food. Most importantly, it is reminiscent of a past society and culture and style of literature. There's a simplicity and naivete permeating the entire book. Sally, despite being a reporter, still maintains her integrity. Rather than scooping Roma's story immediately, she wants to make sure the marriage eventuates. She befriends a girl called Gabriella whose family has been the victim of the Countess's cruel manipulation. The groom, Pat Sullivan, belongs to a bygone era of celebrities who are more humans than deities - and he knows it. It is this childlike and wide-eyed, innocence that makes me keep this book. It is as close as we can get to being children again.
So of course Sally gets the scoop. Of course Roma and Pat marry with a happily ever after. Sally's world is a safe, predictable and sunny place.
Because of formatting issues on the other one, I had to chop it short. I continue the summaries here.
Anne of Ingleside
Apparently this book was added later on, Rilla of Ingleside came first. If so, Montgomery's pretty good at maintaining the continuity. If you like children, these sketches are for you. Anne undoubtedly has some very adorable children. There's Jem, the baby of the House of Dreams, grown up in red-headed glory. Then there's Walter, the dreamy boy who's inherited his mother's literary ability and something more, something that will make him renowned. Nan and Di are the twins, Nan a very pretty girl with chestnut curls like her Father, and Di with Anne's red hair and grey-green eyes, for which reason she is undoubtably Gilbert's favourite. (Funny, I thought favouritism wasn't healthy for children. And I don't see Di's self-esteem having a good future with such a pretty twin.). Shirley belongs to Susan, the general helper at Ingleside. He's her little brown boy. I don't think I'd like my son to be possessed by any other woman, even if they were like a maid, and even if I had so many others. And then there's Rilla, who doesn't feature much in this book, aside from being decidedly chubby and vain and lisping, much as she is at the beginning of Rilla of Ingleside. And these children make up the bulk of the story. Of course, it begins with Anne and Diana renewing their friendship with a wild ramble, but you get the sense that she's a removed from her previous life, as lovely as that was, because it's the natural course of things. Then there's the advent of a terrible aunt, one of Montgomery's crowning triumphs as far as I'm concerned, because she makes me want to laugh and throttle her similtaneously. The rest of the book is sweet sketches of her children and their mishaps (obviously, they've inherited her mother's tendency for scrapes). At the end, there's a final episode between Anne and Gilbert, over the 'other woman' Christine Stuart. I really dislike how Montgomery made her into the 'other woman' character - in Anne of the Island, Gilbert talks of her as "one of the nicest girls he knows" and even Anne through her jealousy, doesn't say anything about any defects of character. But here she's morphed into some terrible, spiteful woman clutching at past beaus, poisoning everyones happiness with her malicious, insinuating speeches. It's too much stereotyping.
Rainbow Valley
I found this one a bit dull. I know I have a loyalty complex, but I dont' think that's what's at work here. I think it's just a case of too many minor characters. There are the 6 children of Anne and Gilbert, and then the children of the neighbours, and so none of them get much time or words, and none of them really stand out, except for Walter, because he's the sensitive but brilliant potential poet. The relationship between John Meredith and Rosemary West was neither touching or convincing - I think by now Montgomery's gotten into the habit of adding a dash of romance into everything she writes, but it's lost its charm. I hate to say this becuase Montgomery was my favourite author as a kid and hugely influencial in my childhood, but I think she's kind of milked her small-town-coziness stories dry.
Rilla of Ingleside
Or not. Rilla is a brilliant character because she gets a reaction out of you. At the beginning she was a vain, infuriating little thing, but undeniably the heroine of the story. There was no getting past her. She isn't much like Anne. Anne was a deep soul in a child's body, both quirky and fiery, but ultimately with a good heart. You know there isn't anyone else like her. The sum of Rilla, on the other hand, is vanity - at least at the beginning.
The beautiful thing about the whole story, however, is how she grows. I love comign of age and growth stories. They speak so much to me because I think we've all got things we need to improve upon and grow out of. I won't spoil it but by the end, Rilla is right up there near Anne, for me.
Coupled with this is the heartwrenching war. You get the same desperate sense of uncertainty as the folks who lived through it, and died a little every time a newspaper bearing casualty lists came along. It's loss and tension and living on even after you don't want to anymore. Someone very special to us dies - but of course you have to read it to know.
This has always been Bronte's crowning work for me, though few agree. I found it so utterly absorbing, the first and indeed subsequent times I've read it. Though it's not a conventional central-character novel like her famous Jane Eyre (who, though I respected her, I could never really identify with, being too alone, too independent. I couldn't get close to Mr. Rochester either - he was too brusque, too curt and too mastering) I found it just as effective, even more so by the characters she so carefully and skillfully portrays for amusement, to capture our hearts, our interest.
Though the book is named after the character Shirley, there are really 2 protagonists - Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone - and we are introduced to Caroline first. Caroline is not the titular character Shirley is. She's more of the maidenly mold, but with a difference. Caroline is soft, placcid, gentle and unassuming, shy. She's lovely, beautiful in her soft, quiet way, and full of love. But she also has the intelligence, the capacity to think outside her square. When the cousin she loves, Robert Moore, gently hints to her that he cannot return her affections because he seeks profit and business and therefore cannot afford to marry for love, she pines away, get weak and unhappy. I dont agree with this, but the second time I read this I realised neither does she. Without dampening her own love, she realises her indisposition is part of her temperament, part of her confinement. She's the rector's niece, she's hardly allowed to do anything. She knows neither of her parents, and her father is dead anyways, she has no occupation besides simplistic things like embroidery which occupy the hands but not the mind. Consequently, what can she do but mope? Of course her increasingly morbid thoughts should affect her. She wants to find her own trade, be a governess, but almost this only occupation for women was a terrible, underprivileged one, a bit like the slave trade, as Jane Fairfax likens it to in Austen's 'Emma'.
One interesting piece of information Wikipedia has provided me with is that prior to the story, Shirley was predominately a boys name, and after the story it has now developed into a girls name. Influential or what? Because Shirley really is a sparkling, unconventional character. She's an heiress, Robert Moore's fortunes lie in her hands, she's generous, big-hearted, proud, refers to herself as a gentleman (Captain Keeldar) by phases...it shows the capability of a woman without actually being masculine, and retaining all the privileges and distinctions of her gender. There's no reason why women shouldn't own land. Lydia in the Bible was a business woman. Yet she never usurped the man's place, and neither does Shirley. She is not masculine by any stretch of the imagination, but sprightly, appealing and independent.
This book is very mixed with context, the impetus for the story being the Napoleonic Wars of 1812 and prior. Industrialisation is putting people out of work, replacing them with machines. Poverty is rife in Yorkshire and other parts of England, and the employers (including millowners like Robert) can't do anything about it because they can hardly scrape by themselves. Mixed in with all this is the effect it has on personal lives - Robert cannot give way to his affections but must court profit instead, leading him to propose to Shirley Keeldar (she owns the land of his mill) for her fortune. It's a terrible mistake. Once friends and equals, she is insulted because she knows they have not a spark of love for each toher, save as siblings might and she scorns the mercentile goals that have prompted this proposal. Actually, she loves his brother Louis who is a tutor for her uncle's family, and was once her own tutor. The social divide means he is by far her inferior, but really, he is the only man who can master her, and she wants someone who can truly be her superior and take care of her. And that man is Louis, just showing the human construct of social barriers can stand in the place of what's meant to be.
It does all work out in the end. Robert learns the plight of the poor, from being at the mercy of unempathising women when he is shot by vengeful rebels who are rioting against the employers replacing them with machines. His rejection by Shirley teaches him to follow his heart instead of material things. And he so when good tidings come, the war is over and the barricade preventing other countries from buying his wool and silk and things falls, he marries Caroline and makes generous plans for employing more, paying better wages, being more humane. They cannot all be achieved, but the thoughts are in his heart, which shows he has developed.
This most excellent book, being a classic, can be read online on any number of book sites, and there's plot summaries and articles galore, for which reason I've only written my impressions of the work and not the broad points.
This is a brilliant series, obviously her crowning work. If you read Montgomery's biography you will find she sufffered bouts of depression which show in her work - because the 'Pat' series is uniformly bland, as are some of her one-off books like the Blue Castle (I classify it as cheap romance). I grew up with this series and so did my best friends, so it has a lot of nostalgia and poignancy beyond the actual work, which is beautiful in itself. I think they're all available from gutenberg but I can't be sure because I have my own series, most of which is in the lovely Angus and Robertson editions you will see below.
Anne of Green Gables
Prior to Anne of Green Gables, there were a lot of these orphan adoption stories. Ruth Fielding, Pollyanna. But I feel, although I don't have the research to prove it, that it all came to an end with Anne of Green Gables, because this book is literature. It is a gem. Not only does it have such beautiful descriptions of Prince Edward Island (henceforth, P.E.I), harum-scarum Anne is immortal. She's a character as never known before - such good intentions, but so far from perfect, always the perpetrator of some "scrape", such quaint language, and such a way with people that readers are as equally charmed as, say, Marilla. Anne is stubborn and strong-willed, an optimist who learns and loves. Her feud with Gilbert Blythe is a thread that binds the book together, to the end where she forgives him and they become such friends. This book stands so well on its own, everytime I read it I get a sense of completion at the end that doesn't come with the other books. You get a strong sense of the town life with all the comings and goings of so many families, and all that clannishness. Although I've always felt Diana was sweet, but not of Anne's calibre and may fall a little short as a best friend, loveable as she is. The scrapes they get into! The haunted wood, jumping on Aunt Josephine, the story club! It's such a laugh-out-loud read. And the cover reflects that, with the chummy smile on the face of a miniature Anne.
Anne of the Island
I really like these editions of the series, by Angus and Robertson. Anne is very true to life, just as a imagined her, with the dreamy face and freckles. It has her down pat, just as Megan Follows has her down pat in the Anne of Green Gables movie.
It's an epistolary novel punctuated by bits of quaint storytelling. The whole story is charming. Anne is up against the elite of Summerside, the Pringles, who run the place. They have a grudge against her and really wage warfare against her. Suddenly and unexpectedly, she wins their support through the most surprising of events. There's also a prickly vice-principle Katherine Brooke, the lovely aunts she boards with, the immortal Rebecca Dew and many such people. There is the fair share of romance in this story, and Anne has her part in fixing up many people's lives. I think I missed Windy Willows (where she boards) as much as she when she leaves!
Anne's House of Dreams
In this book, Anne is married and lives in a little out of the way place she dubs her house of dreams. Her social circle is much much smaller, being comprised of the man-hating Miss Cornelia who blisters the men with her sharp tongue, but who is very warm-hearted, the tragic and beautiful Leslie Moore, cold and vibrant and resentful in turns, the sailor Captain Jim, the talented Owen Ford and later, the housekeeper Susan. And of course, Anne's husband (I'm trying not to spoil anything but it feels so strange calling him that all the time, as though he's a stranger in the series) and one or two more additions to the family. Like all of the other books, everything works together for best in the end. Apparently this book predated Windy Willows by many years - Windy Willows was written when a movie of Anne of made, and published for publicity. This is the last book in the series that focuses on Anne, for which I cannot be grateful.
Anne of Ingleside
First thing's first, I kind of abhor these new editions. Don't get me wrong, they have great cover art in fabulous colours (something very lacking in the short and ugly editions where Trixie's face is somewhere between puce and khaki), although the people are between realistic and cartoonish, leaning towards the realistic side. I can't describe it, but they're not quite real and it gets on my nerves. Sort of like Chicken Run, where they had the characters (okay, they were chickens, but whatever!) made out of playdough. Sort of...rounded? No, it's actually the little cameo of Trixie up the top I can't stand, like she's some dumb blonde, more feminine than short and spunky. And the whole =O expression? Where would the Bob-Whites be if she had just stood around looking like that during the climax of the books? That is so not her!
Inside, the art is better. They have a double page of Trixie's supposed scrapbook, which is cute. They're not quite as I imagined, but I think it fits the country, wholesome-lifestyle kids they are, although I can't quite tell the difference between Honey and Diana T_T Honey and Trixie look very childish, too childish, but on the other hand, the artist got Bobby down pat. He's absolutely adorable, with the snub nose and perpetually smiling mouth.
This book was by a Kathryn Kenny who knew what they were doing. It's got the same Julie-Campbell feel about it. Adventurous, wholesome (I keep using that word, but I swear it fits the series to a T, it could've been invented for the series!), and a mystery that is in keeping with their lives. Not overly dramatic, and doesn't require you to stretch your gullibility. Which is why, at the moment, I am thoroughly sick of the Judy Bolton series. The further you go along...!
Anyways, there's a strange boy in town in this one. This was my proper intorduction to Dan Mangan, who I kind of resented all those years ago for intruding in the Bob-Whites, but who I have completely forgiven now. It starts when Trixie overhears Regan talking to her mum at Crabapple Farm, about "something I'm hoping to keep from any of the youngsters". She tries not to hear, but her curiousity is sparked! Meanwhile, Honey and Trixie's penpals in Mexico have their village destroyed in an earthquake. They are particularly upset about the loss of their school library (not entirely practical, but I guess I'd feel the same if my modest little library at home was destroyed). The Bob-Whites decide to have an Ice Carnival in Sleepyside. Entrance fee: books! Another project, yay!
Honey comes to stay over at Trixie's because her parents are away and for once, Tom and Regan are away also at the same time. Curiouser and curiouser, Miss Trask never allows that to happen. She and Honey are determined to respect Regan's privacy, but as usual, things start to happen when they're in the vicinity. She hears Regan talking to someone in the stables, but he won't admit it. When she's trying to find Bobby's skate in the tack room, she upsets a box of Regan's documents and catches the words "Judge Armen is willing to let you try". She's really sorry for snooping, even accidently, but comes to the conclusion that Regan is in trouble with the law! Later, Bobby tells her Regan is trying a "speriman". Translated, "experiment". And she hears a car driving into the back of the Wheeler property, and later finds it is Regan and Tom! A lot of little, seemingly inconsequential details like that add up and really get to Trixie.
Next morning, there's a new boy on the school bus who gets on with Mr. Maypenny. No one takes well to him because he's got a black leather jacket and a black peaked hat and black cowboy boots, which translates to gangster or hooligan in Sleepyside. Sigh. I wish people were as conservative these days, rather than black leather jacket =gangster = cool. Well, the boy is named Dan (which I was expecting, so I was totally unperturbed) and he's a bit of a rebel. Mart is showing him around at lunch time (orders from Maypenny) and Dan completely snubs the BWGs and goes to sit at another table, where he regales them with tough-guy stories of his own bravado. They are naively impressed but Trix isn't.
Later, Trix and Honey meet Dan working for Mr. Maypenny. Honey is nice and willing to give Dan a chance, but he and Trix really do not mesh. He flares up at her disdain (I think they're both quick-tempered) and it's the same for their other encounters throughout the book. Honey is always on teh verge of breaking through his shell when Trix just rubs him the wrong way. It's a very human thing though, and doesn't annoy me. Anyways, he's goaded into riding Susie, who prompting bucks him off into the snow. He's not really hurt, although he seems to black out for a few moments, but he rips his leather jacket sleeve. When Honey offers to repair it, he's about to say yes, but again, a look from Trix puts an end to it all.
The girls continue on to see Mr. Maypenny, and also suggest to Regan that Dan learn to ride Spartan, another Wheeler horse, to help patrol. The girls are sure Dan looks either like Regan or Mr. Maypenny (since one of the similarities is completely coincidental, I really doubt it). They make their way to the clubhouse where they've been preparing posters and everything for the Ice Carnival, which is going full speed ahead. Inside, they find a bear! They're freaked out, but it's only a bear on wheels that the boys borrowed for the Carnival. A funny moment.
A further complication - there's a catamount loose in the Wheeler reserve! It probably came from the mountains close by. There are no catamounts in the city so I had to google them, but they do look really freaky, they are literally "big mountain lions" as Honey says. Trix and Honey are in the preserve when they hear it howling and Susie just bolts. It's only when her reins catch on the tree branch that Trix can catch her. Or else...!
To complicate matters, they keep seeing a black jacketed and black hatted fellow in the woods, and hear about him all sorts of other places. Dan denies it is him and the girsl want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but when Honey loses her valuable gold watch in the snow and it turns up pawned at Mr. Lytell's store, it's all very fishy. [By the way, Mr. Lytell is very nice here. He gives the boy who pawned it $10 even though he thought the watch was worthless, because the boy - Dan? - feeds him a sob story. When he finds out it's Honey's, he gives it straight back and it's kind of hinted here that he's interested in Miss Trask.]
So the girls tell Mr. Maypenny their suspicions, and he passes them onto Regan, who sets his mouth and looks grim. He goes to the judge to tell him the "sperimen" was unsuccessful. But meanwhile, the clubhouse is broken into and they find evidence that it couldn't have been Dan who caused all the trouble because there are some footprints the wrong size and other conclusive evidence.
And then they find Mr. Maypenny unconscious in the preserve. They help him back to his house where Dan meets them and is very rude and brusque. Just before Trixie leaves, she knocks over the chair with his black leather jacket...only it isn't his, it has "THE COWHANDS" stencilled on the back in white! Is there another person in the area with a black leather jacket? it seems likely!
When the girls go back to the clearing where they found Mr. Maypenny, they find a clubbed branch on the ground with blood and bits of Mr. Maypenny's hair! it seems the old man was attacked. Actually, he was suspicious all along. And now Dan's run away... Mr. Maypenny confesses Dan is Regan's nephew, the son of his dead sister who he lost contact with.
Now Honey goes home, but Trix decides to stay and practice some more tricks for the ice carnival. She has a great time until Susie bolts again, and she's left completely alone this time in a great wilderness in the preserve. She stumbles around, trying not to panic, and somehow hears Bobby's voice. When she finds him, he's in a hole in a cave, held in place by rock. He's been chasing a great big kitty as he calls it. Actually, it's the catamount and it may come back anytime. I don't know how likely this is in real life - i would've been petrified as a kid. Trix stumbles around to find help, after pacifying Bobby. She sees a campfire in a clearing, and who is there but Dan Mangan with a taller boy who's mocking him because Dan refuses to help him break into the Wheeler house. it's Dan's past come to catch up to him again. When Trixie bursts in, she quickly persuades him to help with Bobby (because of course, Dan's heart is in the right place). Bobby is saved and they are found, and to top it all off, the ice carnival is a great success! The Wheelers even fly over Trix and Honey's penpals as a surprise! And Dan is officially accepted in Sleepyside, also as a member of the Bob-Whites!
Okay, I've realised I am not the best at giving summaries. I don't know which parts to leave out, it all seems relevant and not superfluous to me. I guess practice makes perfect?
So I deleted all my posts on Judy Bolton. For a good reason too. Firstly, they were just my general impressions and comments on the books I read and they aren't very interesting unless you have read the book and want to discuss it. But also, I don't have any Judy Boltons. All the ones I read are available on googlebooks, so there's no need for me to provide a recap or anything for those people who don't have access. I think I will only do that for the ones that aren't generally available and people might want to hear about.
But here are my general impressions on the series as a whole:
It didn't start off well, to be perfectly honest. I thought the Vanishing Shadow was incredible...ie. everything that happened was unbelievable. I mean, imagine being kidnapped and being held to your word of honour that you wouldn't say anything before you were let go. Um, not very likely. Honestly, they would probably never let you go if you stumbled into the wrong stuff. Also, I found Judy unlikeable. There are people with faults that you like more for not being perfect (like Anne of Green Gables!) but Judy was not one of them in the first book. Horace too was unlikeable, I even think Judy bullied him. Grandma Smeed was terse and crabbed. It goes on and on.
But it gets better. Judy makes friends and people get fleshed out. I especially like Honey, who is just as nice, if not nicer than Trixie's best friend. Judy also learns humility and to control her temper and a lot of other things along the way. However, in the first few books (say, 1-5?) there was still something about a character in every book that would irk me. Some people I can accept as people ie. not perfect and I can't change them, but in this series, I kept wanting to change them. The friendships hover, take steps forwards and backwards. Lorraine pledges friendship (forward), gets suspicious and jealous (backwards), make up again after marriage (forward), won't Judy in on any secrets in the Haunted Fountain (backwards). Etc etc. The stories always have a lot of superstition, supernatural ideas that veer almost onto the occult. There are really enough baffling things in life to prevent this obsession with sensationalised items. The further it goes along the series, the less homey and wholesome and the more dramatic it all becomes.
On the other hand, after Judy marries Peter, the series gets better. There's a smaller group fo friends so you can get to know each one better, especially Peter. Also, it's really nice not having Judy veer between Arthur and Peter and back to Arthur and then Peter all the time. She makes different and varied friends from all over the place. And she and Peter seem to get along great, if a bit lovey-dovey. I think the circle she ends up with (book 20ish onwards?) is the one that works best.
You might think from the way I talk about this series that I don't like it. That's not true. I did enjoy it generally. The mysteries were interesting. But I can't say it's wholesome, unlike the first half of the Trixie Belden series, at least. Judy grows up (BIG bonus to Margaret Sutton) and I like her so much more in the second half, as well with the characters. You can see Sutton gained a lot of experience. But I also don't really like the soapie elements, like being unable to choose between Arthur and Peter. That probably happens in real life, but a secret engagement? And the repercussions when Lorraine finds out? It goes on and on. Surely real people don't live like that?
Oh well, it's a big element of these girls series books it seems. All the mystery ones. If you want to read half the Judy Bolton series, go to googlebooks. If you want really indepth, chapter by chapter summaries of all the books up to #33, go to www.thisisntall.com and click on the icon of Judy. It's a brilliant site. Someone has put a lot of work into it.
Recently, I went to a secondhand store and I found three Sue Bartons! Even better, they were going for 50c each! Unbelievable. I live in a country where these American girls series books are a rarity (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places). Enid Blytons are much more available and still being sold in Dymocks and chainstores like that which usually have all the new, popular ones, which are not necessarily the best ones. Most of them are pretty trashy. I literally thoguht that if I ever wanted to read any of these girls series books I'd have to buy from overseas or just go to gutenberg (I love gutenberg x3) and I am estatic I found them. They are marked as my 'to read' group on my bookshelf. Unfortunately, just about half my bookshelf is marked like that so it could take me an awfully long time to get to them, especially as I have the 3rd, 4th and 6th one. I like reading series books in order if I can. I seem to gravitate around my favourite ones, rereading them every 2 years or so. I have got to give the other books a chance!
So I'd have to say my ultimate favourite is #7, because it's a fantastic mystery with great adventure and a very homey and friendly atmosphere. The Bob-White interaction is great, which is half the reason I read these books. Growing up as a city girl, I never had my best friends as neighbours, and most of the time they weren't even within walking distance. Except I'd meet up with my absolute best friend at the library and we'd just read together.
ANWYAYS, I digress again. When I got older, I started collecting them, but only from local bookstores and such. I managed to get my collection of 16, which is great, but less than half the series! When I got EVEN older, I started doing some online research and found they were popular, and there was a ton of information on them, including the ghost writers, which I found really intruiging. I'd always thought Kathryn Kenny was one person and thought she sounded a bit odd from one book to the next. Some lacked continuity. I'd have to say, knowing everything I know now, that my favourite ghost author is probably Stack. Because she authored #7 which is unbeatable in my eyes. I read that one a gazillion times. Which makes me really interested in her other series, Robin Kane, which is supposed to be a 'West Coast Trixie Belden'. Except, living in an obscure area, I can't get any =_=.
But speaking of favourites, #12 has to be another one of my favorites, not sure where it stands on the list. Really have to read my Trixies all in one sitting to find out and I really don't have the time. And I swear, even though a researcher assigned #12 to an anonymous author 'D' who could and could not be Stack, I'm sure it is her because she mentions the EXACT same tip for cooking hamburger patties (ie. soak in milk and breadcrumbs to keep the juice in) as in #7 and yes, I did read it that well. Anyways, #12 has an awesome, coherent mystery (which is why I believe also that #11 could not have been by Stack or else she must have been bipolar or something because that author really did not have a clue), great in-character characters and the whole thing was a lot of fun! It also has in depth knowledge of New York, which makes you feel like a real NY tourist into the bargain, except without the danger of getting pockets picked and such.
So the Bob-Whites are in New York, meeting Bob and Barbara and Ned, their friends from Iowa (#9 The Happy Valley Mystery) and are setting out to see the sights. Trixie helps a frightened Mexican woman find her plane. She claims that she's a real fortune teller and gives her a purse as a gift. Trixie ponders about it for a long time, but unlike #11, she's not bratty and doesn't bully others into getting into a mystery, which means she is IN-CHARACTER!
She and Honey go walking whilst everyone's unpacking and go to an antique store. She picks up this ugly little wooden carving, "so ugly it's darling" and buys it. Really not the thing normal people would do, and Honey tells her so. The owner is out and his friend is looking after the shop (which is significant later on).
After a day of sightseeing, Trix and Honey discover a slip of paper covered in Spanish verse (that rhymes in english!) in the purse the Mexican woman gave Trix. Miss Trask translates it into:
Great-headed man, with blinking eye,
A shaded road, a horses cry,
Foreign words for all to hear,
First clue is so very near.
Watch out for thieves; they're everywhere,
At home, on island, in dead beasts' lair.
Where shines a beacon cross the sky,
Beware, great danger lurks close by.
Be not misled by evening's fun
A villain's work is never done.
While guitars play thieves linger round
But not til later are they found.
Twin rails of steel, a trembling square,
Watch close, you'll see the guilty pair.
A lonesome journey, gleaming gun,
Foolish girl what have you done?
Great-headed man does prostrate lie,
A great big stone in his blinking eye,
All is not lost though, little friend;
Rejoice for peril, danger end
Near silver wings, past river's bend.
Fortune is yours, fit for a king,
And the hearts of little children sing.
From then on, they keep being shadowed by 2 men, one that is short and ugly and has a scar running down his face and one that's just plain tall and ugly. They go for a hansom cab ride through Central Park and the men try to grab Trix's purse. She cuts her leg and Jim, Brian, Trixie and Honey return to their apartment (it belongs to the Wheelers, like every single prop in the whole series =P) where she lets them in on the poem prophecy. In an incredibly short amount of time, coincidently just after they've finished talking, the Iowans and Mart come back from Central zoo and they're let in on the secret. They figure out the prophecy is coming true, because the first 4 lines all happen in the Park.
Then they go to the UN, where they meet a Sleepysider who's now a UN guide called Betty. It seems a little farfetched that she would recognise them, but why quibble? While everyone goes for a tour, Trixie and Honey go to the gift store and have the idol priced. There's a Peruvian expert randomly there and he tells them it's worthless and tries to take it off Trixie, very suspiciously, but she causes a scene and he fails. The real Honey is back in this book, because she tells Trixie he's dodgy and to keep a firm hold on it. When everyone gets back to the apartment, they find it ransacked, but nothing taken! The police are brought in, and the Bob Whites make dinner. Never knew Trixie was a good cook, but she is. Mart does some 'magic' tricks, and the best part is he explains how he did everything. And Bob and Barbara, the Twins from here on, sing and play guitars. A TV man hears them and asks them to perform the next night!
The next day, it's the Statue of Liberty. They climb near the top and they have another run in with the scar-faced man, but it's another failed attempt to grab her purse. At a museum, Honey and Trixie get separated and stay behind accidently after closing time, and one of the men catches them, and it's quite a frightening scene because there's no one else there. They finally get rescued by Brian and Jim who have alerted the museum man (sorry, can't remember the name at the moment) that the girls are still inside. So another close shave.
Then it's time for the twin's performance, which is fun. They sing and song and the show is taped and shown again. They're "showstoppers" according to the title. The next day, it's the Empire State building, and Trixie and Di are separated because she's too afraid to go up high. And one of the men start chasing them, and it's awfully scary, but they duck into a room with two women, who take care of them. They even report it to the police, but they can't do anything until they know what the people look like.
In a museum full of trains, their next destination, they meet Doctor Joe, who is a famous surgeon and an avid train collector. They go over to his house, where his wife and many kids invite them to stay for lunch. There, they watch the video broadcast of the twins and see the thieves lingering in the background! See if you can figure out where in the prophecy it is, it's a little obscure.
At home, Trixie gets a call that the others don't know about. It's from one of the men, saying they're following her because they want the little wooden carving she's got, and how it belongs to some peruvian rich man who's willing to give her $1000 for it back and to meet them at such and such a place in broad daylight. Well it turns out to be in aseedy part of a seedy town and when Trix walks in, not letting anyone else know about it, there's only 3 men there. The 2 that have been shadowing her, and the 'carving expert' at the UN. And they hold a gun to her and tell her to give them the carving. She's really frightened, and it is really terrifying, until the police just come in with guns and the boys of the Bob-Whites. Stack explains their presence pretty well, how they figure out where she is by her scribbling the address on the inside of the public phone book, so it's all believeable. It turns out the 3 who have been following Trixie are hard, international thieves! Back at the apartment, Mr. Wheeler is there and everyone's relieved but it's really emotionally tense.
What I love about this part is that Trixie actually realises the enormity of what she did and how much danger she was in. Unlike her near-death experience in #11 in the sink-hole, that she just completely blows off and gets away with, pretty much, she's actually visibly shaken, as is everyone else. Mr. Wheeler decidfes to accompany them everywhere and Trixie turns over the wooden carving to him.
When they next go out for a big dinner, they're all talking about it and Mr. Wheeler takes it out of his pocket to show it's safe (which is a silly thing to do in my opnion) and it's promptly knocked out of his hand by Blinky, the short, scarred man. They realise it's lost forever.
Untiil...a phone call late at night from Blinky reveals there was a diamond inside the carving, but it's not there anymore! So they notify the police and are ready to look through the sweepings and rubbish from the restaurant the next morning. But it's not there, and all is lost again.
Until...haha Trixie turns up with the diamond clutched in her hand! Itwas lodged in a crevice in the floor of the restaurant all the time! It was the centre stone in a valuable necklace stolen by the 3 men, and the jewels were separated and embedded into wooden statues that went to the antique shop Trixie went to. But the friend looking after the shop sold it to her, and that's how everything started. Trixie is donating the reward to the station waggon for crippled children, the thing she was as tenacious-as-a-bulldog about in #11.
Awesome story eh? See if you can match up the things in the prophecy with the story!
