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!
