Girl's CrystalI only picked out a couple of stories to read, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were. Given that this book was published in 1949, I was expecting it to be a bit old-fashioned and all 'jolly hockey sticks', but the stories I read were both rollicking reads.
Rosalie, Robbie and the RobotI picked this one because of the lure of the robot. It turned out to be part of an ongoing serial, but there was a paragraph at the start to catch us up on the story. The robot had been been hidden, but now appeared lost. Alas, we never actually saw the robot, nicknamed Archie, though we learned that fugitive Keith had found it. In spite of the expected robot never appearing, the story was dramatic and followed lots of twists and turns as Rosalie and her brother Robbie tried to help their friend Keith who had been wrongly accused of theft and was on the run from the police in Egypt. The exotic setting, hieroglyphic codes and derring-do made it a lot more interesting than the typical private school saga. I got to the end and actually wanted to know what happened next.
There are a few plot holes. At the bottom of the third column on the first page, Rosalie climbs along a ledge to reach Robbie's window without being seen by the snoopy Sammy. However, when she tells Robbie her clever plan, he gives her an admiring slap on the back. Um ... I don't think she's actually climbed through the window yet, so has he just slapped her off the ledge? LOL Also when they're escaping up and down sand dunes, a carriage is seen coming towards them. I assume it's a horse-drawn carriage? How does it get up and down those sand dunes? The illustration on p. 231 would also be better placed on the previous page.
However, plot holes aside, it was an interesting tale.
The Imposter at the Winter SportsI picked this one because it seemed like there might be a crime or a mystery, and indeed there was. It's again part of a serial but there's a one-par synopsis at the beginning. 'The Domino' is an interesting name for a baddie, though why wasn't he wearing a domino mask like Batgirl?
It also reminded me of the Aussie hero 'The Grey Domino'. We have a few of those on CB+. However, this Domino has some nefarious plan to infiltrate Castle Schloss in Germany, and fake diamonds are somehow tied up in the plan. That probably would have been clearer if I'd read the earlier parts. Hazel has been impersonating skater Kay so that she can get an urgent message to Kay's brother Cliff who is waiting at Castle Schloss. However, her impersonation is exposed by supposed customs officials at the German border and she is escorted off. In spite of the Domino's attempts to get her out of the country, she turns up at the castle only to discover that the Domino is impersonating Cliff, after presumably getting the real Cliff out of the way. I wondered why none of the staff realised it wasn't the real Cliff, when Hazel so easily saw through his disguise. Again, that may have been clearer if I'd read the earlier parts, as I don't know whether Cliff lives at the castle or if he was just visiting and therefore not as well-known to the staff. It finishes on a cliffhanger with Hazel being escorted away without anyone believing her story. And then in the sleigh, .... well I won't spoil it for you.
Again, I was surprised by the quality. It was quite a good tale, and readers would have felt for the poor misunderstood Hazel. It was also interesting that they were going into Germany just a few years after the war. I wonder what that would have been like? I imagine there would have still been trepidation if you were being carted away by men you thought were customs officers taking you to the police.
In both of these stories, it was good to see girls right in the middle of the action, being brave and intrepid. The settings were interesting, especially the one in Egypt. I liked this a lot more than I was expecting.
Cheers
QQ
Author
Topic: Reading Group#339 - At last Christmas (Read 641 times)
