Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Girl Scouts on the Ranch

I had commented that the first few books in the Girl Scouts series by Edith Lavell have a slower pace than later series books. As I have continued reading these books, the pace has gradually become faster. In the fourth and fifth books, the amount of time for storytelling greatly decreases.

At the beginning of The Girl Scouts on the Ranch, Marjorie, Lily, and most of their closest friends from the Pansy troop graduate from Miss Allen's school. I sense that the series is going off in a new direction, not just because the girls are no longer at Miss Allen's school.

Ruth Henry appears to have exited the series. However, I have not forgotten how the villain in the Blythe Girls series, Rex Pepper, made recurring appearances. He would always show up again when least expected, so the possibility of Ruth returning cannot be ruled out. I enjoyed Ruth's escapades, so I would welcome her return.

Now that the conflict between Ruth and Marjorie is apparently over, the books must move in a new direction. It looks like for the first time the series has a mystery—not some vague minor mystery but a real mystery. One of the Scouts, a girl named Daisy Gravers, has an older sister who is missing. She was sick at the time she disappeared, and the girls speculate that she could have amnesia. Somehow I expect that the missing girl will shortly appear under a different name......series books are always so predictable. Even though it is a real mystery, it will be resolved easily.

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