Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Sandy Steele #3 Stormy Voyage and #4 Fire at Red Lake

In Sandy Steele #3, Stormy Voyage, Sandy and his friend, Jerry James, are disappointed when they cannot get jobs at the Mesabi iron ore mines in Minnesota.  Fortunately, in a chance encounter with the owner of a long boat, the boys get jobs as part of the crew.  During the journey, the boys learn that the captain is dishonest.

In a manner similar to the Grosset and Dunlap travelogues, each Sandy Steele book imparts information about wherever Sandy is visiting.  That information was grossly overdone in the first book, but in these other books, the right balance was struck, making these books quite interesting.

This is an excellent book.

In Sandy Steele #4, Fire at Red Lake, Sandy, Quiz, and Jerry go on a hiking trip with Sandy's Uncle Russ in the woods of Minnesota.  Uncle Russ works for the government, and soon into the hike, a forest ranger locates Russ so that he can call Washington.  Uncle Russ learns that a bomber jet crashed, and the A-bomb on board is missing, presumably in the woods of Minnesota.  The situation becomes grim when a wildfire breaks out.

On page 57, the boys use DDT, which is now banned in the United States.

This book is unusual in that the book has no villain.  The book is purely adventure and danger.

This story is very exciting and thrilling.  It is an excellent book.

While my reviews ended up short for both of these books, I greatly enjoyed both of them, about as much as I enjoyed my most favorite Biff Brewster books.  This series is very similar to Biff Brewster.

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