Girls of Canby Hall #20 Friends Times Three and #21 Party Time!

In Girls of Canby Hall #20, Friends Times Three, Jane and Toby spend their Christmas vacation in Chicago with Andy's family.  Andy's family owns a restaurant, and they are shorthanded.  Jane and Toby volunteer to help out.  Jane meets Zach, a boy who thinks she is poor.  Jane pretends to be what Zach thinks she is and finds herself in a difficult position.

On page 37, an announcement is made on Jane's flight for all passengers to "extinguish all smoking materials" as the plane approaches the airport for landing.   Times have changed.

I was quite bored by all the descriptions early in the book.  The text has too much explanation on how to be a waitress.  Jane's romance with Zach also annoyed me.  I did not like the first part of the book, but I did greatly enjoy the last one-third of the book.

In Girls of Canby Hall #21, Party Time!, Jane's family is hosting its annual Barretts' Landing party to commemorate when the Barretts arrived in America.  Jane invites Andy, Toby, and Cary to the party.  The friends do not fit in well, and their presence may cause problems at the party.

Way too much text is devoted to describing Alison, who is departing as housemother, and all three girls' personalities.  The lengthy description of information we already know is so extremely boring.  Jane's party is also boring.

On pages 95 through 98, the girls randomly discover a secret passage and explore it.  Oh, yeah!  The girls briefly turn into Nancy Drew.  I'm all on board with that.

I find it hard to believe that the Barretts' stuffy friends loosen up at the party just because of the presence of Jane's friends.  Give me a break.

I enjoyed the book a lot more once the setting returns to Canby Hall and deals with the new housemother.  That should have been the focus of the book and not some stupid boring party.

The book is mostly boring except for the new housemother plot and the totally awesome secret passage.