Dana Girls #17 The Ghost in the Gallery

In Dana Girls #17, The Ghost in the Gallery, the girls of Starhurst plan to present a musical at the old Mozart Hall theater.  The performance is threatened when a ghostly figure is seen inside the dark theater.  Meanwhile, Starhurst holds a song-writing contest.  The Danas submit their own original song, but later, the girls are accused of plagiarism when their song is heard on the radio.  The girls must solve both mysteries.

This is the only Dana Girls book that was shortened from 25 chapters down to 20 chapters.  A few scenes were cut from the original text in order to shorten the story.  This is also the first book that Harriet Adams wrote.  She wrote all of the remaining Dana Girls books.

The book contains a lot of information about the history of the theater.  Yay!  While reading a story for fun, I just love being educated with information that reads like it was lifted out of an encyclopedia.  Ugh.

Ken Scott and Chris Barton are introduced on page 54.  Ken and Chris are the Danas' boring boyfriends.

On page 59, the Danas attend church for the first time in this series.

On page 129, a stone with a warning note wrapped around it is thrown at the girls.  Way to go, Harriet!  Stones with warning notes wrapped around them are always effective!

The writing style of this book is just like the later Nancy Drew books, and I was not in the mood for Harriet's style of writing.  I took a break partway through this book and read 10 young adult dystopian novels.  Yes, 10 of them.  I then tried to resume this book and couldn't do it.  I didn't finish the book.

Now you understand why at one point I posted on my Facebook page that I had serious doubt about whether I could continue my Dana Girls reviews.  #17 through #21 just about did me in.

This book bores me, and I do not like it.  It should be noted that some other people do like it and very much.  In my introductory post, I cautioned readers that many of my reviews for #16 and up would be contrary to other readers' opinions.  This is exactly why I dislike it when people ask me if a book is good.  I might or might not have found the book to be good, but that has nothing to do with what another reader might think.