National Parks Mysteries #12 Buried Alive and #13 Night of the Black Bear

In National Parks Mysteries #12, Buried Alive, the Landons have been called to Alaska's Denali National Park so that Olivia can investigate the deaths of several wolverines.  The Landons' new foster child, Nicky, has a mysterious past which is apparently dangerous.  Jack and Ashley soon learn exactly how dangerous Nicky's past is.

National Geographic is mentioned on page 40.

This is a very suspenseful book.  I greatly enjoyed it.

In National Parks Mysteries #13, Night of the Black Bear, the Landons visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Olivia has been asked to investigate several bear attacks.  Normally bears do not attack park visitors, so Olivia must find out what has gone wrong.

Meanwhile, Jack and Ashley make friends with Yonah and Merle, who used to be friends but are now enemies.  Merle behaves mysteriously, so Yonah, Jack, and Ashley follow him to find out what is going on.

This is the only book in the series in which the Landons do not have a foster child.  Instead, Jack and Ashley's  new acquaintances, Yonah and Merle, provide the conflict that usually occurs with the foster children.

This is a very good book.

This series is very consistent from beginning to end.  All books were written by the same writing team, and all feature the same premise.  I found that the national park settings enhanced the stories.  The bits of history included in each book were always interesting and never dragged down the plot.  All around, this is a very enjoyable series.

National Parks Mysteries #10 Out of the Deep and #11 Running Scared

In National Parks Mysteries #10, Out of the Deep, the Landons and their foster child, Bindy, arrive in Acadia National Park.  Olivia's latest task is to discover why the whales are beaching themselves along the shore of Maine.

Bindy is a troubled girl known to be a pathological liar.  Unfortunately, no one believes her when she learns key evidence as to why the whales are becoming beached.  Bindy takes matters into her own hands, endangering the lives of all three children.

The obligatory plug for National Geographic occurs on page 70.

On page 78, Bindy has disappeared for the second time.  Jack thinks of the legal ramifications.  His family might be sued, and they might not ever be able to take care of foster children again.  I found it refreshing for a series book to mention possible consequences of the family's misadventure.  Series books don't usually mention that sort of thing.

This is an excellent story.

In National Parks Mysteries #11, Running Scared, the Landon family vacations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park with their current foster child, Sam.  Sam is a troubled young boy who stutters.  Sam has his heart set on exploring Left Hand Tunnel, mainly because he is left-handed.

Olivia and Steven aren't able to accompany the children, so a park employee takes them to join a tour in progress.  An emergency situation causes Sam to become frightened, and he runs off into the caverns.  Jack and Ashley try to find him, becoming hopelessly lost.

For once, Olivia does not have a task at the park. The adventure is centered around the many hours that the children are lost in the tunnels.

This book is outstanding.

National Parks Mysteries #8 Valley of Death and #9 Escape from Fear

In National Parks Mysteries #8, Valley of Death, the Landons and their latest foster child, Leesa, arrive in Death Valley National Park so that Olivia can investigate why bighorn sheep are dying.  Jack is puzzled that his parents have told him nothing about Leesa's background, and he senses a great mystery.  Ashley is abducted mistakenly, and it turns out that the culprits wanted Leesa instead.  Leesa decides to turn herself over to the men, but Jack goes with her.

Near the end of the story, Ashley is traumatized by her experience.  This is much more realistic than what is usually seen in series books where the protagonist is unfazed by grave danger.  I enjoyed the realism.

This is a very good book.

In National Parks Mysteries #9, Escape from Fear, the Landons visit Virgin Islands National Park so that Olivia can help the park protect the dying coral reefs.  When the family arrives, they discover that Forrest, the son of a diplomat, has arrived in St. John without an adult.  Mr. and Mrs. Landon insist that Forrest stay with them. Jack and Ashley soon learn that Forrest has a mystery and that he has come to St. John to meet his mother for the first time.

This is a very interesting book.  Forrest's story is compelling.  This is an excellent book.

National Parks Mysteries #5 The Hunted, #6 Ghost Horses, and #7 Over the Edge

In National Parks Mysteries #5, The Hunted, grizzly cubs are disappearing from Glacier National Park, and Olivia's task is to find out why.  Olivia and Steven leave their children alone at the camp, admonishing them to stay close to the trailer.  Ashley discovers a runaway boy from Mexico, Miguel, hiding in the bushes, and then the three children witness some men steal grizzlies from the park.  The three children end up in grave danger with nowhere to turn.

These books keep getting better and better. This book is excellent and is quite suspenseful.

In National Parks Mysteries #6, Ghost Horses, two sibling Shoshone children, Ethan and Summer, are placed with the Landons.  Ethan dislikes the Anglos and doesn't get along with Jack.

The Landons and their foster children travel to Zion National Park so that Olivia can investigate the deaths of wild mustangs.  Ethan's resentment grows, and Jack believes that Ethan is trying to put a curse on his family.

This is a very good book.

With the publication of volume 7, the series was rebranded as the Mysteries in Our National Parks series, and the cover art changed design.

Additionally, the hardcover books began to be printed on slightly lower quality paper that is still good quality paper.  The first six books were printed on excellent quality paper that is quite thick.

The first six hardcover books feature a set of color photos from each national park inserted in the middle of the book.  The photos were discontinued beginning with volume 7.

In National Parks Mysteries #7, Over the Edge, Olivia comes up with a plan to save the condors of Grand Canyon National Park.  After Olivia announces her plan, she receives an anonymous threatening email.  Ashley feels certain that the Landons' latest foster child, computer genius Morgan, is responsible for the threat.

In each book, the Landons have faced danger. The danger is greater in this book and each subsequent title.  Not only did the book design and series name change, but the stories were made even more exciting.

The obligatory National Geographic mention is made on page 108.

This is an excellent book.

National Parks Mysteries #3 Cliff-Hanger and #4 Deadly Waters

In National Parks Mysteries #3, Cliff-Hanger, the Landons visit Mesa Verde National Park so that Olivia can investigate why a cougar attacked a hiker.  A girl called Lucky is the Landons' latest foster child.  She and Jack grow close while Ashley insists that Lucky cannot be trusted. Ashley believes that Lucky has taken an artifact from the park, which is illegal.  Jack insists that Lucky is telling the truth about not taking the artifact.

The reader can guess what Lucky's mystery is and can see that Ashley is quite insightful while Jack is clueless.

In this book, both Olivia and Lucky have pagers, which are obsolete nowadays.  Even some books from the last 20 years are already quite dated.

I enjoyed the interplay between Jack and Lucky.  Jack has to decide between right and wrong.  Lucky's story is interesting.

I greatly enjoyed this story, and it is my favorite in the series so far.

In National Parks Mysteries #4, Deadly Waters, the Landon family travels to Everglades National Park so that Olivia can investigate why the manatees are dying.  Foster child Bridger, who is set in his western ways, comes along on the trip. When Jack's camera is stolen, the children have no idea that the theft is a clue to what is happening to the manatees.

On page 110, the author gets in a sly reference to National Geographic by having Jack mention that his photos are not quite good enough for the magazine.

I really enjoyed this story.

National Parks Mysteries #1 Wolf Stalker and #2 Rage of Fire

National Geographic published a series originally known as the National Parks Mystery series and later renamed the Mysteries in Our National Parks series.  The books were written by a mother-daughter writing team, Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson.  The series ran for 13 volumes.  All 13 books are available in softcover.  The first 12 books are also available in hardcover with dust jacket.

 1.  Wolf Stalker, 1997
 2.  Rage of Fire, 1998
 3.  Cliff-Hanger, 1999
 4.  Deadly Waters, 1999
 5.  The Hunted, 2000
 6.  Ghost Horses, 2000
 7.  Over the Edge, 2002
 8.  Valley of Death, 2002
 9.  Escape from Fear, 2002
10.  Out of the Deep, 2002
11.  Running Scared, 2002
12.  Buried Alive, 2003
13.  Night of the Black Bear, 2007

I found the first six titles in hardcover with dust jacket in a bookstore.  They caught my eye and were priced at $2.00 each.  I hesitated, thinking they probably wouldn't interest me.  Books published by National Geographic and set in national parks?  I didn't expect much, thinking that the books would probably consist of boring stories with lots of educational content, similar to the Stratemeyer Syndicate's travelogue books of the 1960s.  However, I purchased them anyway, figuring I would later regret the purchase. Still, I hoped to try them eventually, just in case.  That was in February 2016.

The books stayed on the shelf near where I read for month after month.  I'd look at them and wouldn't be interested.  Finally in December 2016, I grew disgusted by all the "mumbling" in Richie Tankersley Cusick's books and felt at a loss as to what to do.  I dropped the Cusick book on the floor as a means of dismissing it and looked around aimlessly.  My eyes fell on the six National Parks Mysteries books I had purchased months before and had repeatedly rejected.  Well, why not?

A reviewer on Goodreads stated in the first sentence exactly what I thought as I read the first book:  "This book was better than I thought it would be."  I was surprised to find the book to be quite enjoyable and interesting.  I was glad that I had finally tried the series.  Once I read the first few books, I quickly purchased all of the remaining titles.  I had found my escape.

The Landon family consists of parents Steven and Olivia and their children, Jack and Ashley. Steven runs a photo lab and hopes to be a professional photographer someday, and Olivia is a veterinarian.  At the beginning of the series, Jack is 12 while Ashley is about 10.  By the end of the series, both children are approximately one year older.

The rangers at the various national parks rely on Olivia's expertise to help them with various problems with the animals.  This results in the Landon family taking trips to the national parks as Olivia works on the problems. The Landon family also takes in foster children on a short-term basis, and in each book, the family has a new foster child who travels with them to the national park.

Each book incorporates park history and typically at least one legend into the text.  The information is not lengthy and is always presented in an interesting fashion that enhances the story.

In National Parks Mysteries #1 Wolf Stalker, Olivia has been asked to investigate the scene where a man's dog was killed by one of the wolves from Yellowstone National Park.  If Olivia cannot find a suitable explanation, opponents to the wolves may decide to begin killing them.  Meanwhile, the Landon's new foster child, Troy, runs away from the rest of the family, causing Jack and Ashley to journey into the frozen wilderness in search of him.

I enjoyed this book.

In National Parks Mysteries #2, Rage of Fire, the Landon family is vacationing at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  While there, Olivia agrees for the family to take Danny, a Vietnamese orphan, as a temporary foster child. The Landons will be taking Danny to his new guardian.  Danny pulls Jack and Ashley into a harrowing adventure in the national park, which results in them being chased by a mysterious woman.

Danny has a mild mystery in his background, but otherwise, this story is not much more than a long chase scene.

While I like the story, this is the weakest book in the series.