Sandy Steele #5 Alaska and #6 Troubled Waters

In Sandy Steele #5, Secret Mission to Alaska, Sandy and Jerry drive to Alaska with Sandy's father and his friend, Professor Crowell.  During the drive, a plane shoots at the group's vehicles.  Sandy's father refuses to explain, but Sandy deduces that enemy agents are after them.  Sandy and Jerry also participate in a dog race, where they get caught in a blizzard.

During the race when it begins snowing, the dogs slow down.  Sandy gets the bright idea that he and Jerry should get off the sled and run behind it to give the dogs a rest.  Charley, the driver, agrees and runs in front of the sled to break the trail.  What could go wrong?  Everything!  Sandy and Jerry get tired, fall behind, and are hopelessly lost in a blizzard.

The portion of the book that deals with the sled race is very exciting.  After the sled race, the boys go hunting in a brief interlude.  I did not enjoy that part, mainly because I'm not interested in hunting.  The hunting subplot is distracting, although it was placed in the book as a means to force a confrontation with the villains.

The book is excellent up to the end of the sled race and good to very good for the rest of the story.

In Sandy Steele #6, Troubled Waters, Uncle Russ gives Sandy a new sailboat.  Sandy and Jerry sail the boat to Valley View.  During a storm, the boat is lost, and the boys have to search for it the next day.  Unfortunately, they mistake another boat for their own, and the other boat is owned by criminals.  Sandy and Jerry's lives are in danger from that point on.

The explanation of different kinds of sails and how to use them was not of interest to me.  The information was quite detailed to the point of being overwhelming, so I skimmed that part.  It probably would have interested a reader who already knew about different sails.

I was kind of surprised when the criminals immediately confess to their crime as soon as they first encounter Sandy and Jerry.  This is only on page 90, with much of the book left.  This was done to set up the rest of the story, so it ends up logical, but it is a bit different.

I greatly enjoyed this story.

I ended up enjoying volumes two through six in the Sandy Steele series so much that I felt lost after I finished this book.  I wanted to read more of them, but I was done. 

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.

Sandy Steele #1 Black Treasure and #2 Mormon Crossing

In Sandy Steele #1, Black Treasure, Sandy and his friend, Quiz, take summer jobs in the Four Corners area.  They work for John Hall, who is president of a small drilling company.  The boys learn about oil, uranium, and the history of the Four Corners area.

A large amount of historical information about the Indians of the southwest is given.  While I found some of it interesting and learned a few things, I felt that there was way too much of it.  It went on and on, and I finally began skimming it.

The book also gives a large amount of information about how to locate an oil reserve and how to drill for it.  The reader also learns about geology and about how to locate uranium.  The information about geology, oil, and uranium is just as excessive as the historical information.  I also had to begin skimming this information as well.  This book is almost like a textbook because of how much information is in it.

The story doesn't get to the mystery part until around page 100.  Even then, lots of information about finding and drilling for oil is given in that part of the book, and the mystery is minimal.

The setting and the information about uranium and the Indians reminded me of Franklin Folsom's Search in the Desert.  However, Search in the Desert is a much better book.

This first Sandy Steele book is quite weak, unless the reader wants to learn everything there is to know about Indians, geology, oil, and uranium.  Otherwise, the book is mostly boring and mediocre.  I felt similar to how I felt while reading my least favorite Cherry Ames books, and I almost didn't make it to the second book.  In fact, I was concerned that I had just wasted money on my purchase of the set.  I bought the set because several collectors indicated that the series is quite good.  They didn't mention how boring the first book is.  However, I decided to try the second book just in case it was better, although I was tempted to abandon the set and read something else.

In Sandy Steele #2, Danger at Mormon Crossing, Sandy is invited to go on a hiking trip with Mike Cook and his father.  The destination is Mormon Crossing in Idaho.  The group hires an Indian guide, Joe, who is an excellent guide, but he seems afraid of something.  Joe refuses to talk, but Sandy is certain that something is wrong.

This book is much, much better than the first book in the series.  I was so afraid that I had built this set of six books for nothing. I was relieved to see some evidence of why collectors say this is a good series.

This book also gives some detailed information such as how to correct the sight on a rifle and how to properly cast a reel while fishing.  While that information is a little more than I'd like, it is brief enough that I was not annoyed like I was with the first book.

I enjoyed this book.