Judy Bolton #2 The Haunted Attic

In Judy Bolton #2, The Haunted Attic, Judy and her family move into their new home in Farringdon.  The house is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Vine Thompson, who fenced the jewels that her sons stole.  Judy and Horace hear strange sounds from the attic, and they plan to solve the mystery and reveal what they learn at a Halloween party.

Meanwhile, Judy has trouble fitting in at her new school.  Lois gives Judy a friendship ring, and Judy learns that she isn't supposed to be friendly with the poor girls who live near her.  Lorraine is jealous of Judy's friendship with Lois, and this strains Judy's relationship with Lois.

The text was slightly revised in the 1967 Tempo edition.  The biggest change in the Tempo edition is that the car ride and scene where Lois gives Judy the ring are reversed in order.  The order from the Tempo edition reads smoother and is more logical.

I saw some minor text changes in the Tempo edition to make the story more politically correct.  "Famblies" is changed to "families."  All mention of the Farringdons' colored maid is removed.  "Delightful negro spirituals" is changed to "delightful spirituals."  Finally, "Chinese puzzle" is changed to "puzzle."

Page 132 of the original text has a mistake where it is not clear at one point who is speaking.  This is corrected in the Tempo edition.

In the original text, the white cat is named "The Ghost," and the name is changed to "Ghostie" in the Tempo edition.

After Ghostie (or The Ghost) appears, Blackberry is put outside.  Why?  I thought that was a bit mean.  It's like Blackberry was cast aside in favor of the new cat.

A lot of the text from page 172 was removed from the Tempo edition.  This is disappointing, since the passage shows Judy's despair and strong emotion.  Surely Margaret Sutton could have found something less compelling to remove in order to shorten the text.

In both versions of the text, the young people start a fire in a pail in the attic to remove the bad odor from the attic.  They almost set the house on fire.  Aside from the stupidity, wouldn't the attic then smell like smoke?  I don't see how replacing a foul odor with a smoke odor will help.  I feel like the foolish fire scene should have been removed from the revised text rather than the passage from page 172.

On page 34 of A Guide to Judy Bolton Country, Margaret Sutton mentions that Grosset and Dunlap liked having stereotypes in the books.  Having a colored maid was fine in the original text, but they did not allow Margaret to let Judy declare the maid to be a person just like them.

Margaret originally had Judy speak to the Farringdon-Pett's black maid, only to be told by Lois that  "You're not supposed to talk to the maid!"  To which Judy replied, "Why not?  She's a person like us, isn't she?"

It's too bad that the passage was changed for publication.

This is a very good story.

Hidden Clues #3 Trixie Belden Deluxe Editions

The Trixie Belden deluxe edition format was issued in the middle 1960s.  This edition is rather nice with color illustrations scattered throughout each book.  The books were issued with both the Whitman and Golden Press imprints.  Volumes 1 through 15 were issued in this format.

Seen below is my set. 

I have mostly Whitman books with three Golden Press books.  I have never tried to get all of them with the same imprint, since that has never been very important to me.  I do tend to favor the Whitman imprint, which is why I own more of them.

Many other Trixie Belden collectors have tried to assemble a complete set of the deluxe edition with both the Whitman and Golden Press imprints.  As far as we can determine, nobody has been able to get all of them with either imprint.  Recently, a query was made in two of the Facebook groups about who owns which books, and nobody who responded has all of the books with either imprint.

We believe that #10 Trixie Belden and the Marshland Mystery was never issued with the Whitman imprint.  We also believe that #8 Trixie Belden and the Black Jacket Mystery was never issued with the Golden Press imprint.  All of the other titles can be found with both imprints.

Judy Bolton #1 The Vanishing Shadow

In Judy Bolton #1, The Vanishing Shadow, Judy Bolton spends the summer at her grandparents' farm.  Judy overhears a conversation about the Roulsville dam.  One of the workers abducts Judy in an attempt to make her keep quiet, even though Judy doesn't understand the significance of what she overheard.

Arthur Farringdon-Pett believes that the new Roulsville dam was built in a slipshod fashion, and he fears that the dam will break if the area should get any rain.  Soon, the moment of truth arrives, and a storm threatens.  Will the dam hold?

I found several parts of the original text to be confusing.  Judy receives 10 tickets to the spelling bee in the mail, and it is not clear that she is supposed to sell them.  I was also confused when Mr. Dobbs reveals that he sent Judy the tickets and that he and Peter bet on the winners.  I thought he was referring to who would sell the most tickets, but then I later realized that he meant the winners of the spelling bee.

Judy is abducted in The Vanishing Shadow.  According to Melanie Knight in A Guide to Judy Bolton Country, Margaret added the kidnapping sequence "at the insistence of the publisher."  Margaret never wanted the abduction in the story.

The Vanishing Shadow was revised in 1964.  The revision is an improvement, since the parts of the original text that confused me were changed.  The 1964 text makes it more clear that Judy is expected to sell the tickets, although not as clear as it should have been.  It is made clear that Mr. Dobbs and Peter bet on the spelling bee winners.

The details of Judy's abduction were removed from the 1964 text.  She is still held captive in the shack, but the reader doesn't know how she gets there.  The details about the gag were also removed from the story.

In the original text, Judy impulsively digs out the Dry Brook dam and later regrets it.  In the 1964 text, she considers digging out the dam but learns more information that prevents her from doing it.

In the original text, Judy and Peter find a gun in the shack.  That scene was removed from the 1964 text.

Blackberry doesn't go missing in the 1964 text.  His lengthy disappearance in the original text makes little sense, and his appearance later is illogical, since he somehow survives the flood.

Also in the original text, Peter asks Judy how Blackberry is, like he doesn't know that Blackberry has disappeared.  Judy answers sadly that she doesn't know, and Peter doesn't think anything is odd.  When Peter asks about Blackberry in the 1964 text, the dialog is logical since Blackberry is still around.

The 1967 Tempo edition further clarifies the ticket situation.  In this text, the reader learns the moment that Judy receives the tickets that she is supposed to sell them.  Thank you!

The abduction and Judy's imprisonment in the shack were completely removed from the Tempo edition.  Instead of being abducted, Judy actually tries to sell the tickets by going from house to house, which she never does in the previous editions.

The 1967 Tempo edition does include the scene where Judy and Peter enter the shack.  This scene was completely removed from the 1964 edition.  The original text scene was rewritten for this edition.  There is no revolver, but this time when the cloak falls, it falls on Judy's head instead of onto the floor.

An additional scene with Horace is present in the Tempo edition.  After Horace rides with the warning about the dam, the Tempo edition adds a scene where Horace rides Ginger up onto higher ground.  He stops and climbs a tree, surprised that the dam hasn't broken.  He then sees the middle section fall and the flood waters inundate the town.  He is horrified and lies on the ground in hysterics.

I originally read the first three Judy Bolton books in the fall of 1991.  I enjoyed all three and then built my set over the next seven years.  The books were very hard to find in the 1990s.

I have always considered some aspects of The Vanishing Shadow to be odd, but I have always enjoyed it.  Several series book enthusiasts have stated that they tried to read The Vanishing Shadow and did not like it at all, causing them not to read any other Judy Bolton books.  For that reason, many of us now suggest that readers try another book instead.  Most suggest The Haunted Attic, but I feel that sampling the series with one of the middle volumes (like #18-20 or #22-28) would be best.

I greatly enjoyed all three texts of The Vanishing Shadow on this reading.

Snow & Ash Endless Winter

The Endless Winter series by Theresa Shaver consists of the following books.

1.  Snow & Ash, 2015
2.  Rain & Ruin, 2015
3.  Sun & Smoke, 2018
4.  Fire & Fury, 2018

These books follow the stories of two teenagers in Canada after a nuclear war and during the resulting nuclear winter.

The books were written by an independent author, so the books have quite a few grammatical errors.  The tense also shifts improperly between past and present tense.

The first book is extremely suspenseful and compelling.  The second book is also very good.  The third book lags some, and the fourth book is pretty much filler to extend the series.  I did not find the fourth book to be that great.

The author's characterization is excellent.  The weakness is the lack of description about what is happening outside.  The reader is told that the the temperature is cold and that the world is in nuclear winter.  Other than that, I had no concept of what was happening.  Snow is almost never mentioned, so I pictured a gray sky (the clouds were mentioned often) and no snow at all.  During the times that the characters venture outside, there is no mention of anything like snow.

The second book features acid rain that is so toxic that the skin is burned and sores develop.  Later in the story, characters go outside to get their belongings that were left outside for weeks when the rain began.  If the rain was able to eat through clothing and leave sores on the skin, then I don't understand how the characters' possessions would be just fine out in the rain.

I could also mention many other aspects of these stories that make little sense. 

I really enjoyed the first story, but the quality of the stories deteriorates enough through the set that my opinion of the set is overall negative.

The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

The Giver Quartet consists of four books written by Lois Lowry.

1.  The Giver, 1993
2.  Gathering Blue, 2000
3.  Messenger, 2004
4.  Son, 2012

I was never that interested in reading these books, even though several people have recommended them to me.  The books were published irregularly with quite a few years separating them.  For that reason, I suspected that this set was not planned ahead of time and that the last three books were written to fulfill a demand by the publisher for more books.  In other words, it's all about money.

The Giver is a very good to excellent book and is well worth reading.  As I expected, it reads like a one-off title with no planned sequel.  I could tell as I continued the set that my instincts were right and that this was not a set planned in advance.  The books weaken as the set continues.

Gathering Blue and Messenger are pretty good but have flaws.  I found most of Son to be quite boring.  I skipped reading all of the chapters with "Water Claire," and that is most of the story.  The ending is very rushed and makes no sense.  I did not like Son at all.

Some readers give rave reviews to all four books.  The first three books are pretty good, but I won't ever read them again.

Buyer and Seller Behavior on Facebook

These comments were written either late last year or early this year as part of another post.  That post was never published.
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Allowing people to sell books in Facebook groups is quite problematic.  People who want to sell books have trouble following directions.  Furthermore, as soon as some people realize that they can list their books for sale on Facebook, they temporarily lose all sense.  When they see that they have an opportunity to sell, they apparently experience great urgency.  They race to create multiple sales posts as fast as they can, often putting the posts in the wrong groups and breaking multiple rules.

The members who behave in this fashion end up showing their worst side.  Little do they realize that some collectors like me see the crazy behavior and decide that these sellers are too flaky to trust.  There's no reason to act like a timer is clicking away when an opportunity to sell presents itself.  Relax, read the rules, and think before you act.

Some members who want to sell books go about it in a random fashion.  Instead of going to a sales group to create a post, they pick posts in the regular groups and make comments asking random people if they want to buy books.  For instance, a member asked someone who does not collect Nancy Drew books whether he would like to buy her Nancy Drew books.  I don't understand this approach, and I've seen it many times.  It's far better to create a sales post to attract the people who actually want to buy the books instead of hitting up on members at random.

Another problem is lack of information.  A member says that they are looking for Nancy Drew books but does not specify which Nancy Drew books.  The format, titles, and price that they wish to pay are rather important details.  Other times, the person wanting the books is specific, but then several members hastily post (because they must view this as a race with a timer clicking away) a vague comment like "I have some Nancy Drew books!"  That's not very helpful.  Which books and how much do they cost?  Details, people!

Rather often, someone posts in a selling group that they have some books available.  They don't mention price or titles.  They just tell everyone to contact them if interested.  That's not going to work well.  If someone says that they have Nancy Drew books, they could have one of thousands of variants.  We need information.

I think that the "contact if interested" people are planning to set prices depending on who is interested.  It's like when I'm at a garage sale with no prices, and the owner won't tell me what the children's books cost until I tell them exactly which book I want.  Once the owner knows, they state that the desired book is quite collectible and set a steep price.

I have this suspicion that on Facebook, these people are waiting to see who will contact them.  If someone like me, who is known to have paid higher prices for books, should happen to respond, the price will be higher than if someone else responds.  We don't play that game in the groups.  Time and time again, I have had to comment on these posts telling the members to read the rules and that we must have prices listed upfront.  This gets tiresome.
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Here are some final thoughts from the present.  I now currently greatly dislike all of the series book selling groups on Facebook.  I gather that other people like the selling groups a lot, and I am happy for them.  However, I get nothing from them and find most everything about them to be obnoxious.  

I feel that way due to the people who are pushy or simply cannot follow rules.  They ruin the experience for me.  I buy my books on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks, Biblio, and occasionally Etsy.  I sell my books on eBay and Etsy.  I don't need the Facebook selling groups, and I seldom visit them anymore.

What Happened to Amy? by Jane Edwards and Blue Treasure by Helen Girvan

In What Happened to Amy? by Jane Edwards, Joyce Farrell takes a job as the secretary to a famous author, Miss Penrose.  Miss Penrose's previous secretary, Amy Dekker, suddenly quit and eloped.  As Joyce learns more, she begins to suspect that Amy's disappearance involved foul play.

Miss Penrose reads the first chapter of her upcoming book at a town social event.  Hours after Miss Penrose and Joyce return home, a fire breaks out in the room where the manuscript is kept.  The manuscript burns up, leaving Miss Penrose and Joyce devastated.  Joyce wonders whether something in that chapter worried someone and could be a clue to some nefarious activity.  Joyce begins to search for Amy Dekker.

This book reads much like an old Nancy Drew book.  In fact, the climax of the book is rather similar to a portion of an old Nancy Drew story.  It's best not to say which one, since doing so would reveal what happened to Amy.

This is an extremely good and very engaging story.

In Blue Treasure by Helen Girvan, Anne McClure inherits a property in Bermuda.  She isn't even related to the former owner, but nevertheless, the property will be hers provided that she lives there for one year.  Soon after Anne and her family arrive, relatives to the former owner make themselves known and promise that Anne will not end up inheriting the property.

Anne soon learns that a missing Vermeer painting may be located on the property, and she begins searching for it.  Meanwhile, the unpleasant relatives also search for the painting and cause mishaps on the property, hoping to drive Anne away.

The location of the missing Vermeer is very easy to guess, and the mystery is quite mild.  However, the story is very interesting and pleasant to read.  The book was originally published in 1937 and reads in a similar fashion to Augusta Huiell Seaman's books of the 1930s.  I greatly enjoyed it.

When Midnight Comes and Beware of This Shop by Carol Beach York

In When Midnight Comes, Joan's cousin Wilma comes to stay with the Bridgeport family.  Wilma is fat, plain, and will not talk.  Joan and the rest of the family feel very uncomfortable around her.  Soon after Wilma arrives, strange things happen.  The back door is left open one day, and the Bridgeports' cat disappears.  Mrs. Bridgeport develops insomnia, and Emily must sleep with her light on.  The grandfather clock that doesn't work begins ticking during the night.  The entire family is spooked, but Wilma remains unresponsive.  Joan desperately wants Wilma to return to her home.

In Beware of This Shop, Isabel buys a ring in a gift shop, while Hester purchases a small figurine.  Hester notices that the figurine is no longer pretty once she gets home with it, and she feels that the figurine is giving her nightmares.  Hester breaks the figurine and immediately feels better.

Hester visits Isabel to find her deathly ill.  Hester gets the ring away and destroys it, and Isabel recovers quickly.  Unfortunately, the townspeople continue to visit the gift shop, and soon, the store owner manipulates Hester into working for him.  Hester fears for her life, but she cannot figure out how to break the spell.

Both of these books would have fit in well with the Dark Forces and Twilight Where Darkness Begins series, which were both published at around the same time as these two books.  If you enjoy either of those series, then you will most likely enjoy these books.  I greatly enjoyed both of them.

I have sampled a few other books by Carol Beach York, and I did not like them.  This is an author where some books are great and others are not that good.