Dana Girls #22 The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird

In Dana Girls #22, The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird, Starhurst School burns, giving the girls a break from school.  On the night of the fire, Malee Wongsuwan's priceless bamboo bird disappears from her room.  It is believed that the culprit went to Thailand, so Malee invites the Danas to come stay with her and her family in Thailand.  Malee hopes that the girls can find her bamboo bird.

The beginning of this story is such a delight, since the girls are finally, albeit briefly, back at Starhurst.  The silly school just has to burn, so the girls depart for another group of travelogue books.

On page 84, the text describes the garments worn by the plane's passengers:  "the Japanese in kimonos, the Chinese in black satin trousers with embroidered satin coats, and the women from India in filmy, bright-colored saris."  Louise then remarks, "Aren't the costumes beautiful and interesting?"

I feel that use of the word "costume" is offensive by today's standards.  The word is used properly according to its definition, but referring to native attire as a "costume" sounds offensive to a modern reader.

On page 126 and 127, the Danas suspect that a certain house is connected to their case.  They ask the woman of the house if they can go inside and look around.  Louise remarks, "We have been sightseeing around Bangkok but haven't had the good fortune to visit any of your homes along a klong."  The woman becomes angry and orders them away, saying that she doesn't have time for them.  The Danas are startled and turn red, as well they should.  How rude of them!

I lost interest in the story during the last few chapters and began skimming.

The tone of this book is very much like the higher-numbered Nancy Drew books, say #43 to #56.

This is an overall good book.

Dana Girls #21 The Haunted Lagoon

In Dana Girls #21, The Haunted Lagoon, the Danas are invited to visit Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.  The girls have been tasked with finding a missing former sea captain.  Ken and Chris hope to find buried treasure.  And I just want the girls to go back to Starhurst where they belong.

On page 2, the reader learns that Louise will be a senior at Starhurst and Jean will be a junior.

This book has too many characters.  I noticed that even some unimportant characters are named, and it gets confusing trying to keep up with everyone.

On page 143, the girls finally reach the haunted lagoon.  The book has 182 pages.  Since the book is titled The Haunted Lagoon, the lagoon should have played a more prominent role in the plot.  A better title for this book would have been The Boring Search for the Sea Captain or maybe just Harriet's Folly.

I do not like this book.  Do you notice a pattern with these Dana Girls reviews?

Dana Girls #20 The Secret of the Swiss Chalet

In Dana Girls #20, The Secret of the Swiss Chalet, the Danas are quite unfortunately still on vacation in Europe.  Prince Rudoph Krisler asks for the Danas' help in finding some lost heirlooms.  Apparently, the Danas are now famous in Europe.  Wow.

If you want to read a better summary, go to my website to read the publisher's summary, which actually makes the book sound like it might be worth reading.  I hate to disappoint you, but it isn't.

On page 36, Louise is hit on the head with a porcelain cow.  On page 38, she is told that she will be fine and that the blow could have been fatal if the object had been made of metal.  I'm sorry, but a porcelain cow to the head could also prove to be fatal.

On page 94, the Danas' car is hit by a huge cheese that rolls down the hillside road.  The Danas arrange for some of the cheese to be mailed home to them.  Yes, the exact same cheese that just rolled down the hillside road.  Yuck.

This book teaches about birds, train tunnels, languages spoken in Switzerland, Swiss clothing, and St. Bernard dogs.  This story includes many descriptions of tourist destinations and is boring.

Many parts of this book are excruciatingly boring.  I did not read most of the second half of the book.  I do not like this book.

Dana Girls #19 The Winking Ruby Mystery

In Dana Girls #19, The Winking Ruby Mystery, Gino the violinist insists that a winking ruby must be found.  Uncle Ned takes the girls to Europe on the Balaska so that they can search for Gino's family as well as for the winking ruby.

This book is the first in a group of Dana Girls stories that I strongly dislike.  This book marks the beginning of the Dana Girls series morphing into one big travelogue designed to be as educational as possible.  The books are so extremely boring.

It is great that the Danas finally take a trip on the Balaska.  If only they had stayed on the ship and not entered Europe.  The book is actually interesting while the girls are on the ship.  It becomes boring as soon as they leave the ship.

As the Balaska prepares to depart from New York, the girls see a man on the dock signaling to a passenger on board.  This reminds me of the beginning of the revised text of Nancy Drew #17, Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk.

On page 96, the girls see the Queen of England.  I thought about how Queen Elizabeth II was Queen in 1957, 62 years ago when this book was first published, and is still Queen in 2019.  Wow.

On page 98, the detective from the Balaska correctly guesses where the Danas are in all of London.  That is crazy.

This book is the first Dana Girls book to have just 20 chapters.  I realized as I skimmed and skipped my way through this book that it is quite fortunate that Harriet Adams wrote books with 20 chapters.  The shorter length of her books means less torture for the reader.  This is a very good thing.

I enjoyed this book at first while the girls are on the Balaska, and I gradually became more and more bored as I continued reading.  The girls find the ruby in just one page, which is too easy.

I do not like this book.

Dana Girls #18 The Clue of the Black Flower

In Dana Girls #18, The Clue of the Black Flower, Louise Dana receives an artificial black orchid from an unknown person.  Soon, a man tries to steal the artificial flower and later threatens Louise.  Meanwhile, a pair of twins have disappeared in South America, and the girls will discover what happened to them.

This book is stupid.  The coincidences are extreme and quite implausible.  The twins disappeared in South America at some point in the past, and of course the Danas will stumble across them in the United States.

Pages 21 through 23 contain information about how to make artificial flowers.

The story doesn't hold my interest like the earlier books in the set.  I found that I did not care about any of it.

This is the final book with 25 chapters.  Too bad it doesn't just have 20 chapters.

The book is overall good, but I skimmed some parts of it.  I was still struggling to get back into reading the series after having read 10 young adult dystopian novels during the middle of Dana Girls #17.  I do better when I read every title in a set consecutively with no other books read.  When I venture into other books, I derail myself in my reading.

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.

Dana Girls #16 Mystery at the Crossroads

In Dana Girls #16, Mystery at the Crossroads, the Danas find an old spoon in the woods near an abandoned old inn.  Later, the girls learn that the spoon is said to be cursed.  The girls also speak to a young gypsy girl who has been forbidden to marry Stivo.  Stivo has been accused of stealing a valuable silver platter.  Meanwhile, the spoon is stolen from the Danas' room.  The girls search for both the spoon and the platter and hope that they can exonerate Stivo.

If there had not been a gap in publication of new Dana Girls books, this book could in theory have been published in 1947.  I find that interesting since the Nancy Drew book from 1947 feature gypsies.

On page 67, Ina speaks up against Lettie, which is unusual.

Page 112 begins with "Suddenly a sickening thought came to the girls."  It's odd how the Dana girls are telepathic as times, and each girl has the exact same thought.

On page 151, the Danas' parents are described for the first time.  Mr. Dana had dark hair like Louise, and Mrs. Dana had blonde hair like Jean.

This book ends with the usual late Stratemeyer Syndicate practice of a lengthy question and answer session with the culprit.  This always bores me.

The book contains a lot of educational content about about spoons, gypsies, and other stuff.

The story is very good, but it lacks the punch of the early books.  The Dana Girls series is teetering on the brink at this point, about to descend forever into Harriet Adams' crazy world of chuckles and grins.

Excessive use of "chuckled" and "grinned" is distinctive of Harriet Adams' writing.

Dana Girls #15 The Secret of the Jade Ring

In Dana Girls #15, The Secret of the Jade Ring, a new student, Fleurette Garnier, has just arrived at Starhurst.  Fleurette is very reclusive, and at first, she refuses to join the school's archery team.

Jean's jade ring is stolen, and the school's jade ring from its museum is discovered to be a fake.  Fleurette acts flustered whenever jade rings are mentioned, which places suspicion on her.  The Danas believe Fleurette is honest, but they cannot solve the mystery without Fleurette's cooperation.

On page 2, the readers are finally told that the girls have lived with Aunt Harriet and Uncle Ned ever since the death of their parents.  It seems like that information should have been mentioned in the first book in the series.

The text contains lots of information about the history of jade and jade rings.  Since this is the first book actually written in the middle 1950s, it is the first Dana Girls book that tries to be educational.  That, of course, makes the book less enjoyable to read.

On page 169, Ina speaks out against Lettie.  This is rather unusual.  It's also rather fun.

This book follows the formula of the later Syndicate books, and this will be the case for the duration of the Dana Girls series.

I found this story to be a bit repetitive and boring.  I was bored by two-thirds of the way through the book and began skimming parts of it.

This book is overall good, at least up until the point where I became bored.