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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Not one of the better stories. Many typos in the ebook edition and that a farm house in rural Illinois would have a TV set in 1935 (there were only 6,000 TV sets in all of the US in 1946) just added to the mess. And why does Ned do all the car driving in this book?
Nancy Drew is always good, but this is probably one of my favorites. I like that someone calls her up with the mystery and she doesn't just happen upon it, and the other mysteries that come up do so because she's working on the case. In contrast, a lot of the stories are, like, "1001 mysteries make their way to Nancy Drew's lap and just by sheer luck they all are related to one another!"
I haven’t read one of these since I was in elementary school. What a fun thing to do, you can see the hints of the old-fashioned writing, but it was “updated “for the 60s using words like “swell.” Fun read!
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ugh. I am so on the fence with how to rate this. The basic idea behind the mystery is fun: a hunt for a 300 year old mystery message left in a hollow oak tree by a French missionary somewhere in Illinois. The trail Nancy follows, the menacing man who believes the message leads to a treasure that will make him rich, and the whole gang to help her: Bess, George, Ned, Burt, and goodness…who is the other random football playing boyfriend? Whoever he is, he’s there, too. Anyway, that was fun. What was not so fun was the fact that this scavenger hunt resulted in serious damage to healthy oak trees, which hurt to read, and more importantly our French missionary was put to convert Native Americans. So, there’s a fair amount of racist and colonialist language. The majority of the action takes place near an archeological dig at Native American burial grounds. I have mixed feelings about archeological excavations. On the one hand, they provide a wealth of historical knowledge and I love history and anthropology. On the other hand, many of these are sites sacred to the people who originally lived on the land and, as in the case in this book, little to no respect for the people or culture is evidenced. The archeological dig in this book is as much of a treasure hunt as the search for “The Message in the Hollow Oak” and that bothers me.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This had all the fun Nancy Drew elements - daring adventures, campy antics, outlandish coincidences, and plenty of opportunities for Nancy to show off her smarts. But it also had some sweet storylines about the people Nancy helped along the way. Great fun.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Book #12 in the ND series did not disappoint, though get ready to suspend your disbelief. When NYC detectives can't find treasure missing in a hollow oak in Illinois buried by a missionary, Nancy is given the case due to her aunt knowing one of the detectives. If you've ever heard the words "Indian burial ground", then you get the idea. Only one #nogginknockout for Nancy that I found, and that was due to a goat's passion for cookies. #NancyDrewBR
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It was a different change of pace considering the previous books. I enjoyed having more characters and even involving Ned more. It was a nice easy read.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated