Merry Christmas from Brian's Jalopy!

I'm sorry for the delay between updates. Real-life drama got in the way for a while. I meant to do one more before Christmas, but it's just not going to happen. So this blog will be on hiatus until the end of the year. Don't worry; I'll be back in January with more recaps, more snark, and all things Trixie! Thank you for your patience. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a blessed new year.

Cool Trixie Stuff- handbags

I'm always on the lookout for cool Trixie stuff to share with you all. I've seen these handbags before, on Etsy and on Ebay, but I'm not sure how I feel about them. On the one hand, they're cute and very creative. On the other hand, an old book has to be destroyed in order to make them. Still, I like the idea that Trixie and company are still remembered fondly today. If you'd like to buy this bag, you can find it here.


This bag is also cute, and it looks as though no books were harmed in the making. Very retro picture of Trixie and Honey there. Thought I definitely have my own personal view of how Trixie should look, it is interesting to see how the different cover artists drew her.

Sorry this update is so brief, but I'm leaving for vacation with my husband on Monday. Expect a proper blog update later in the month of September. Until then!

Your comments

Just a quick note to say I really really appreciate your comments. I'm sorry I haven't replied much before now. I was trying to, but E-Blogger was giving me fits. I think I've figured it out now. I hope this blog will inspire discussion of the Trixie Belden book series, so by all means, let me know what you think! I'll even throw out a question: What is your favorite Trixie book? Or favorites, if you can't pick just one.

"This school should serve insurance policies with lunch"- Eat Your Poison, Dear

I read this book over and over again as a kid. It says "another Sebastian Barth mystery" at the top, but so far, I've only been able to track down three of these books. This one was definitely my favorite of the three.

Sebastian Barth is a fairly typical eighth-grader in a small town in Connecticut. Funny and well-liked, Sebastian apparently likes to solve mysteries and figure out strange happenings when they, well, happen. When the school nerd Milo Groot (seriously, how could he not be the nerd with a name like that? Poor kid!) throws up at lunch, it doesn't seem too mysterious at first. But gradually, more and more kids keep getting sick. Sebastian has a hunch that this is more than just the flu going around, so he volunteers to work in the cafeteria to check things out. When over 100 students throw up in one day (EWW!), the cafeteria is immediately shut down and a full fledged investigation is launched by the state board of health. Suspicion falls on spinster lunch lady Dorothy Swille, then on school bully Edward "Harley" Davidson. But Sebastian learns a hard lesson about not jumping to conclusions when he finally realizes that the culprit may be the one person nobody suspected.

The chapters in this book are very short, and very dialogue driven. We learn more about the characters by what they say than what they do. Both words and actions can be deceiving, as Sebastian finds out the hard way. The dialogue is sharp, with lots of humor, and the characters feel real. Definitely a recommended read for junior high ages, or for adults like me who still enjoy this stuff.

Merry Christmas from Brian's Jalopy!

Isn't that cool? It's a Trixie Belden Christmas Tree! I want! I found it here at Madonna's Mementos: http://www.madonnasmementos.com/Christmas.html You can order one for yourself, though I doubt it will get here before Christmas.

I want to thank everyone who has stopped by and checked out my blog over the past ten months. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts; I love reading them! I've also joined Twitter and will be sending out blog updates there. Please follow me: http://twitter.com/briansjalopy Seriously. Please. I have no followers. I feel like a loser. Don't worry; it will be mostly blog updates. I won't spam you with daily tweets about what I had for breakfast or how often I changed my socks or anything.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year. I will be back in January with more recaps, new series, and of course, more Trixie! Thank you so much for your support. God bless!

It's Two-Fer Tuesday- on Wednesday!

To make up for my absence last month, I present you with not one, but two quick reviews! I found both of these books at the library by chance. I had read them in the past but couldn't remember the title or author or anything. Serendipity rocks.





Free Fall by Joyce Sweeney is the story of four teen-aged boys who go to explore a cave. Neil is the oldest and the main character. Along for the ride are his younger brother David, David's best friend Terry, and Neil's best friend Randy. Of course, they get lost and trapped. No one has any idea where they are, so they have to survive and escape on their own.

This isn't just a story of survival. There's a huge load of emotional baggage that the boys bring into the cave with them, starting with the fact that none of the boys get along. Neil and David's little sister died a couple of years earlier when their house burned down. It's technically David's fault, but Neil blames himself and has shut David out. He also has never told his best friend about this (Randy moved to their town after the fire). I find it hard to believe that no one at school ever mentioned this to Randy, but whatever. Terry is a wuss, and Randy is sarcastic and mouthy. He and David both have hot tempers and muscular builds, and may just kill each other before this whole thing is over. Being trapped and possibly close to death, the boys are forced to come to terms with their issues and work together to survive.

There is action in the form of cave exploration, rattlesnakes, a climb that doesn't work out, and a daring escape. The emotional stuff is heavy- we're talking dead sisters, abusive fathers, divorce...This is also a story about teen-aged boys, and they act the part well. There is swearing up to and including the "F" word, bathroom humor, sex talk (but no actual sex), and fighting. this is not G-rated Trixie Belden stuff. I found Free Fall to be an effective and exciting enough story. And I'm a sucker for a story about siblings, so that was a plus. But again, this book is loaded with profanity, so consider yourself warned.


The second book I found is Murder at the Spaniel Show by Lynn Hall. It's pretty obscure, so I'm not going to bother with the cover art. Tabby is a teenager who works at Quintessence, a springer spaniel kennel in rural New York. The kennel is set to host a national springer spaniel show when things get wacky. Someone starts sending threatening notes to the Ted Quinn, the man set to judge the Best In Show competition. Ted is the twin brother of Turner Quinn, the blind owner of the kennel, and he has flown in all the way from England to judge.

Tabby is just the "kennel girl," but she manages to be right in the middle of everything that happens at Quintessence. No one is really sure if the threats are serious or just a sick prank, but Tabby grows increasingly anxious as the three days of the show wear on. She does manage to figure out who the culprit is, but it's too late. Sort of.

Lynn Hall has apparently written over 80 books, but I hope most of them are better than this one. Honestly, I found it a bit boring. I didn't feel like I really knew Tabby, other than she's slightly overweight and kind of sarcastic. There is a lot of information about dogs and dog shows here, but I still didn't get any sense of Tabby's "passion" for dogs. In hindsight, the culprit is pretty obvious, but I'm still not really sure what that person was trying to accomplish. To be fair, I may be expecting too much from a book that is geared towards grades 6-9.

OK, back to Trixie after this. Since Halloween is coming, I feel it only appropriate to read The Mystery of the Headless Horseman. I hope to have it up in a couple of weeks.

"You've probably heard of it-The Last Frontier, all that stuff." Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier

I found this book at a library sale for $1. It involved a teenaged boy growing up in Alaska with a fisherman for a father. Being the mildly obsessed Deadliest Catch fan that I am, I had to buy it.

Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier is written by Tom Bodett. Yes, "I'm Tom Bodett, and we'll leave the light on for ya." That Tom Bodett. Norman Tuttle is a thirteen year-old boy growing up in Alaska in, well, I don't know when, but it's a fairly recent book. Norman is the oldest of five children, and yearning to be treated more like an adult and less like his younger siblings. His dad takes him for granted until he falls off of his fishing boat into the chilly Alaskan waters. Dad vows to treat him better after that, and their relationship does improve. Unfortunately, Norman gets his first girlfriend shortly after this, and it's all downhill from there.

Each chapter in the book is a short story, so you get these kind of snapshot views of a couple of years in Norman's life. It's that weird time between childhood and adulthood, where suddenly your friends aren't as cool as they used to be, but they're still preferable to your ancient parents. The giddy haze of first love, the gradual growing apart, the heartache after the relationship crashes and burns.... man, I don't miss those days.

Norman grows sullen and distant from his family after he and his girlfriend break up. A plot to "rescue" her from a baby-sitting nightmare to make her appreciate him again ends up making things worse. Said girlfriend gets revenge by getting Norman in a lot of trouble with his parents. He's finally sent away for the summer, to live and work on a farm with family friends in Oregon.

This book is funny. Like literally laugh-out-loud funny in a lot of places. Bodett really makes the character of Norman come alive through situational anecdotes and simple language. The stories are poignant without being sappy, and realistic enough to make the point that growing up in Alaska is really no different than growing up anywhere else. I found myself alternately cheering for Norman and wanting to slap him. I found the conclusion a bit disappointing, because I'm not sure that Norman really learns the lessons he needs to learn by the end of the book. But maybe that is the point Bodett was trying to make; that the awkwardness and mistakes of adolescence can't always be neatly tied up and resolved by the time you become an adult, or by the last page of a novel.

I haven't forgotten about Trixie; I'm working on The Mystery of the Emeralds right now. I hope to have it up next week.

Username Change

I changed my user name to the same name I use pretty much everywhere else on the internet. I was tired of living a double life. Don't freak; it's still me. :)

Picture Time

I'm almost finished with The Gatehouse Mystery recap, but I wanted to make a seperate post to share something with you all. Illustrations!
Of course, after I said I would stick with the oval editions, I had to get the newest edition of #3 because I didn't have it in my collection. Although the covers are new, the publishers have included the old illustrations from the original editions. They're totally vintage and retro and all that.







From left to right: Jim, Honey, Brian, Trixie, Mart. Mart, I love you, but you totally look like Beavis.








Honey and Trixie looking for the jewel box. Love Trixie's ginormous swimming skirt.

Trixie and Honey at the movies, talking to Tom Delanoy, who will eventually become the Wheeler's chauffer.

These kind of clash with the images I have of the characters in my head, but they were interesting to see nonetheless. I should be finished with the recap in the next few days.

A Word on the Editions

Trixie Belden books have been published and re-published many times throughout the years. Trixie's look usually changes a bit with each new printing.


I'm not sure of the exact dates on all of these, but I think this is the first. Notice Trixie's midriff-baring top. Scandalous!

These are called the "Deluxe" editions, but I see nothing deluxe about them. They're plain and a bit ugly. I have #6 in this edition, and on it, Trixie looks like a scruffy boy in a dress.



















"Cameo" editions. I think Trixie and Honey look really cute in this one.




















Fans call these the "short and ugly" editions. You can probably tell why. I really don't get this particular cover. What is Trixie looking at? Herself? In a bed, in the mansion? And there is a hand behind her, and everything is purple. Somehow, I don't remember that chapter in the book.


















The newest editions, released in 2003. Trixie looks very modern and cute, but it just doesn't seem quite right to me. She's almost too pretty.















Though fans like to debate over which covers are the best, in this blog, you will be seeing the oval editions unless I can't find a good picture of them. These are the ones my older cousins had, and the ones I read when I was young. In fact, they're the only editions I've ever read. This is what Trixie looks like to me (except with normal flesh tones). She and all the Bob-Whites are firmly rooted in the 60's in my mind. I may post a few of the other covers just for comparison's sake, or to make fun of them. :)

With all that said, I will admit that some of the older covers are really intricate and have a lot of cool pictures and details. Some of the older editions have illustrations that the oval paperbacks don't have. You can check them out here. http://trixie-belden.com/books/editions.htm

Still working on The Red Trailer Mystery recap, but it shouldn't be too much longer. I got a bit distracted because my husband gave me
Watchmen to read. I never read graphic novels, but I have to admit that one is pretty good.

Welcome To My Blog

I'm a big fan of both young adult literature and the blogs that make fun of young adult literature. I decided that it was time for me to have my own. Of course, it had to be dedicated to my favorite girls' detective series, Trixie Belden.
These books aren't as well known as Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, or the Hardy Boys. It's too bad, really, because Trixie is way cooler than they are. She's smart, kind-hearted, and loyal. She's also impulsive, stubborn, and often speaks and/or acts without thinking things through first.
This book series was first created by Julie Campbell in 1948. As you can imagine they are kind of outdated and even border on cheesy at times. I won't snark on them for it. Well, not too much. Personally, I like the wholesomeness of these books, and the positive themes of friendship, loyalty, and helping others. I get annoyed when I go to the YA section at Barnes and Noble and see that most of the books either deal with the supernatural or with being rich, popular, and slutty.
I should have my first recap up very soon. I've finished re-reading #1 The Secret of the Mansion. Though I don't plan to read them all in order, I will start with the first two or three, as they kind of run together. I hope you enjoy this blog! I would love to read your comments!

P.S.- you can learn more about Trixie Belden here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden Good old Wikipedia.