Well, with this book, we have now passed over the half-way mark for the Penny Parker Mystery Stories. I'm still kicking myself for waiting so long to finally read these books, as I have quickly discovered these stories truly are some of the best that Mildred Wirt Benson wrote. Penny is a bit spoiled, but quick to help those in need; she has a fantastic rapport with her father, her best friend, her housekeeper, and her reporter "boyfriend"; and her witty dialogue and snappy comebacks give the character a level of realism that is lacking in so many children's mysteries where the protagonist is always so perfectly polite and poised! I've reached the point where I live for those snarky comments, and they always bring a smile to my face. So many people say that Millie put a lot of herself into Nancy Drew, but I have to wonder if perhaps Penny Parker doesn't gives us a better glimpse into Millie's nature.
There are quite a few references to the war times within the story, the first being a reference to the American Protective Society (p. 66). While such a society never existed, there was once an "American Protective Association," established in the late 1800s, which was an anti-Catholic society fighting for what members believed to be a threat posed by the Roman Catholics to the alleged traditional Christian beliefs of the American people. This may perhaps have given Wirt some inspiration for her anti-American group. Throughout the story, Wirt gives readers plenty of examples of the hardships experienced during the war time - from the drugstore soda fountain not having any pineapple, whipped cream, or chocolate, to Penny's sad realization that "one by one, familiar faces were disappearing from the Star office" (p. 73). There is also the discussion about people who are willing to steal hawsers (thick ropes or cables used to for mooring or towing a ship), because they commanded a high price second hand (p. 74). Additionally, Jeremy shares his suspicions that the waiters at the Green Parrot are German (p. 92), and the Green Parrot is described as being a "rendezvous for anti-American groups" (p. 115). There is even a test black out that happens, in which Penny and Louise are forced to take refuge in a church basement until the test is over (pp. 119-20). In all of these examples, Wirt never once actually mentions a war, but it is clear that the conditions under which Americans found themselves in the early 1940s influenced her writing of this story (even going so far as to have Penny and Louise walk everywhere, or take the bus - she never actually uses her own car).
As for the plot itself (the sabotage of the bridges), one has to wonder if Wirt took this story from the news. In April 1940, there was a major sabotage of the Lysakere Bridge in Norway which made big news (Lysaker Bridge Sabotage), and just two years later, in 1942, the FBI foiled a plot in New York City, in which saboteurs had plans to blowup the Hell Gate Bridge, which at the time carried four vital rail arteries - two for passengers and two for freight - a bridge that was considered an icon of American engineering (Hell Gate Bridge Sabotage). It is likely Wirt would have been familiar with both of these stories, and she may have "borrowed" the idea for this book.
An odd element to this story is the rather quirky character, "Noah" - an old gentleman who has built his own ark, with the belief he has been called of God to save the animals from an oncoming flood. There are a number of references to, as well as direct quotes from, the Biblical account of the Flood in Genesis, and at the end of the story, Penny herself quotes the Bible when she informs old Noah that God already promised never to flood the Earth again, with the rainbow as a sign of that promise (p. 210). I've never read anything to indicate Wirt was a religious person, and one of the members of our reading group, who knew Wirt, indicated he had never known her to go to church. So, it was a bit strange to find all of these Biblical references in the story. Although, perhaps with the seriousness of the tale, Wirt simply wanted to add a light-hearted character to the story (particularly when the girls distract old Noah, and he ends up pulling his long, white beard into the washboard where he is washing clothes! - p. 141).
One thing I did notice in the book is that Penny is suddenly using the phrase "oh, my aunt!" quite a bit (pp. 20, 23, and 152). This is not a phrase Penny has used in any of the previous books, and being unfamiliar with it, of course, I had to research the phrase. It seems the phrase was originally a British / English phrase that has a number of variations, such as "oh, my sainted aunt" or "oh, my giddy aunt." The sources I found online indicate the phrase was used to indicate shock or surprise long before the more vulgar expletives became commonplace. It's funny this expression, never used in any prior story, should suddenly pop up repeatedly in this one book. Makes one wonder of perhaps Wirt had recently heard it when she was writing the book, or if was suddenly becoming popular again around that time.
Another interesting reference pops up when Penny finds herself being shunned by Sara Ottman, the sister of the man being accused of the sabotage. Penny refers to herself as "a little prig" (p. 28). It turns out this expression comes from the poem, The Mountain and the Squirrel, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which begins with the lines:
The mountain and the squirrelHad a quarrel,And the former called the latter"Little prig."
I find it interesting that Wirt would pull a somewhat obscure literary reference like this and have Penny use it to refer to herself. The word "prig" refers to a person who offends others, or irritates them, by observing social proprieties in very pointed manner or to an obnoxious degree (Definition of Prig), so Penny was being rather hard on herself simply because Sara reacted the way she did.
One final tidbit that our reading group found interesting is that in Chapter Eight, the two policemen are introduced as Officer Adams and Officer Benson. Now, if those names seem familiar, perhaps that is because you are thinking of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Mildred Wirt Benson! However, while Harriet married her husband in 1915, Mildred did not marry George Benson until 1950, some seven years after this book was published. Thus, while the "Adams" name could have been a nod to Harriet (with whom Wirt had been working at the Syndicate), the "Benson" name could not refer to her own married name that would not come to be for another seven years. Some preternatural foreshadowing of her own future, perhaps? One never knows...
In any event, the story was a bit darker than normal, but it still had a strong plot that seems the norm for the Penny Parker series, with some interesting characters that draw the reader into the story. The ending, though, is a bit ... far-fetched, for lack of a better word ... where Penny tells old Noah that her father will buy him a truck to carry his animals around as he travels (p. 211). Now, mind you, this was during the war time when things were already tight, and she doesn't even ask her father's permission - she simply volunteers it, and even though Mr. Parker feels he has been "knicked to the tune of an expensive truck" (p. 211), he does it anyway! Just another example of how the Parkers must be quite affluent for Mr. Parker to constantly be doling out funds to help all of the strays her daughter volunteers him to help! (And let's not even mention the amount of money the paper's editor, DeWitt, shells out to bail his cousin, Burt Ottman, out of jail! These newspapermen must really be raking in the dough!)
RATING: 9 foul-mouthed parrots out of 10 for managing to write an entire mystery around an element of war without once actually mentioning the war!
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