The Brownie Scouts in the Circus - Book Two of the Brownie Scout Books

This second book in The Brownie Scouts series by Mildred Wirt was published in 1949, the same year as the first book in the series.  This series follows the adventures of a group of young Brownie Scouts who live in the small town of Rosedale:  Connie Williams, Jane Tuttle, Rosemary Fritche, Eileen Webber, Belinda Matthews, "Sunny" Davidson, and their seventh and newest member (who joined in the first book), Veve McGuire.  As with the first book, Connie and Veve seem to be the central characters in the story, with the other five girls making random appearances, most often just having their names mentioned with no dialogue or action.  I suppose it would have been difficult to devote time to all seven girls and keep the story on track, so Wirt had to settle upon certain characters to be the focus of each book.  While Connie was in the driver's seat for the first book, she and Veve shared the spotlight in this book.

 

The Brownie Scouts in the Circus is, not surprising at all, an adventure of how the girls inadvertently find themselves a part of an actual traveling circus! However, the book actually begins with the girls preparing for their camping trip, which was alluded to at the end of the first book.  The girls must help earn money in order to purchase the tent and other items they will need for the trip, and poor Veve finds herself at a disadvantage, since her widowed mother does not make enough money for extras (it seems Veve has never even been able to purchase a Brownie uniform during the months between the first book and this book).  Thus, she looks for a way to earn money, and when they see an advertisement for a circus coming to town, they decide to put on their own circus!  Now, picture a few 7 to 10-year old girls putting together a circus in their backyard, and you can imagine how that turns out!  They do, however, manage to make a few dollars, mostly from parents and a friendly policeman who turn out to see the show.

 

Miss Gordon, the scouts' leader, manages to make another way for them to earn money, by selling tickets to the real circus! Not only are they able to make money for their camping trip, but every ten tickets they sell earns them a free ticket to see the show.  Their trip to see the circus eventually leads to the "mystery" in this book, which involves the theft of Miss Gordon's wallet (which happens to have all of the scouts' savings in it!) and her wristwatch.  Connie and Veve both saw the pickpocket and swear they can identify them if they see him again (you can guess where this will lead, can't you?).  Of course, the camping trip is not cancelled, as Miss Gordon makes up the missing money with some of her own, and the girls head out to Shady Hollow for their camping experience - and what an experience it is!

 

Wirt works in a number of mishaps and misadventures to keep the story fun and entertaining.  Once at camp, Miss Gordon allows Veve, Jane, and Eileen to make the first breakfast - which, of course, results in burnt bacon, scorched eggs, and lumpy oatmeal!  A quick trip to town ends up finding Connie and Veve seeing the circus train stopped on the railroad tracks behind the hardware store.  It wouldn't hurt to take a look in the open boxcar, right?  Before you know it, the door to the car is slammed shut, the train starts moving, and the two Brownie Scouts find themselves traveling far away from Shady Hollow, leaving Miss Gordon and their friends behind!  By the time the train stopped, they are over 100 miles away with no way to let Miss Gordon know where they are!  Fortunately, the animal trainer recognizes them from their visit to the circus in Rosedale, and he takes them under his wing while a telegram is sent to their troop leader back at the camp.

 

By now, a mature reader can easily see where the story is going and what the end result will be, and Wirt does not disappoint.   The girls make friends with a young girl their own age who does tricks on horseback for the show, and Connie and Veve are asked to take part in the show by blowing the whistle that signals the change in acts in the three rings.  This, of course, gives them the perfect opportunity to see the audience, where they just so happen to spot the pickpocket!  After a brief chase, the circus' detective snags the man, Miss Gordon gets her watch back (but not her money), and Connie and Veve are awarded $100 reward from the circus for snagging the pickpocket who has been nipping wallets from their customers for some time!  That $100 in 1949 would be worth nearly $1,400 today!  That's quite a large reward for two girls who are not even teenagers yet!

 

Wirt wraps up the story not only with the resolution of the pickpocket incident, but also with the creation of a whole new Brownie Scouts troop within the circus - a traveling scout troop!

 

The cover and interior illustration are once again provided by Marguerite Gayer.  Thanks to some helpful collectors, I was able to find some information on Ms. Gayer (who, it turns out, is Marguerite Solomon Geyer), who, it turns out, had quite the prolific career as an artist!  As far back as 1923, she was illustrating children's stories that appeared in newspapers; during the 1930s, she did illustrations for several romance pulp magazines; and in the 1940s, she illustrated several series for Cupples & Leon, including all three of Wirt's scout series:  Girl Scouts, Brownie Scouts, and Dan Carter Cub Scout.  It was for Cupples & Leon that she signed her name as "Gayer" instead of her real name of "Geyer" with an "e."  Geyer ultimately moved to Florida, where she died in 1963 in Fort Lauderdale.  Her husband passed away eight months after she did.  More information abot Geyer and her work can be found at Pulp Artists - Marguerite Geyer.

 

RATING:  7 beautiful golden coaches out of 10 for a mild-mannered mystery with mishaps, mayhem, and misadventure mixed in for good fun! 

The Happy Hollisters at Circus Island (HH8)

I remember reading The Happy Hollisters series when I was in elementary school.  The school library was small, and the books they had from this series did not have dust jackets on them, so at the time, I never realized they did have the colorful jackets.  As an adult, I rediscovered the series, but quickly learned that finding the books with dust jackets in really good conditions was not only a difficult task, but it was also an expensive one!  Fortunately, the Svenson family (author Jerry West was in actuality Andrew Svenson, a one-time partner of the Stratemeyer Syndicate who wrote all 33 volumes of The Happy Hollisters series) began republishing the books, first in paperback format, then again in hardback format with extra features at the back of each book!  Information about the series, the author, and how to purchase the books can be found at their website, The Happy Hollisters.  I count myself super-fortunate to have not only met, but made friends with Svenson's grandson and namesake, Andrew Svenson III, and his wife Callie, and they only re-invigorated my love of this series!

The Happy Hollisters at Circus Island is the eighth book in the series, and I pulled it out recently to re-read after all these years.  It was like reading an all-new story for the first time (we won't talk about how many decades have passed since I originally read this book!).  It was so much fun getting re-acquainted with Pete,Pam, Ricky, Holly, and little Sue, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Hollister and their pet collie, Zip.  And of course, we can't forget that troublesome bully, Joey Brill.  Reading the story definitely brought back those wonderful childhood memories of reading wholesome stories of family, adventure, and mystery full of fun characters, not-so-nice villains, and a variety of locales.  In this particular book, the family heads down to Florida, as Mr. Hollister must look into purchasing a houseboat for one of his customers and he decides to take his family along for a vacation trip.  As it turns out, the houseboat is owned by a clown who owns the Sunshine Circus on "Circus Island."

Now, before you ask, no, there is no such place as Circus Island in Florida; there is, however, a Circus Museum located in Sarasota, Florida, which provides visitors with a look back at the history of how Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey grew into some of the most well-recognized and world-famous circuses (Circus Museum).  Svenson never clearly defined where the fictional Circus Island is in Florida, but he provides only the smallest of hints when Pete asks where the island is - "In a small lagoon near the ocean, about thirty miles from the airport" his father tells him (p. 49).  Now, that removes the Sarasota museum from the picture, since that is on the Gulf side of the state, not the ocean side.  It also could not refer to Circus World theme park (owned, coincidentally, by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus), which did not open until 1974, nearly 20 years after this book was published, and was located in Haines City, Florida, not near the ocean (Circus World).  While I could not find a place comparable to what is described in the book, interestingly enough, I did find a now-defunct corporation called "Circus Island LLC" that was formed in 2021, but dissolved just a year later.  Not really sure what its purpose was, but I find it amusing that the owner chose that particular name.

The mystery, while centered around the circus in Florida, involves some missing dogs and a ring of thieves who are specifically stealing dogs who can perform tricks.  Needless to say, the mystery ties into all of the performers who are leaving Peppo's circus to join a mysterious new circus, also in Florida.  Pete, Pam, Ricky, and Holly are determined to not only find the missing dogs, but also figure out why all of the performers are leaving Peppo's circus, when they find him to be jovial and his circus a lot of fun.  While the mystery is not overly complicated (this series is aimed at younger readers, remember), it does have its share of mishaps and somewhat dangerous adventures (Ricky and Holly get lost in the woods overnight; Pete and Ricky get kidnapped by the thieves; etc.).  And in the midst of it all, the kids do get the opportunity to find out what it is like to be a circus performer, as depicted on the cover art for the book, rendered beautifully by the series artist, Helen S. Hamilton (taken straight from page 114).

I did happen to notice some very unique references throughout the story that made me wonder if perhaps Mr. Svenson was not having a bit of fun while writing the mystery.  The name of Peppo the Clown's missing dog is Nappy (p. 84) ... and isn't it a funny coincidence that the name of the cover artist for quite a few of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, starting in 1953 (just two years prior to this book's publication).  And while the children are exploring the circus, they are taken into the tent of one of the performers, where "off in one corner stood an open brass-bound trunk" (p. 142).  Odd, since Nancy Drew solved a mystery surrounding a brass-bound trunk... And then, just a few pages later, Ricky and Holly see one of the dogs head "toward a grove of moss-covered trees" (p. 149).  How interesting, since Nancy Drew also solved a mystery involving a "moss-covered" mansion.  Definitely makes one wonder, doesn't it?

RATING:  9 stuffed toy terriers out of 10 for good, clean family fun and mystery that is truly a great all-ages read!

Becky Bryan's Secret - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

This book was an unusual pick for me.  The title is certainly not the typical "mystery" title of children's series books from back in the day, and for that matter, it was not a part of any particular series (unless you could the "Goldsmith Books for Boys and Girls" a series of sorts).  But it was one of the number of books I picked up at the estate sale down in Melbourne last year, and so it is another keepsake from the home / bookstore of a dear friend.  To be honest, knowing nothing about the book, I wasn't sure if it was really a mystery at all, because it seemed like more of a typical "girl at school" book that featured daily problems faced by young girls than a mystery itself.  But, since I bought it, figured I might as well read it.  And honestly, it gave me a bit of a surprise.

Becky Bryan's Secret is one of three books written by prolific children's book author Betty Baxter Anderson under the name of "Betty Baxter" (which is rather humorous, that the alliteration of her name matches the alliteration of her character's name!).  Anderson wrote two books under the name "Alice Anson," three under the name "Betty Baxter," and thirteen books under her given name of "Betty Baxter Anderson."  Interestingly enough, Anderson graduated from University of Iowa, the same university from which Mildred Wirt Benson graduated a few years earlier!  Apparently that university has a habit of producing some great children's book authors.

The plot for this story should come as no surprise, as it centers around the secret Becky Bryan is keeping from everyone around her. A new student in the Junior class at Kent High School, Becky is anxious to make new friends and fit in at this new school.  Hilary Porter takes an instant liking to the new girl, as does the school's football star, Tad Middleton.  The Junior class's most popular girl, Victoria Heath, though, dislikes her from the start, and the reader knows she is going to be trouble (just think of Lettie Briggs from the Dana Girls Mystery Stories, and you'll have an idea of what Victoria is like!).  Everyone is interested in knowing more about Becky, but she manages to sidestep questions about her past - as she tells her Aunt Margaret, with whom she is living, "It's just got to work, this time, Aunt Margaret" (p. 26).  The question the reader asks is - what has to work?  Why is Becky not wanting to talk about her past?  What exactly is Becky Bryan hiding?  What is her secret?

I give Baxter credit - the story is rather engaging, even where the main mystery is simply what is Becky Bryan's secret.  She plants a number of clues along the way that could mean different things ... Becky rescuing her new friend's young sister by walking along a telephone wire to the side of a building (which is represented on the cover art); a slip of the tongue when she makes reference to the "Royal" family; her ability to handle the town stable's most untamed horse; and her excitement of having her father in Florida look for information, when she told everyone she was visiting her father in Chicago for the Christmas holidays.  I'll admit, I was going back and forth between several theories - was it simply that her family was rich?  Was her family in the circus?  Was her family some sort of royalty from another country?  And Victoria's constant attempts to discredit Becky before all of the Juniors ultimately force Becky to reveal the truth.

But that truth does not come out until after Becky and Hilary are faced with an actual mystery.  A little over half-way through the book, the girls get trapped in a sudden snow storm (which, incidentally, is a scene that is depicted on the spine of the dust jacket!), and they take shelter in a small cavern they discover, which has been converted into a rather comfortable living space.  It turns out the "man-cave" belongs to Aloysius Kent, who Hilary reveals died before she was ever born and whose father is the man who founded the city of Kent, where they live (p. 182).  Hilary reveals when Aloysius died, it was believed he had money, but his wife found herself penniless, so she sold their home and moved to Florida.  While in the man-cave, the girls uncover a secret panel behind a bookcase, which contains a box that holds a large number of stocks and bonds! The girls hope these will be worth a fortune to help poor Mrs. Kent, who believed her husband resented her by leaving her nothing when he died.  It is Mrs. Kent that Becky has her father locate (and it is that final act that ultimately leads to Becky having to reveal the truth about herself to her classmates).

Baxter also includes within the story a competition among the Junior class members for a spot as editor on the school newspaper when they go into their Senior year.  The competition is between Victoria and Becky, and as expected, Victoria is not above doing some underhanded things in order to get Becky kicked out of the competition.  Baxter also throws in some important football games for the school, as they do their best to make it to the state competition, and an inadvertent accident at Becky's Halloween party leaves poor Tad with a sprained ankle, unable to play - which only leads to more gossip and tricks from Victoria.  As can be expected from a book from this era, things manage to all work out in Becky's favor, and she even makes the decision to stay in Kent and finish her Senior year with all of her newfound friends.

A couple of notes about the book.  First, I was surprised when Hilary makes the exclamation, "Oh, my great and sainted Aunt Harriet!" (p. 93).  I had never seen a phrase such as this before reading the Penny Parker series, where Wirt uses that exclamation in several of her books. From what I and my fellow book club members were able to learn, the phrase "my great aunt" originated in British novels and short stories from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it is an expression of surprise or consternation.  What's funny in this book, though, is Baxter actually has Becky respond to that exclamation in a manner that shows she has never heard it before, as Becky says, "Her name is Margaret [referring to her actual aunt], not Harriet, and she's my aunt, and not sainted" (p. 93).  That response made me laugh out loud.

Second, when Victoria and her cronies are continuing to decry Becky for not revealing her past, Hilary provides a sarcastic response, telling them that "Becky is really a princess of the banished royal house of Russia, who was stolen from her crib by the gypsies.  She was brought to this country by the Canadian Mounted Police, and thrown into a dungeon as a danger spy - " (p. 108).  I thought this to be amusing, as it made me think of The Clue in the Jewel Box, which dealt with Russian royalty (of a sort).  This book was published in 1937, more than five years before Jewel Box; however, the book was published well after the events surrounding Anastasia Nikolaevna, so it's likely this was a subtle reference to that whole situation with the Russian royal family.

Overall, a pretty good read, even though light on the mystery side of things, and I'd recommend it.

RATING:  8 green lights hung over the barn door out of 10 for a fun, adventure-filled story with a mix of mystery, competitiveness, and small-town fun!