The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival - Book Three of the Brownie Scout Books

With this third book, we reach the half-way point of The Brownie Scouts series written by Mildred A. Wirt (Benson).  As Wirt progresses with the series, she is starting to give the girls some more distinct personalities and develop the characters into more than just cookie-cutouts hanging around in the background while the main two (Veve and Connie) take up all the screen time.  In fact, with this third book, Veve McGuire actually moves more into the spotlight, with Connie taking a more supporting role.  Jane Tuttle and Eileen Webber actually have more involvement than in previous stories, and even Rosemary Fritche and Sunny Davidson speak more than just a few lines.  This story actually gives readers a well-rounded group of Brownie Scouts, with all of them involved, in some fashion or another, with the overall story.

 

The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival opens not with any plans for a cherry festival, but rather, with the girls absorbed with the tedious task of sewing blocks for a "crazy quilt" that the troop is making in order to auction it off to raise money for their group.  However, as anyone can imagine, these fourth-grade girls are not overly thrilled with spending every troop meeting sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  Veve, who is, of course, the first one to voice her dissatisfaction with the project, eagerly sets about finding a way for the girls to earn money faster and easier - and she finds it with an ad in the paper looking for people willing to pick cherries!  Before you can blink your eye, Veve and Connie - two fourth-graders, mind you! - take the bus by themselves to a cherry orchard outside the city limits to ask if they, along with the rest of their scout troop, could get a job as cherry pickers.  Right.  Because every parent would willingly let their 9 to 10 year old child go off by themselves with no adult supervision to try and get a job.  Makes perfect sense.

 

Anyway, suspending that disbelief for the time being, the girls end up meeting the vile Carl Wingate, who is berating a young Mexican boy when the girls first walk up.  He rudely tells them he does not hire inexperienced children and tells them to get lost.  As luck would have it (and when do these series book characters not have luck?), Veve and Connie see a sign at the orchard right across the street that says the owner of that farm is looking for pickers.  Pa Hooper is much nicer and, in fact, is greatly appreciative of the help the girls offer him, as he has been unable to get pickers due to Wingate underhandedly monopolizing all of the hired help for the season.  Thus, the Brownie Scouts find themselves waking up early each day to pick cherries (for one-and-a-half cents per pound!) in order to earn money for their group.  And this is where their adventures begin.

 

The first mystery seems to be what happened to the Brownies' quilt that disappears from Pa Hooper's grounds, where Miss Gordon had brought it to show the girls the completed product.  It disappeared without a trace!  The second mystery is discovered by Veve, who learns that Pa Hooper is going to lose his orchard to his cousin, Carl Wingate (that's right - turns out they are cousins!), all because of a second will that Wingate claims to have found.  Pa believes it is a forgery, but he cannot find anything with his sister's signature on it to prove it is a fake.  Thus, Veve makes it her mission to find that needed evidence!  The first mystery is solved fairly quickly (as it turns out the missing quilt was not stolen as originally thought, but found by someone who did not realize it belonged to the Brownies).  The second mystery, however, takes quite literally until the last few pages to reveal the solution - and although an intelligent reader will see that solution pretty early on, I give Wirt credit for coming with a rather ingenious way to provide the sister's needed signature.

 

Wirt goes into quite a bit of details about the various types of patterns used in quilting, as well as the various types of stitching and the manner in which the final quilt if put together.  While the girls put together a "crazy" quilt (one made of block of various shape, color, and size, sometimes even with various styles of stitching), there are references to numerous other patterns, such as "the Hand of Friendship," the "Pine Cone", and the "Album" (p. 5); the "Sunburst" pattern (p. 7) and the "Sawtooth" pattern (p. 16); an "Evening Star" pattern, as well as a "Pine Tree" design (p. 65); there is also a "dogwood blossom" quilt (p. 68) and one with a "Ship's Wheel" pattern (p. 76), as well as one with a pattern called "Duck's Foot in the Mud" (p. 101); and, finally, there is the most important quilt of them all - an old, faded quilt, which provides the girls with an example of an "Autograph Patch" quilt (p. 108).  It is this last quilt that provides the girls with the solution to their second mystery and helps Pa Hooper save his orchard.

 

The story also deals with a rather dark theme involving bigotry and how Mexican workers were seen and treated by people.  Veve befriends a young boy named Juan, whose family and other Mexican migrants are working for the wicked Carl Wingate.  Veve and her friends see first hand how the Mexicans are treated poorly and denied access to public areas, simply because of who the are.  I thought Wirt handled this nicely, as Veve, Connie, and the other Brownies do not see Juan or his family as any different, and they are appalled at the way the Mexicans are treated.  In the end, it is because of the Brownies that the town changes their view and welcomes the Mexicans and their traditions into the big cherry festival. 

 

Marguerite Gayer once again provides both the cover and interior art.  The cover art merely showcases the girls' work at the cherry orchard; however, the interior frontis piece actually displays the scene at the very end of the story, when the girls discover the all-important clue on the quilt that saves Pa Hooper's orchard from his conniving cousin!  It was actually rather nice to see an illustration related to the mystery, instead of simply a scene of the girls' adventures that have no relation to the mystery.  In fact, that is one thing I enjoyed more about this book than the previous two - the fact that the mystery actually plays a larger part of the story.  Sure, we've got the whole cherry picking shenanigans, and the planning of the cherry festival.  But it is the girls' wanting to find their missing quilt and their desire to help Pa Hooper save his land that makes the story truly engaging.  (And the ending seems to provide a lead-in to another story, but whether we actually get that in the next book or not, we'll have to see...)

 

RATING:  8 handsome red-and-white hand-woven blankets out of 10 for a story filled with lessons about friendship, bigotry, responsibility, and generosity - with a fun mystery added in for good measure! 

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 Brownie Scouts at Snow Valley - Book One of the Brownie Scout Books

This is one of the few series by Mildred A. Wirt (Benson) that I have not yet read, so when a friend suggested I read it, I took her up on it!  I had heard of the Brownie Scout series before, as well as her companion series (Girl Scouts and Dan Carter, Cub Scout), and while I have all of them, I've only ever read one of them (The Girl Scouts at Mystery Mansion).  These series are aimed at a younger audience than her regular mystery series, more along the level of The Bobbsey Twins readers.  As many people are undoubtedly aware, Wirt (Benson) was the original ghostwriter for the Nancy Drew books back in the 1930s, and she went on to write quite a large number of series books over the course of more than two decades, many under her own name.  Surprisingly, she wrote a number of books for young readers (such as some of the Honey Bunch books, as well as the Dot and Dash series, in addition to those listed above).  This particular series was first published in 1949, with the first two books coming out that year, and the remaining four book coming out one a year through 1953.  So, with a little bit of curiosity and wonder as to whether these series would be as enjoyable as her mysteries for older children, I picked up the first book and gave it a read.

 

The Brownie Scouts at Snow Valley introduces readers to six young girls who make up the Brownie Scout troop of a small town named Rosedale, set in somewhere USA (the exact location of the Scouts' hometown is left rather vague, which I suppose was a purposeful way of keeping the author's stories from being limited by geographical area).  The girls include:  Connie Williams, Jane Tuttle, Rosemary Fritche, Eileen Webber, Belinda Matthews, and "Sunny" Davidson.  Of these six girls, Connie is the one who takes center stage through most of the story, with Jane, Rosemary, and Sunny coming in as supporting characters.  Other than passing mentions, we see very little of Eileen and Belinda (who are pretty much just background window dressing used to fill-out the six-girl troop).  However, there is another major character in the story, Veve McGuire.  Veve is not a Brownie Scout; however, she is a friend of the girls, but she is frustrated with her friends for spending more time with their Brownie activities than playing with her.  Rounding out the main cast is Miss Jean Gordon, "the fourth grade teacher at Rosedale School, [who] had organized the Brownies..." (p. 2).

 

This seems like a good place to stop for a moment and discuss the Brownie Scouts for a moment.  Before picking up this book, I knew nothing about "Brownie Scouts," other than the fact that they are precursors to the Girl Scouts.  Wirt does not specifically identify the age of any of the girls, but some online research reveals that Brownie Scouts are usually anywhere from ages 7 or 8 up to 12 years old (at which point, I suppose, they are old enough to join the Girl Scouts).  Since Wirt does reference Miss Gordon as being a fourth grade teacher, one can assume the six girls are likely around 9 or 10 years old (since this book takes place around Christmas time, most likely the girls are still 9 years old).  According to online sources, the Brownie Scouts do have "promises" and "laws" the same as Girl Scouts, which set forth their standards for the members.  In this book, Wirt has them singing, "We're the Brownies, here's our aim: Lend a hand and play the game!" (p. 3).  This is the actual Brownie opening song, but in the story, Wirt has the girls sing this just before their meeting breaks up and the girls leave to go home.  Later in the book, Wirt has Miss Gordon recite to the girls the "Brownie story" as originally told by Juliana Horatia Ewing (pp. 128-33).  While there are some slight variations (Wirt's version has a little girl named Mary and her brother Tommy; in Ewing's original story, Tommy is the lead character, and his brother's name is Johnnie - there is no girl), the overall story elements are the same, with the charm, "Twist me, and turn me, and show me the Elf; I looked in the water, and saw--" (p. 131), being exactly the same as recited in Ewing's tale.  To read the actual story, you can find it here:  The Brownies and Other Tales.

 

Now, with regard to the story itself, the book features two very minor mysteries - one involves someone stealing trees from the property near the Gordons' home in Snow Valley where the girls go for the Christmas holidays, and the other involves a missing locket that Grandmother Gordon claims was stolen by a poor woman who used to be her housekeeper and cook.  These mysteries do not actually come into play until nearly half-way through the book, when the girls are taken to Snow Valley by their troop leader, whose grandparents have opened up their home to the girls.  The first half of the book is merely the adventures (or in poor Veve's case, MISadventures!) of the girls as they get ready for their Christmas break and enjoy what little snow the small town has.  Veve lucks out and is able to join the girls on their trip when Belinda falls ill at the last moment.  The poor girl seems to be a trouble magnet, as she spills water on a fellow train traveler, then that same man steps on her jacks when she accidentally loses them in the aisle; later, at a train stop, she forgets her purse in the depot diner and nearly misses the train!  Connie continually defends her friend, even when some of the other girls grow weary of Veve's mishaps.  Once the girls arrive in Snow Valley, though, the focus shifts to the mysteries.

 

The Stone family live in a nearby cabin and are very poor, so the girls come up with the idea to pool their money to buy the Stone children a brand new sled for Christmas and provide the family with some food for the holiday.  This is when they learn from Grandmother Gordon that Mrs. Stone used to be the Gordon's housekeeper, and Grandmother believes she stole a precious locket.  The Brownies are determined to find the missing locket and exonerate Mrs. Stone.  At the same time, a neighboring property that is filled with a plethora of pine trees, is the subject of numerous thefts, as someone is chopping down trees and sneaking them off the property.  Poor Mr. Stone is blamed, since he is out of work and has been seen walking down the street with an ax in his hand; but when Connie points out they saw another man from town with an ax, the accuser backs down.  Ultimately, both mysteries are solved - the girls have no hand in the resolution of the stolen tree mystery; however, Connie is the one to uncover the whereabouts of the locket, requiring Grandmother Gordon to apologize for her suspicions of Mrs. Stone and re-hire her as the Gordons' housekeeper. As one might expect, it is a very happy conclusion, as all mysteries are solved, the girls' families arrive in Snow Valley on Christmas Eve night despite a horrible snow storm, and the Stone family is included in the Christmas celebration.

 

There is an interesting bit of information in the story about snowflakes, as Miss Gordon gives the girls some facts about various types of snowflakes, how they are formed, and why they are white (pp. 67-69).  She tells them how the hexagonal shape is "fairly common," while three-sided snowflakes are "considered rare" (p. 68).  I had never heard of three-sided snowflakes before, so even I learned something new from this book.  Some quick research reveals that three-sided flakes form due to special aerodynamic  - when a crystal tips in the air, causing two sides to grow faster than the others, creating the triangular shape.  Thus, like so many of the Stratemeyer series books, one can learn new information even from a non-Stratemeyer series such as this!

 

One thing I found rather amusing was that Wirt included a recipe for brownies in the book!  While preparing goodies for the upcoming Christmas holiday, Miss Gordon allows several of the girls (Veve, Connie, and Rosemary) to assist her.  At the bottom of page 155, Wirt includes all of the ingredients one would need to make a batch of brownies (which, oddly enough, Miss Gordon indicates are a type of cookies!).  I have to wonder how many children who read this book back when it originally was published asked their mothers to allow them to make brownies based on this recipe?! 

 

The book has a dedication at the beginning to "MRS. ELEANOR T. GIBSON, Executive Director of the Toledo Girl Scouts, in appreciation of her helpfulness and cooperation."  This would explain the accuracy of the Brownie Scout information, songs, and stories within the book.

 

As a final observation, at the conclusion of the story, Wirt references a trip the girls will take in the summer to a camp, making specific reference to the next book in the series, "The Brownie Scouts in the Circus" (p. 198).  What is unique, though, is that right after this reference, Wirt adds:

And for boys, also interested in cam life and the out-of-doors, there is a book called: "Dan Carter, Cub Scout."  (pp. 198-99).

I can't say that I can recall ever reading a series book that offers up an ad for another series by the same author like this!

 

The art, for both the cover and the interior frontis piece, was provided by Marguerite Gayer (her signature appears on the art and illustration).  What is strange is that I cannot really find anything about the artist online.  The only thing I could find was an illustrated page that Gayer had obviously done for another book, which features a little boy and a dog enjoying a picnic outside.  Thus, it is clear Gayer illustrated other children's books, outside of her work on the Brownie Scouts series, so it is surprising there is next to no information to find about her online.  I have put some feelers out there, so we will see what we can turn up on Ms. Gayer!

 

I'll readily admit that I did enjoy the story.  It was an easy read, and the characters and situations were fun.  Wirt has a way with making her characters come to life, so that you get drawn into their adventures and mishaps without even realizing it!  I'm looking forward to reading the remaining five books in this series. 

RATING:  9 lost luggage bags out of 10 for a fun-filled romp with some cute new characters as they experience plenty of misadventures in the snow!