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Trixie Belden #11
The Mystery at Bob-White Cave
The Bob-Whites are off to the Ozarks to spend some time with the Beldens’ Uncle Andrew. Trixie can’t wait to explore some dark, damp, and most of all, mysterious caves, because she has another scheme up her sleeve. A national magazine is offering a reward to anyone who can find three “ghost cave fish.” Nothing will stop Trixie from finding them—not bats or wild cats or even a real ghost!
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
8 people are currently reading
456 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Kenny
50 books98 followersThe Kathryn Kenny pseudonym was created by Western Publishing House in 1961, three years after Julie Campbell wrote her last book (#6) of the Trixie Belden series. There were several ghost writers who wrote Trixie Belden stories under this pseudonym. Some have been identified and later credited but some are still unknown.
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http://www.trixie-belden.com/books/Ka...
The Kathryn Kenny pseudonym was born in 1961, three years after Campbell wrote her last book of the Trixie Belden series. Did it take Western Publishing several years to find a suitable author? The answer is unknown and the identity of the authors of the 33 Kathryn Kenny books are not known for sure but there is some information about the ghost writers.
Nicolete Meredith Stack
Nicolete Meredith StackStack is thought to be the first author to tackle the Trixie Belden series, although there is much debate about which books were actually written by her. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1896 but lived in Webster Groves in St. Louis, Missouri for most of her adult life. Stack wrote other children's books under her own name and various pen names, including the Robin Kane series by Eileen Hill for Whitman between 1966 and 1971.
Stack is said to have written five books in the Trixie Belden series between 1961 and 1971, but Who's Who in the Midwest claims that she wrote eight titles between 1961 and 1966. There were eight Trixie Belden titles published between 1961 and 1966, but it is doubtful that she wrote them all.
James Keeline in his article, Trixie Belden "Schoolgirl Shamus", believes that books 7, 9 and 16 can be attributed to Stack but there are others that may have been written by her.
Virginia McDonnell
Virginia Bleecher McDonnell was born in 1917 and was a registered nurse who trained at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. McDonnell wrote the Nurses Three series from 1963 to 1965 using the pen name Jean Kirby, and the Kim Aldrich series as Jinny McDonnell, both for Whitman. She is also wrote volume six of The Waltons.
McDonnell and her husband were avid skiiers and many of her books featured details of nursing or skiing. It seems likely that she wrote three Trixie Belden books, The Mystery of Cobbett's Island (1964), The Mystery of the Emeralds (1965) and The Mystery of Mead's Mountain (1978). Skiing is mentioned early in The Mystery of Cobbett's Island, although this is not the theme of the book.
McDonnell also wrote another book called Country Agent that has a number of similarities with The Mystery at Happy Valley, although her book was published in 1968. Read a review of this book, and see what you think.
There is little biographical information available on McDonnell, but the three books attributed to her are three of the most widely loved books in the Trixie Belden series.
Gladys Baker Bond
Gladys Baker BondGladys Baker Bond was born in Berryville, Arkansas on the 7th of May, 1912. On September 2, 1934, she married Floyd James Bond and had one son, Nicholas Peter. Bond's childhood years were spent in the Ozarks of Arkansas. She lived in Idaho and Washington all her adult life and was an officer of the Idaho Writers League between 1952-54.
Bond's books for children cover a wide range of subjects and are often autobiographical. Mrs. Bond wrote under the pseudonymns, Jo Mendel (The Tucker series) and Holly Beth Walker (the Meg series), as well as her own name. She also wrote volume five of The Waltons.
She is credited with writing The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest (1977), The Mystery of the Castaway Children (1978), and The Sasquatch Mystery (1979). However, with her childhood spent in the Ozarks, she could be the author of The Mystery at Bob-White Cave (1963).
Carl Henry Rathjen
Carl Henry RathjenRathjen was born on the 28th of August 1909 in Jersey City, New Jersey and died in 1984. His ambition was to become a mechanical engineer, but when things didn't go
***
http://www.trixie-belden.com/books/Ka...
The Kathryn Kenny pseudonym was born in 1961, three years after Campbell wrote her last book of the Trixie Belden series. Did it take Western Publishing several years to find a suitable author? The answer is unknown and the identity of the authors of the 33 Kathryn Kenny books are not known for sure but there is some information about the ghost writers.
Nicolete Meredith Stack
Nicolete Meredith StackStack is thought to be the first author to tackle the Trixie Belden series, although there is much debate about which books were actually written by her. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1896 but lived in Webster Groves in St. Louis, Missouri for most of her adult life. Stack wrote other children's books under her own name and various pen names, including the Robin Kane series by Eileen Hill for Whitman between 1966 and 1971.
Stack is said to have written five books in the Trixie Belden series between 1961 and 1971, but Who's Who in the Midwest claims that she wrote eight titles between 1961 and 1966. There were eight Trixie Belden titles published between 1961 and 1966, but it is doubtful that she wrote them all.
James Keeline in his article, Trixie Belden "Schoolgirl Shamus", believes that books 7, 9 and 16 can be attributed to Stack but there are others that may have been written by her.
Virginia McDonnell
Virginia Bleecher McDonnell was born in 1917 and was a registered nurse who trained at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. McDonnell wrote the Nurses Three series from 1963 to 1965 using the pen name Jean Kirby, and the Kim Aldrich series as Jinny McDonnell, both for Whitman. She is also wrote volume six of The Waltons.
McDonnell and her husband were avid skiiers and many of her books featured details of nursing or skiing. It seems likely that she wrote three Trixie Belden books, The Mystery of Cobbett's Island (1964), The Mystery of the Emeralds (1965) and The Mystery of Mead's Mountain (1978). Skiing is mentioned early in The Mystery of Cobbett's Island, although this is not the theme of the book.
McDonnell also wrote another book called Country Agent that has a number of similarities with The Mystery at Happy Valley, although her book was published in 1968. Read a review of this book, and see what you think.
There is little biographical information available on McDonnell, but the three books attributed to her are three of the most widely loved books in the Trixie Belden series.
Gladys Baker Bond
Gladys Baker BondGladys Baker Bond was born in Berryville, Arkansas on the 7th of May, 1912. On September 2, 1934, she married Floyd James Bond and had one son, Nicholas Peter. Bond's childhood years were spent in the Ozarks of Arkansas. She lived in Idaho and Washington all her adult life and was an officer of the Idaho Writers League between 1952-54.
Bond's books for children cover a wide range of subjects and are often autobiographical. Mrs. Bond wrote under the pseudonymns, Jo Mendel (The Tucker series) and Holly Beth Walker (the Meg series), as well as her own name. She also wrote volume five of The Waltons.
She is credited with writing The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest (1977), The Mystery of the Castaway Children (1978), and The Sasquatch Mystery (1979). However, with her childhood spent in the Ozarks, she could be the author of The Mystery at Bob-White Cave (1963).
Carl Henry Rathjen
Carl Henry RathjenRathjen was born on the 28th of August 1909 in Jersey City, New Jersey and died in 1984. His ambition was to become a mechanical engineer, but when things didn't go
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
December 8, 2023
Trixie und ihr Rotkehlchenclub sind in diesem Band auf der Suche nach Geisterfischen, denn für sie wurde eine Belohnung ausgesetzt. Das Geld möchten sie für wohltätige Zwecke spenden. Um die Geisterfische zu finden, müssen sie in Höhlen klettern, was nicht ganz ungefährlich ist...
Ich kann mich erinnern, dass ich in meiner Kindheit einige der Trixie Belden Bücher gelesen habe. Ob diese Folge auch dabei war, weiß ich tatsächlich nicht mehr.
Auf jeden Fall war es ein spannendes Abenteuer, mysteriös und unterhaltsam.
Ich kann mich erinnern, dass ich in meiner Kindheit einige der Trixie Belden Bücher gelesen habe. Ob diese Folge auch dabei war, weiß ich tatsächlich nicht mehr.
Auf jeden Fall war es ein spannendes Abenteuer, mysteriös und unterhaltsam.
March 5, 2018
I grew up reading the Trixie Belden series. Trixie, her brothers and their friends solve mysteries, have adventures and help others around their home in Sleepyside, NY. I remember doing yard work and babysitting my nephew to earn money to buy new Trixie books. And I was really happy when some new books came out in the 80s. This was by far my favorite book series when I was 12 or so....I ended up with the entire series in matching covers (the beige 1980s versions). Before I left for college, I sold them all to a neighbor girl at a garage sale. I hope she enjoyed them as much as I did!
The Mystery at Bob-White Cave is the 11th book in the series. Trixie and the gang travel to the Ozarks to visit her Uncle Andrew. The kids' club, The Bob-Whites, want to do some cave exploration during the trip. A magazine has offered a $500 reward for anyone who can locate several different types of cave fish -- ones that have no eyes and are all white in color. Trixie is really determined to find the fish because the club wants to donate the $500 to help buy a station wagon to transport handicapped kids to school in Sleepyside. As usual the kids find themselves in the middle of mysterious goings on -- stolen fish, arson and a strange ghost man in the woods. Will the kids find the fish and get the money? And who is the strange man in the woods?
While this isn't one of the best books in the series, it is an enjoyable story. Trixie is a bit high-strung in this adventure. Let's chalk it up to teenage angst and give her a break. :) There were some exciting moments in this book involving wildcats, flash floods and a strange man lurking in the woods.
There are 39 books in the Trixie Belden series, written from 1948 to 1986. The stories are a bit dated, but still very enjoyable and readable. Since I absolutely adored this book series as a kid, I decided to reread all the books. I'm glad I did! I'm really enjoying revisiting my favorite group of fictional teens from NY state! I smile every time Trixie exclaims "Gleeps!'' ha ha
The Mystery at Bob-White Cave is the 11th book in the series. Trixie and the gang travel to the Ozarks to visit her Uncle Andrew. The kids' club, The Bob-Whites, want to do some cave exploration during the trip. A magazine has offered a $500 reward for anyone who can locate several different types of cave fish -- ones that have no eyes and are all white in color. Trixie is really determined to find the fish because the club wants to donate the $500 to help buy a station wagon to transport handicapped kids to school in Sleepyside. As usual the kids find themselves in the middle of mysterious goings on -- stolen fish, arson and a strange ghost man in the woods. Will the kids find the fish and get the money? And who is the strange man in the woods?
While this isn't one of the best books in the series, it is an enjoyable story. Trixie is a bit high-strung in this adventure. Let's chalk it up to teenage angst and give her a break. :) There were some exciting moments in this book involving wildcats, flash floods and a strange man lurking in the woods.
There are 39 books in the Trixie Belden series, written from 1948 to 1986. The stories are a bit dated, but still very enjoyable and readable. Since I absolutely adored this book series as a kid, I decided to reread all the books. I'm glad I did! I'm really enjoying revisiting my favorite group of fictional teens from NY state! I smile every time Trixie exclaims "Gleeps!'' ha ha
May 21, 2023
5 stars. Now, I really enjoyed this book. It was mysterious, and extremely humorous. I loved the Bob-Whites’ teamwork. Like, it was AWESOME in this book. Brian and Jim were also amazing, okay? ;P
There was a part I wasn’t crazy about: there were a lot of mentions of ghosts/spirits because characters firmly believed in ghosts and told many stories of them. A female character keeps wanting to talk to her deceased husband’s spirit. The book ends proving ghosts don’t exist, so I wasn’t terribly bothered, but I’d mark out some of this stuff before handing it to a kid, specially a sensitive one. Also, the Bob-Whites were hunting for 3 fish in different stages of evolution, so there’s obviously a few mentions of evolution. I just ignored that as well, but again, I suggest edits or a chat before you hand it to a kid.
Other than that, I really liked the story. Trixie did pretty well sticking to the rules (can’t remember any breaking of them, actually) and I really enjoyed seeing everyone hunt for the fish. All the old characters were epic as ever, and the new characters like Linnie and Uncle Andrew and his friend were awesome, while the mystery and the baddie were quite interesting and unique. Another good, fun mystery.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘Does that mean you wouldn’t consider fish from our cave unless WE brought them to you?’
“This time everyone laughed. ‘I’m afraid I’d have no way of recognizing fish from your cave,’ the man said. ‘In a country as wild as this seems to be, I guess you would just have to be prepared to defend your rights.’”
There was a part I wasn’t crazy about: there were a lot of mentions of ghosts/spirits because characters firmly believed in ghosts and told many stories of them. A female character keeps wanting to talk to her deceased husband’s spirit. The book ends proving ghosts don’t exist, so I wasn’t terribly bothered, but I’d mark out some of this stuff before handing it to a kid, specially a sensitive one. Also, the Bob-Whites were hunting for 3 fish in different stages of evolution, so there’s obviously a few mentions of evolution. I just ignored that as well, but again, I suggest edits or a chat before you hand it to a kid.
Other than that, I really liked the story. Trixie did pretty well sticking to the rules (can’t remember any breaking of them, actually) and I really enjoyed seeing everyone hunt for the fish. All the old characters were epic as ever, and the new characters like Linnie and Uncle Andrew and his friend were awesome, while the mystery and the baddie were quite interesting and unique. Another good, fun mystery.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘Does that mean you wouldn’t consider fish from our cave unless WE brought them to you?’
“This time everyone laughed. ‘I’m afraid I’d have no way of recognizing fish from your cave,’ the man said. ‘In a country as wild as this seems to be, I guess you would just have to be prepared to defend your rights.’”
November 18, 2020
The Bob-Whites are on vacation again and this time they're visiting Trixie's Uncle Andrew Belden who just happens to own a lodge in the Ozarks*. When a rainy day forces them to stay inside, Trixie discovers a magazine article offering a reward for anyone who can find cave "ghost fish" (white, eyeless fish that live deep in caves) in caves in the Ozarks. She gets the Bob-Whites excited about earning a reward that could go towards one of their charity causes. The search winds up with Trixie nearly getting mauled by a wildcat; the crew saving a man from drowning; fighting a wildfire set by an arsonist; Trixie nearly drowning in a cave sinkhole (but finding ghost fish!); and getting to the bottom of the mystery of the long-haired man living in the nearby haunted cabin. This vacation is action-packed!
It's possible I wasn't in quite the right frame of mind when I read this--but Trixie kindof got on my nerves this time. I mean, seriously, she starts out whiny (again--I'm thinking of her talking about how bored she is at the beginning of The Secret of the Mansion and how she'll just die if she doesn't get a horse). Heaven forbid that it rain on her very first day in the Ozarks. And that she be cooped up in her Uncle Andrew's lodge for, what?, all of an hour or two? And then, when she spies an article about a reward for ghost fish in a magazine that she flips through to try and stop the endless boredom AND she has to wait until Uncle Andrew comes back to the lodge before trekking out to investigate caves that she's never been in before and might be dangerous in a grand search for the fish, she whines like a four-year-old who's been denied the cookies she's been demanding. I mean, Jeepers, how old is she? Doesn't she know better than to go barging off into unknown caves without proper equipment and maybe someone who knows more about spelunking than she does (which is very little)?
There...having gotten that off my chest, I feel better. I like Trixie--I really do. But she was a little much this time. Once I got past her being a bit miffed every time she had to wait one second to do what she had it in her head they had to do right now, I enjoyed the adventure--but not as much as when I read it back when I was in elementary school. At that time, I was really focused on the cave exploration and the various adventures and Trixie helping to discover who the strange man with the long hair was and I didn't notice how annoying her impatience was. This time Trixie's attitude overshadowed that a bit. I did appreciate how much she was focused on wanting to help others--her impatience is in wanting to find the fish, earn the reward, and be able to donate the money for a station wagon for children with special needs. And then how she and Honey help Linnie fix up her cabin after the fire.
The plot isn't quite as mysterious as some of my previous Trixie reads. And there's not a lot of detecting going on--more outdoor action than anything. I saw the solution (of who the man was) coming early on, but it made for a nice, happy ending.
*I'm a little curious about just how well-off Uncle Andrew is--he owns a sheep farm in Iowa (see The Happy Valley Mystery), but also owns a lodge in the Ozarks?
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
It's possible I wasn't in quite the right frame of mind when I read this--but Trixie kindof got on my nerves this time. I mean, seriously, she starts out whiny (again--I'm thinking of her talking about how bored she is at the beginning of The Secret of the Mansion and how she'll just die if she doesn't get a horse). Heaven forbid that it rain on her very first day in the Ozarks. And that she be cooped up in her Uncle Andrew's lodge for, what?, all of an hour or two? And then, when she spies an article about a reward for ghost fish in a magazine that she flips through to try and stop the endless boredom AND she has to wait until Uncle Andrew comes back to the lodge before trekking out to investigate caves that she's never been in before and might be dangerous in a grand search for the fish, she whines like a four-year-old who's been denied the cookies she's been demanding. I mean, Jeepers, how old is she? Doesn't she know better than to go barging off into unknown caves without proper equipment and maybe someone who knows more about spelunking than she does (which is very little)?
There...having gotten that off my chest, I feel better. I like Trixie--I really do. But she was a little much this time. Once I got past her being a bit miffed every time she had to wait one second to do what she had it in her head they had to do right now, I enjoyed the adventure--but not as much as when I read it back when I was in elementary school. At that time, I was really focused on the cave exploration and the various adventures and Trixie helping to discover who the strange man with the long hair was and I didn't notice how annoying her impatience was. This time Trixie's attitude overshadowed that a bit. I did appreciate how much she was focused on wanting to help others--her impatience is in wanting to find the fish, earn the reward, and be able to donate the money for a station wagon for children with special needs. And then how she and Honey help Linnie fix up her cabin after the fire.
The plot isn't quite as mysterious as some of my previous Trixie reads. And there's not a lot of detecting going on--more outdoor action than anything. I saw the solution (of who the man was) coming early on, but it made for a nice, happy ending.
*I'm a little curious about just how well-off Uncle Andrew is--he owns a sheep farm in Iowa (see The Happy Valley Mystery), but also owns a lodge in the Ozarks?
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
June 18, 2018
Another in the series I have no memory of, and in this case I think it might be because the mystery is practically non-existent. This is more an adventure story in which the Bob-Whites get caught up in trying to collect specimens of ghost fish to earn a large reward (which, of course, they'll put toward some charitable cause. This is the benefit of almost all of them being filthy rich; they aren't always scrambling to meet their own needs, and it makes them more sympathetic). The "mystery" turns out to be completely unrelated to anything else in the book and isn't even anything anyone knew was a mystery. The solution doesn't happen because of anything Trixie and the others do, so it's not satisfying, particularly since it revolves around new characters we don't care anything about. I liked the descriptions in this one, though I think I missed the explanation of why Uncle Andrew has a cabin in the Ozarks; that felt awfully convenient.
October 15, 2020
When I was a kid, I read mysteries a lot and my favorites were the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden stories. Last month I happened to be visiting relatives and we went to the Windmill Farm and Craft Market in Penn Yan, NY. It’s a very eclectic and fun outdoor/indoor market and if you’re ever in the area, check it out. Anyway, there’s a great used bookstore there and I found a few of my old favorites and decided to give in to nostalgia and buy them. I started with this book, Trixie Belden and the Mystery at Bob-White Cave by Kathryn Kenny (like Nancy Drew, the series was written by different authors). Unfortunately, Trixie and her cohorts do not age well. What I enjoyed at 11 or 12 (and even by then the books were outdated) I could barely stomach now. I don’t even think a modern 11-year-old, who has a much wider and varied selection of YA books to choose from, could stand these books. I don’t think Harry Potter books are the best YA novels written, but they at least can entertain both kids and adults.
Trixie Belden and her older brothers Mart and Brian, her friends Jim and Honey, have left their hometown of Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson, NY to visit the Beldens’ Uncle Andrew in White Hole Springs, MI, a tiny town in the Ozark mountains. White Hole Springs is so primitive it apparently doesn’t have modern (well, modern for 1963, when the book was published) roads, only trails. And no pickup trucks either since the gang uses a mule-drawn cart to get around. Uncle Andrew’s housekeeper, Mrs. Moore, and her daughter, Linnie, live in a smaller house near his lodge. Linnie’s father was killed in a mysterious accident when she was four. The family visit takes on a new dimension when Trixie reads an article in a magazine that there is a $500 reward for the first person to find a rare ghost fish in three stages of evolutionary development. Trixie and her entourage is pretty excited about this because $500 will help them buy the station wagon that the crippled children need! Fortunately, this rare ghost fish can be found in caves in Missouri—and specifically in caves on land her uncle owns! But sadly, many mishaps interrupt their adventure and Trixie and friends soon suspect criminal mischief at hand—or an evil-minded ghost!
Because this is a kid’s book and written during a more innocent time (I’ll assume since I wasn’t alive in 1963), I won’t be too critical of the plot. It’s terribly simple and easily solved. Younger readers may be surprised, but no adults (or anyone over the age of 15) should be. What’s jarring about the book is how it reeks of the 1950s representation of the perfect America: all the characters are not just blindingly white, but the boys (and men) have manly square jawlines and hair styles straight out of Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best—American sitcoms of the same time period. I know this because there are several color illustrations to help me visualize these squeaky clean people. None of the characters has a well-developed personality; Honey, the little rich girl, is fearful and timid, but that’s okay because her gal pal Trixie is “spunky.” Yes, the menfolk admire how brave she is (for a girl) and call her spunky—even when she’s doing things that are unsuitable for girls. Yuck. The boys all kind of blend together and I didn’t bother to make the effort to distinguish between them. While the Beldens and crew are very kind and friendly to everyone, they are portrayed as more educated and sophisticated than the natives (primarily Mrs. Moore and her daughter Linnie). They believe ghosts exist (lots of ghost talk) and when they see squirrels, they think: yum—dinner! There are definitely class distinctions: the Beldens (and Honey and Jim) are wealthy and educated and from NY, and the Moores are the country bumpkins with quaint superstitions. None of the characters engage in any kind of serious internal dialogue. Trixie is about the only person (at least in this book of the series) who’s ever described as having a thought, and her thoughts are limited in depth.
A troublemaker in the book is Slim, an 18-yr-old hired by Uncle Andrew to guide the kids around the local terrain. This isn’t a spoiler because Slim is surly and unlikeable right from the getgo. I have some sympathy for Slim because the poor guy is never given any motive for being a shithead, just genetics: basically the whole family sucks, so probably he sucks too. If you’re going to make him such a jerk so quickly, at least give him some kind of intelligent motive other than, well, it’s in his blood. He’s accused of all sorts of terrible things with absolutely NO evidence to support those accusations, just his bad attitude. When Slim is thought to have skipped town, Uncle Andrew carelessly says, oh, it’s probably because he was worried about being subjected to a necktie party. Whaaaat? Is he seriously suggesting the townsfolk would hang him? If so, he (and the rest of these proper white kids) seemed okay with it. So in this world, a shitty attitude gets you the death penalty (who needs evidence? Silly idea!) and that’s okey dokey with this same group of kids who are trying so hard to win money for the crippled children—and it’s always “the crippled children.” It’d be kind of funny if it weren’t so goody-goody obnoxious and faintly patronizing.
The lesson I’ve learned is that it’s not always wise to read as an adult the books you loved as a child. If Trixie Belden and the Mystery at Bob-White Cave is indicative of the overall flavor of the rest of the series (and I’m sure it probably is), they’re horrible. It’s unfortunate that the current publisher who holds the rights to these books is reissuing them because not only are they poorly written, but they represent an ideal image of America that never really existed.
Trixie Belden and her older brothers Mart and Brian, her friends Jim and Honey, have left their hometown of Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson, NY to visit the Beldens’ Uncle Andrew in White Hole Springs, MI, a tiny town in the Ozark mountains. White Hole Springs is so primitive it apparently doesn’t have modern (well, modern for 1963, when the book was published) roads, only trails. And no pickup trucks either since the gang uses a mule-drawn cart to get around. Uncle Andrew’s housekeeper, Mrs. Moore, and her daughter, Linnie, live in a smaller house near his lodge. Linnie’s father was killed in a mysterious accident when she was four. The family visit takes on a new dimension when Trixie reads an article in a magazine that there is a $500 reward for the first person to find a rare ghost fish in three stages of evolutionary development. Trixie and her entourage is pretty excited about this because $500 will help them buy the station wagon that the crippled children need! Fortunately, this rare ghost fish can be found in caves in Missouri—and specifically in caves on land her uncle owns! But sadly, many mishaps interrupt their adventure and Trixie and friends soon suspect criminal mischief at hand—or an evil-minded ghost!
Because this is a kid’s book and written during a more innocent time (I’ll assume since I wasn’t alive in 1963), I won’t be too critical of the plot. It’s terribly simple and easily solved. Younger readers may be surprised, but no adults (or anyone over the age of 15) should be. What’s jarring about the book is how it reeks of the 1950s representation of the perfect America: all the characters are not just blindingly white, but the boys (and men) have manly square jawlines and hair styles straight out of Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best—American sitcoms of the same time period. I know this because there are several color illustrations to help me visualize these squeaky clean people. None of the characters has a well-developed personality; Honey, the little rich girl, is fearful and timid, but that’s okay because her gal pal Trixie is “spunky.” Yes, the menfolk admire how brave she is (for a girl) and call her spunky—even when she’s doing things that are unsuitable for girls. Yuck. The boys all kind of blend together and I didn’t bother to make the effort to distinguish between them. While the Beldens and crew are very kind and friendly to everyone, they are portrayed as more educated and sophisticated than the natives (primarily Mrs. Moore and her daughter Linnie). They believe ghosts exist (lots of ghost talk) and when they see squirrels, they think: yum—dinner! There are definitely class distinctions: the Beldens (and Honey and Jim) are wealthy and educated and from NY, and the Moores are the country bumpkins with quaint superstitions. None of the characters engage in any kind of serious internal dialogue. Trixie is about the only person (at least in this book of the series) who’s ever described as having a thought, and her thoughts are limited in depth.
A troublemaker in the book is Slim, an 18-yr-old hired by Uncle Andrew to guide the kids around the local terrain. This isn’t a spoiler because Slim is surly and unlikeable right from the getgo. I have some sympathy for Slim because the poor guy is never given any motive for being a shithead, just genetics: basically the whole family sucks, so probably he sucks too. If you’re going to make him such a jerk so quickly, at least give him some kind of intelligent motive other than, well, it’s in his blood. He’s accused of all sorts of terrible things with absolutely NO evidence to support those accusations, just his bad attitude. When Slim is thought to have skipped town, Uncle Andrew carelessly says, oh, it’s probably because he was worried about being subjected to a necktie party. Whaaaat? Is he seriously suggesting the townsfolk would hang him? If so, he (and the rest of these proper white kids) seemed okay with it. So in this world, a shitty attitude gets you the death penalty (who needs evidence? Silly idea!) and that’s okey dokey with this same group of kids who are trying so hard to win money for the crippled children—and it’s always “the crippled children.” It’d be kind of funny if it weren’t so goody-goody obnoxious and faintly patronizing.
The lesson I’ve learned is that it’s not always wise to read as an adult the books you loved as a child. If Trixie Belden and the Mystery at Bob-White Cave is indicative of the overall flavor of the rest of the series (and I’m sure it probably is), they’re horrible. It’s unfortunate that the current publisher who holds the rights to these books is reissuing them because not only are they poorly written, but they represent an ideal image of America that never really existed.
July 4, 2017
The BWotG (minus Di and Dan) head to the Belden's uncle's mountain cabin to have a vacation, but end up solving a mystery involving an old man and fishes (but they get paid to find the fish so it's not as weird as it sounds).
Recommended 9/10+ for scary situations and mentions of ghosts.
Recommended 9/10+ for scary situations and mentions of ghosts.
May 14, 2019
Still requiring judicious editing and lots of discussion because of all the sexism, but this one’s jam-packed with excitement, a cave, a fire, a missing person.
March 7, 2025
Meine Meinung:
Trixie schimpft wie ein Rohrspatz. Dabei wurden sie nach Missouri eingeladen. So herrlich wie es hier ist, nervt Trixie der Regen. Sie mag nicht tagelang drin herum sitzen. Dafür ist sie nicht gemacht. Angeln, draußen Abenteuer erleben, das ist was sie will. Außerdem gibt es tolle Höhlen zu erforschen.
Als es um eine Belohnung geht, sind die Freunde, die sich "Rotkehlchen" nennen Feuer und Flamme. Vorallem Trixie.
Doch es gibt Schwierigkeiten. Mit Slim Sanderson ihrem Führer und Männern die am See auftauchen. Überraschung inklusive. Frau Moore und Linnie ihre Tochter. Mehr verrate ich aber nicht. Es geht um Fische, ein Geheimnis, ein Feuer und die Wahrheit.
Mein Fazit:
Es hat mir großen Spaß gemacht, das Buch zu lesen. Spannend, geheimnisvoll. Auch kommt manches, undurchsichtig daher. Die Auflösung, wer was getan hat, ist nicht so leicht. Auch die Identität einer Person, bleibt lange verborgen.
Trixie schimpft wie ein Rohrspatz. Dabei wurden sie nach Missouri eingeladen. So herrlich wie es hier ist, nervt Trixie der Regen. Sie mag nicht tagelang drin herum sitzen. Dafür ist sie nicht gemacht. Angeln, draußen Abenteuer erleben, das ist was sie will. Außerdem gibt es tolle Höhlen zu erforschen.
Als es um eine Belohnung geht, sind die Freunde, die sich "Rotkehlchen" nennen Feuer und Flamme. Vorallem Trixie.
Doch es gibt Schwierigkeiten. Mit Slim Sanderson ihrem Führer und Männern die am See auftauchen. Überraschung inklusive. Frau Moore und Linnie ihre Tochter. Mehr verrate ich aber nicht. Es geht um Fische, ein Geheimnis, ein Feuer und die Wahrheit.
Mein Fazit:
Es hat mir großen Spaß gemacht, das Buch zu lesen. Spannend, geheimnisvoll. Auch kommt manches, undurchsichtig daher. Die Auflösung, wer was getan hat, ist nicht so leicht. Auch die Identität einer Person, bleibt lange verborgen.
July 24, 2021
Not one of my favourites from the series. I felt the tone was wrong for Trixie in this one. It didn’t really feel like it was her. She seemed two dimensional. Also, I know this book was published in the early sixties but with the way things were described in the Ozarks, it sounded like the Bob Whites had time travelled to the 1800s - and it wasn’t just the mule powered transport that gave that impression. I did a double take at the use of the term ‘neck tie party’ in a kid’s book. Eeeeesh!
June 11, 2022
Vejam a minha opinião em vídeo, AQUI.
April 11, 2025
The Great Trixie Belden Re-Read of 2025: #11 was extremely mid. No one moved
April 8, 2022
The Bob Whites are holidaying with Uncle Andrew at his fishing lodge deep in the heart of the Ozarks. Trixie discovers a current competition in a science journal calling for three white, cave-dwelling 'ghost' fish at different stages of evolution. But her impatient quest to win the $500 prize is interrupted by the antagonism of their young cave guide, the action of other tourists on the same quest and a vicious arson attempt. Will the Bob Whites be able to sort out these other messes and still have a chance to win?
* The timeline running through the series still holds up for now. The previous book ends on May 1st with Trixie's 14th birthday. We are now in early summer again, and Mart is said to be 15, so this story presumably takes place after June 1st, which was his birthday. That could prove to be a bit shortsighted on behalf of the author, who has just thrown away the whole month of May as non-eventful. I would have liked at least one novel when both 'almost twins' are 14.
* Sadly, neither Di nor Dan can make it this trip. We're pared back to the core 5.
* Uncle Andrew must be loaded with dough for a Belden. He has a sheep farm in Iowa AND this getaway lodge in the Ozarks. It sounds like he could rival the Wheelers and Lynches for wealth, but I suppose having no wife and kids probably helps.
* Once again, 'Kathryn Kenny' has nailed the sense of place. We're talking modern times, whether you're imagining 1962, 2022 or anywhere in between, but this Ozark community are genuine hillbillies, driving mules and carts because the mountainous terrain and treacherous roads are still not set up for cars. The caves are magnificent and we learn a bit about cave exploring (or spelunking) in a safe way.
* To satisfy his concern for the young peoples' safety, Uncle Andrew hires a cave guide, Slim Sanderson, who is only a little older than the Bob Whites. Yet cultural chasms create friction from the outset, even though they're all fellow Americans. It seems every state has its own strong pride and prejudice.
* Uncle Andrew's widowed housekeeper Mrs Moore and her 14-year-old daughter Linnie feature strongly in this book, with all their Ozark deference for supernatural forces at work behind the scenes. Their superstitious outlook is terrifying on the surface, but ultimately a great source of comfort to them. Although this pair has had fierce struggles and live a spartan lifestyle, there is something enviable about their calm, faithful outlook, and most of all their deep sense of their own roots. When the land on which you live flows in your blood, you surely have fewer identity issues to contend with than fly-by-night city slickers.
* I remember finding some of Mrs Moore's ghost stories a bit hair-raising back when I was the target audience. They're so vivid and told with such conviction.
* Honey (in the absence of Diana) is the sole voice of caution and timidity in this book. There are implications that she's cramping everyone's style and her pleas to reconsider reckless schemes are consistently shot down. Yet on two life-threatening occasions, her anxious forebodings turn out to be absolutely grounded. Personally, I'd take Honey's inner compass over Brian's and Jim's any day.
* Mart quotes Latin in perfect context to fit the occasion. He says, 'Non fatuus persecutis ignem' meaning, 'It is no will-o'-the-wisp that I have followed here.' That's pretty impressive for a 15-year-old, but the girls always brush him off as pompous and showy compared to Brian and Jim's confident air of authority. I don't think there's anything Mart can do about it. I always get the feeling his ostentatious brand of showing off is all to do with reminding the others he's there, but birth order is real. I'm not a middle kid myself, but can see they do it tough.
* My word, I find Trixie particularly abrasive in this book!! To me she's the spoiled brat of the family on a par with Bobby; spotlight seeking, demanding and manipulative. From Page 1 she's throwing a tantrum because it's raining outside. She insists on forcing her fish chasing plans on the others, and it's too bad if they have different priorities because she knows she'll wear them down. Brian and Jim's interest in geology must cave in to her agenda (pardon the pun). Because she's confident that everyone finds her so earnest and cute.
* Oh gosh, she just has to take centre stage. It kills her not to. She's already had one crazy plunge into the sinkhole, almost drowned herself and pushed poor Uncle Andrew to the edge of having a nervous breakdown. When he weakens against his better judgement and allows them all back for one last try, Mart says, 'Let me be the one to go down this time. I weigh less than Brian or Jim.' Then instead of rolling with it after the trouble she's caused, Trixie insists that it absolutely has to be her. 'I want to be the one to go. I saw the fish and I want to go after them.' Then, instead of calling her downright spoiled, the adults call her 'spunky' and let her have her way.
* Trixie is also dismissive and tactless to Mrs Moore, trying to convince her that her husband's ghost doesn't exist, without pausing to consider that the conviction has been a source of comfort and strength to the older woman for a decade; or that belief in spirits is deeply woven into her worldview. But Trixie trivialises everyone whose ideas differ from her own. Even when friends and family express horror at her near escapes from death, she shrugs off their reactions as irrelevant because they don't match her own resilient way of moving straight on.
* Toward the end of the story, Moms writes to ask her brood to return home early, since she has to go and support Aunt Helen because Uncle Mart is in hospital having tests. Hmm, where do these family connections fit in? I'm guessing they're from her side of the family. She must be Aunt Helen's namesake, and presumably thinks highly enough of Uncle Mart to have named her own second son after him. These relatives never actually appear in the story.
* Trixie announces, 'We've never had one penny given to us for one of our projects.' Ha, she fails to consider that Uncle Andrew has just forked out money to set up all five of them with expensive cave exploring gear, and he's also paying Slim big bucks to be their guide. Their rule of never accepting anything they haven't earned is conveniently overlooked in this instance.
* I can't pinpoint a standout quote of this book. Uncle Andrew's dramatic, 'My own brother's child almost drowned!' is such tiresome deja vu from The Happy Valley Mystery. Trixie's confident, 'Nothing will happen to one of us when the others are near,' is cringeworthy. She would have been killed within the first few chapters if not for the foresight of an outsider, and there would have been nothing the other Bob Whites could do about it. Another of Uncle Andrew's lines springs to mind as the best, but it reveals too much about the motivation of the villain, so I'd better leave it. Ah well, no stand-out quotes but just a few 'anti-quotes' this time round.
* Overall, I'm torn about this book. The two main plot twists are extremely far-fetched, and Trixie drove me nuts at times. Overall, it's possibly my most face-palmy so far, yet I can't deny there's something haunting and vivid about the setting and local folk that stands out over some of the others. I still enjoyed it immensely, but dearly hope the author of the next book will tone down Trixie's smugness just a smidgen.
* The timeline running through the series still holds up for now. The previous book ends on May 1st with Trixie's 14th birthday. We are now in early summer again, and Mart is said to be 15, so this story presumably takes place after June 1st, which was his birthday. That could prove to be a bit shortsighted on behalf of the author, who has just thrown away the whole month of May as non-eventful. I would have liked at least one novel when both 'almost twins' are 14.
* Sadly, neither Di nor Dan can make it this trip. We're pared back to the core 5.
* Uncle Andrew must be loaded with dough for a Belden. He has a sheep farm in Iowa AND this getaway lodge in the Ozarks. It sounds like he could rival the Wheelers and Lynches for wealth, but I suppose having no wife and kids probably helps.
* Once again, 'Kathryn Kenny' has nailed the sense of place. We're talking modern times, whether you're imagining 1962, 2022 or anywhere in between, but this Ozark community are genuine hillbillies, driving mules and carts because the mountainous terrain and treacherous roads are still not set up for cars. The caves are magnificent and we learn a bit about cave exploring (or spelunking) in a safe way.
* To satisfy his concern for the young peoples' safety, Uncle Andrew hires a cave guide, Slim Sanderson, who is only a little older than the Bob Whites. Yet cultural chasms create friction from the outset, even though they're all fellow Americans. It seems every state has its own strong pride and prejudice.
* Uncle Andrew's widowed housekeeper Mrs Moore and her 14-year-old daughter Linnie feature strongly in this book, with all their Ozark deference for supernatural forces at work behind the scenes. Their superstitious outlook is terrifying on the surface, but ultimately a great source of comfort to them. Although this pair has had fierce struggles and live a spartan lifestyle, there is something enviable about their calm, faithful outlook, and most of all their deep sense of their own roots. When the land on which you live flows in your blood, you surely have fewer identity issues to contend with than fly-by-night city slickers.
* I remember finding some of Mrs Moore's ghost stories a bit hair-raising back when I was the target audience. They're so vivid and told with such conviction.
* Honey (in the absence of Diana) is the sole voice of caution and timidity in this book. There are implications that she's cramping everyone's style and her pleas to reconsider reckless schemes are consistently shot down. Yet on two life-threatening occasions, her anxious forebodings turn out to be absolutely grounded. Personally, I'd take Honey's inner compass over Brian's and Jim's any day.
* Mart quotes Latin in perfect context to fit the occasion. He says, 'Non fatuus persecutis ignem' meaning, 'It is no will-o'-the-wisp that I have followed here.' That's pretty impressive for a 15-year-old, but the girls always brush him off as pompous and showy compared to Brian and Jim's confident air of authority. I don't think there's anything Mart can do about it. I always get the feeling his ostentatious brand of showing off is all to do with reminding the others he's there, but birth order is real. I'm not a middle kid myself, but can see they do it tough.
* My word, I find Trixie particularly abrasive in this book!! To me she's the spoiled brat of the family on a par with Bobby; spotlight seeking, demanding and manipulative. From Page 1 she's throwing a tantrum because it's raining outside. She insists on forcing her fish chasing plans on the others, and it's too bad if they have different priorities because she knows she'll wear them down. Brian and Jim's interest in geology must cave in to her agenda (pardon the pun). Because she's confident that everyone finds her so earnest and cute.
* Oh gosh, she just has to take centre stage. It kills her not to. She's already had one crazy plunge into the sinkhole, almost drowned herself and pushed poor Uncle Andrew to the edge of having a nervous breakdown. When he weakens against his better judgement and allows them all back for one last try, Mart says, 'Let me be the one to go down this time. I weigh less than Brian or Jim.' Then instead of rolling with it after the trouble she's caused, Trixie insists that it absolutely has to be her. 'I want to be the one to go. I saw the fish and I want to go after them.' Then, instead of calling her downright spoiled, the adults call her 'spunky' and let her have her way.
* Trixie is also dismissive and tactless to Mrs Moore, trying to convince her that her husband's ghost doesn't exist, without pausing to consider that the conviction has been a source of comfort and strength to the older woman for a decade; or that belief in spirits is deeply woven into her worldview. But Trixie trivialises everyone whose ideas differ from her own. Even when friends and family express horror at her near escapes from death, she shrugs off their reactions as irrelevant because they don't match her own resilient way of moving straight on.
* Toward the end of the story, Moms writes to ask her brood to return home early, since she has to go and support Aunt Helen because Uncle Mart is in hospital having tests. Hmm, where do these family connections fit in? I'm guessing they're from her side of the family. She must be Aunt Helen's namesake, and presumably thinks highly enough of Uncle Mart to have named her own second son after him. These relatives never actually appear in the story.
* Trixie announces, 'We've never had one penny given to us for one of our projects.' Ha, she fails to consider that Uncle Andrew has just forked out money to set up all five of them with expensive cave exploring gear, and he's also paying Slim big bucks to be their guide. Their rule of never accepting anything they haven't earned is conveniently overlooked in this instance.
* I can't pinpoint a standout quote of this book. Uncle Andrew's dramatic, 'My own brother's child almost drowned!' is such tiresome deja vu from The Happy Valley Mystery. Trixie's confident, 'Nothing will happen to one of us when the others are near,' is cringeworthy. She would have been killed within the first few chapters if not for the foresight of an outsider, and there would have been nothing the other Bob Whites could do about it. Another of Uncle Andrew's lines springs to mind as the best, but it reveals too much about the motivation of the villain, so I'd better leave it. Ah well, no stand-out quotes but just a few 'anti-quotes' this time round.
* Overall, I'm torn about this book. The two main plot twists are extremely far-fetched, and Trixie drove me nuts at times. Overall, it's possibly my most face-palmy so far, yet I can't deny there's something haunting and vivid about the setting and local folk that stands out over some of the others. I still enjoyed it immensely, but dearly hope the author of the next book will tone down Trixie's smugness just a smidgen.
July 18, 2021
Trixie and co are off to the Missouri Ozarks to visit Uncle Andrew and for this trip away from the Belden home the word of the day is GHOST. Ghost fish, ghostly sightings, a ghost cabin...there is a myriad of new characters, most of them destined to offer a one-time appearance, and many of them are firm believers in the existence of ghosts. Trixie, however, only believes in ghost fish, and sets out to find them, hoping that collecting them from the caves where they evolved in the darkness will garner she and her friends a reward from a magazine, a reward they will donate to a charitable cause. The setting is definitely different from any we've encountered so far, and the mountain characters, just teetering on the edge of stereotypes, are as different from the people who surround the Bob-Whites at home as they could possibly be, but Trixie and her friends are welcomed and quickly become friends with almost everyone they meet. Almost, because, of course, there is a villain about, one that Trixie will eventually expose. A fire, a stranger, caves, danger...an above average Trixie adventure, that would have merited five stars on my scale, if not for Trixie's penchant for snap judgments and monumental griping. I'm not sure why some of the Trixie writers thought that excessive whining made her seem more real; sometimes it's just annoying.
January 6, 2013
A childhood favorite re-visited.
Is the story as good as I remember? – Yes
What ages would I recommend it too? – Ten and up.
Length? – Most of a day’s read.
Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Real world, pre - computer pre - air conditioning, pre - cell phone.
Written approximately? – 1963.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. A slight mention of the time frame of the story - as the teens are given far more freedom to come and go as they please than would be safe today. Also, the absence of computers, cell phones, and air conditioning in homes, especially the mansion.
Short storyline: Trixie Belden, Honey, Jim, and her brothers attempt amateur cave research to find cave fish in the three stages of blindness. Their guide doesn't last long, and the man everyone fears as a ghost has a tale much like a ghost himself. Plenty of geological science blends with politics and psychology to make for a confounding story.
Notes for the reader: A great mystery! No violence (only referred to from the past), no murder.
Is the story as good as I remember? – Yes
What ages would I recommend it too? – Ten and up.
Length? – Most of a day’s read.
Characters? – Memorable, several characters.
Setting? – Real world, pre - computer pre - air conditioning, pre - cell phone.
Written approximately? – 1963.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. A slight mention of the time frame of the story - as the teens are given far more freedom to come and go as they please than would be safe today. Also, the absence of computers, cell phones, and air conditioning in homes, especially the mansion.
Short storyline: Trixie Belden, Honey, Jim, and her brothers attempt amateur cave research to find cave fish in the three stages of blindness. Their guide doesn't last long, and the man everyone fears as a ghost has a tale much like a ghost himself. Plenty of geological science blends with politics and psychology to make for a confounding story.
Notes for the reader: A great mystery! No violence (only referred to from the past), no murder.
November 15, 2020
It took until about the last three chapters for the book to finally grab me. And Trixie's attitude throughout was just gross - way more careless and entitled than usual (I don't care if it was "for a good cause"). Glad I hung in for the end, but I don't think I'll be keeping this one in my collection anymore.
December 31, 2016
This one is another Kathryn Kenney favorite, as well as the next book in the series. This is one of the series' best clump of books aside from the first six, the ones starting with Marshland Mystery and ending with Emeralds. Four stars out of five.
January 4, 2009
Touching portrait of the people of mid-nineteenth century Missouri Ozarks- without a single mention of an outhouse.
June 3, 2019
The heroine Trixie Belden, is a precocious teen who is a co-leader of a club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen. Members include her brothers and their friends. The club is mainly concerned with raising money for charitable organizations or needs in the community, but they also solve mysteries. They meet a new friend in the hills named Linnie. at Uncle Andrew's cabin in the Ozark Mts. Linnie and her mom, Mrs. Moore, both believe in the ghosts of the mountains. Small wonder after the strange disappearance and death of Mr. Moore. While there, Trixie and the Bob-Whites decide they want to find some blind fish, called ghost fish, from the caves that will win them a reward. She and her club plan on donating the money for a vehicle to take crippled children to school. After a fire set by an arsonist, or was it the ghost, destroys some buildings on a neighboring property, Trixie dares to go out into the Ozark Mountains in the middle of the night searching for her missing property. She finds her friends willing to accompany her on this dangerous expedition. Later, she seems a little unconcerned about the danger of caves as the kids explore the caves. Trixie is disobedient in this story and careless of danger. She suffers for it, but seems to take it lightly. The fish they are looking for are supposed to represent a chain of evolution: fish with bumps where eyes should be, and fish with no eyes. This book was entertaining. Trixie's relationship with her uncle and with her friends and brothers has a genuine feel. They disagree, sometimes fight, and are fiercely loyal to each other, as in other Trixie Belden books. The young men are strong and intelligent and sometimes have to rescue Trixie or her friends. Trixie is portrayed at a catalyst as she seeks adventure. She is intuitive, feminine, physically strong and healthy, a great swimmer, a problem solver and a great detective. Trixie dives off her boat with her friend Jim to try to help save a drowning man. She is a courageous and bold girl. The reader will see an undercurrent of respect and admiration between Jim and Trixie but no outright romance. This book was entertaining.
May 14, 2020
Trixie and the other BWG's are visiting her uncle in the Ozarks of Mississippi. They're ready for a relaxing fishing vacation but that changes when Trixie reads about a contest to find the ghost fishes. Knowing they inhabit caves Trixie and her friends head out to explore nearby caves hoping to find the elusive fish and win the prize money to buy a bus for needy children. As you can imagine Trixie in a cave makes for an exciting adventure. Their guide, Slim, a local "cave expert" proves to be more trouble than he's worth. Strange happenings, attributed to area ghosts by the housekeeper and her daughter, have the BWG's trying to solve a mystery. Are they in danger when in the cave? Trixie barely escapes a bobcat attack when a hidden stranger fires a gun, she nearly drowns in a sinkhole and their fish bucket is stolen. But that isn't the worst, a fire intentionally set has them scrambling to save the houses and cabins from burning to the ground. Always exciting this story was especially fun to read. I enjoyed the interesting details about caves. Trixie's adventures are becoming more intense the older she gets and the more she pushes herself to solve mysteries.
April 13, 2024
Not quite as good as the last book, but I'm a sucker for a cave setting in my children's mysteries. One of my favorite Bobbsey Twins books is "In the Mystery Cave" which even inspired me to write a mystery play set in a cave when I was in 6th grade. My friends and I performed it in the talent show.
For whatever reason, I'm not a big fan of Uncle Andrew. He always seems a bit of a wet blanket and he's always too busy to spend much time with his guests which I find weird. When we have guests, even relatives, we plan our days around being with them. It also seems strange that he'd have lodges in both Iowa and Missouri. I wish the writer(s) were a little more creative and had found a different way to have the kids visit Missouri. Surely, Trixie and her brothers have more than one uncle. Or one of the other kids might have a family member that lives in a different state. Also, why even introduce Dan Mangan (I hate that name) into the story if he's continually ignored? Weird.
One last thing. "Mystery at Bob-White Cave" feels more dated than some other entries in the series, mainly because of the primitive living conditions of the Ozark people.
For whatever reason, I'm not a big fan of Uncle Andrew. He always seems a bit of a wet blanket and he's always too busy to spend much time with his guests which I find weird. When we have guests, even relatives, we plan our days around being with them. It also seems strange that he'd have lodges in both Iowa and Missouri. I wish the writer(s) were a little more creative and had found a different way to have the kids visit Missouri. Surely, Trixie and her brothers have more than one uncle. Or one of the other kids might have a family member that lives in a different state. Also, why even introduce Dan Mangan (I hate that name) into the story if he's continually ignored? Weird.
One last thing. "Mystery at Bob-White Cave" feels more dated than some other entries in the series, mainly because of the primitive living conditions of the Ozark people.
March 24, 2018
I loved the Trixie Belden books as a kid (nice to see they got republished). I'm still unsure how they ended up in my corner of the world. I slowly amassed the whole series as first editions (it seemed so glamourous as a kid owning precious books that were older than me!) by saving all my pocket money to buy them from the local secondhand store. I can only guess that some adult (probably having moved to our sleepy town from overseas) had sold them off in bulk. They sat in a back corner of the store, thankfully ignored by everyone else, as I slowly acquired them through pocket money and then in a mass swoop for Christmas. It helped that back then secondhand books sold for anywhere from 10 cents to 50 cents rather than $7-10 as they do these days!
They were wonderful mystery books for children of a similar ilk to Famous Five, Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators etc.; set in a time long before cellphones when sleuthing into mysterious mansions, smugglers, and strange sounds in the night wouldn't cause any real harm to befall our child investigators.
They were wonderful mystery books for children of a similar ilk to Famous Five, Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators etc.; set in a time long before cellphones when sleuthing into mysterious mansions, smugglers, and strange sounds in the night wouldn't cause any real harm to befall our child investigators.
August 28, 2022
Trixie Belden’s “Mystery of the Bob-White Cave” is a Golden Press Oval Edition published by Western Publishing Company. It was released in 1977 under the authorship pseudonym “Kathryn Kenny.” The mystery’s about the Bob-Whites —a Hudson Bay Sleepyside, New York club of teenagers who travel to the Missouri Ozarks to vacation with Trixie Belden’s Uncle Andrew. During the visit, the Bob-Whites learn about a science magazine’s $500 reward for the capture of a legendary group of “ghost fish” that are blind, uniquely transparent, and believed to exist only in cave water ponds. Trixie’s team discover the fish, and through a series of life threatening near death events they are able to capture the fish and claim the reward. In their quest to find the fish, they also overcome Wildcat animal attacks, an intentionally set forest fire, attempted murders, and a series of mysterious life threatening events perpetrated by a nefarious cave guide hired to help the Bob-Whites find the fish. The adventure story is captivating and a wonderful reading experience. (P)
July 15, 2018
One of the ones I enjoyed as a child. Still enjoyed it... even with the obvious word use changes from then to today. They would not have been able to say many of those things and get away with it in our current culture. There is mild racism in these books - definitely not overt. The kids wouldn't do that. I think some of it might've just been because of the time in which the books were written. No excuse for it, though.
Sadly, I think kids today might get stuck on some of the words used in the book that have entirely different meanings today. I wonder if today's youth would realize that in a book like this when they call someone or something queer, they are using it with the definition that means "odd."
Sadly, I think kids today might get stuck on some of the words used in the book that have entirely different meanings today. I wonder if today's youth would realize that in a book like this when they call someone or something queer, they are using it with the definition that means "odd."
August 13, 2020
This one definitely fueled my interest in spelunking and visiting Mammoth Cave as a kid. I also appreciate the care in crafting and documenting the Ozark community. I missed the behaviour that stretches plausibility, the obvious red herrings, and the paper-thin excuse to establish the setting, because I think I was too focused on catching blind cave fish. This would have been a short story if they actually had conversations and made plans, rather than constantly freaked out and jumped impulsively. It’s not satisfying storytelling when it requires that everyone be stupid.
August 4, 2021
This was always one of my favorite Trixie Belden books. In this volume, Trixie visits the Ozarks with the Bob-Whites of the Glen and goes spelunking (anyone else learn this word from this book when growing up?), hunting for blind cave fish for a scientific journalism.
There's so much to this story, a lot of layers with the story of Linnie, the dippy guide they start out with, Uncle Andrew, and the cabin and life in the Ozarks at a time when there weren't a lot of modern conveniences. There's even danger, and Trixie again gets in one scrape after another. What's not to love?
There's so much to this story, a lot of layers with the story of Linnie, the dippy guide they start out with, Uncle Andrew, and the cabin and life in the Ozarks at a time when there weren't a lot of modern conveniences. There's even danger, and Trixie again gets in one scrape after another. What's not to love?
August 30, 2020
I read this aloud to my 9 year old daughter. We have read about 5 of the books in the series. She loves Trixie and her gang! She now points out parts of the book which are sexist. (Girls can’t do that). We liked the story but Trixie’s constant whining to Uncle Andrew was really irritating after awhile. Overall, it was pretty good.
September 21, 2020
The 11th book in the Trixie Belden series, and this one has a bit of sentimental value to me because this was the first even Trixie Belden book I ever read! It had been a while since I reread this one, so I didn’t remember a great deal about it, but thought it was a great adventure. Also, why are bad guys always called Slim? Lol.
July 31, 2021
I rolled my eyes at the silly fish evolution (if it took thousands of years for the eyes to disappear over generations, then why would you expect to find fish in three stages, hmmmm?) but otherwise it’s a fun addition to the Trixie Belden series.
February 10, 2022
Not one of my favorite Trixie books. It's like the mystery writer of this book didn't bother to read the previous books the characters are off the story is way more dramatic than the others, but it's a Trixie mystery so it's worth reading.
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