The Strange Birthday Party

Elizabeth Gail Wind Rider #6

by Hilda Stahl

Book by Hilda Stahl

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Mystery, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

Paperback

First published January 28, 1989

About the author

Hilda Stahl was an American author of middle grade and young adult novels, many of them in series. Most of her books are classified as Christian fiction.

Biography from one of her books: "Hilda Stahl was born and raised in the Nebraska sandhills. As a Young teen she attended Bible college, where she met her husband, Norman. They raised their seven children in Michigan, where she lived until her death in 1993. When Hilda was a young mother with three children, she saw an ad in a magazine for a correspondence course in writing. She took the test, passed it, and soon fell in love with writing. She wrote whenever she had free time, and eventually began to sell her work. The first Elizabeth Gail book, The Mystery at the Johnson Farm, was made into a movie in 1989. It was a real dream come true for Hilda. She wanted her books and their message of God's love and power to reach and help people all over the world.
— biography from Elizabeth Gail and the Mystery at the Johnson Farm

Reviews

[Mini Van Mama Bear]

I gave this book 5 stars and I will give all of them 5 stars.

I will agree with others that the writing is dated (written in the 80s I believe). I decided to re-read all of the Elizabeth Gail books this year. I'm in my 40s and as soon as I open the cover, I'm transformed back to my pre-teen/teen self who was mesmerized by the story unfolding. I was adopted as an infant and never faced the challenges of a foster child, but inwardly I always kind of felt like an unwanted kid purely because I was adopted. I believe that God ordered my steps and placed me in the family where I needed to be, but I sure did wish I lived on the Johnson farm with Elizabeth Gail and her family.

[Lala Loopsy]

My god. This is the WORST book I have ever read. I've read a lot of indie books too, of which even the worst are better than this.
For some reason we had this in our house, which is weird... But I decided to try and read it.
My god, what a mistake.
First of all, there are a ton of typos that make my head hurt.
A lot of the time, the grammar isn't even correct. I mean, really? If you aren't gonna correct anything, what's the point of an editor?
And the main character... My god girl, can you get any more whiny? You're 12 years old. GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF. Boohoo, a girl is teaching your horse. GET OVER IT!!!
And the sentences. The author can't write worth s***. I was a better writer than her in the sixth grade. Half of them don't even make sense, and the rest repeat the same thing, OVER... And OVER... And OVER.
Basically, this is a really stupid book...

[Jenna]

ugh.. doesn't the cover say it all?

[M. W.]

A decent mystery aimed at girls from 10-13 years of age.