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Spotlight Club Mysteries
Mystery of the Forgotten Island
The Spotlight Club detectives discover strange happenings and stage a thrilling rescue on a forgotten island in the north woods.
127 pages, Library Binding
First published April 1, 1980
About the author
Florence Parry Heide
124 books39 followers"What do I like about writing for children? Everything," says Florence Parry Heide, the award-winning author of more than sixty children’s books, including the classic THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN, illustrated by Edward Gorey. "I like the connection with children," the author says. "I like the connection with all kinds of book people. And I like the connection with my childhood self, which is the most of me. It is the most welcome and familiar of worlds. There miracles abound--indeed it is magical that something I might think of can be put into words, stories, ideas, and that those words end up in the heads of readers I will never meet."
Florence Parry Heide wrote SOME THINGS ARE SCARY, a humorous look at childhood bugaboos, more than thirty years ago. "I had finished another book and was in the mood to write something else," she says. "I decided to get some kindling from the garage, reached into the kindling box and--good grief!--grabbed something soft and mushy. I fled back to the house, scared to death." A brave return visit to the kindling box revealed the object of terror to be nothing more than a discarded wet sponge, but the thought remained: some things are scary. As she recalls, "What scared me as a child was that I’d never learn how to be a real grownup--and the fact is, I never did find out how it goes."
One thing Florence Parry Heide does have a good handle on is the concept of friendship, in all its humorous manifestations. THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, a tongue-in-cheek tale cowritten with Sylvia Van Clief in 1967, pokes at the tendency of well-meaning friends to offer advice instead of help, and presents a valuable lesson about what true friendship means. "One of my many (true) sayings is ‘A new friend is around the corner of every single day,’ " the author declares. "Also true: Friendships last. And last."
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Florence Parry Heide worked in advertising and public relations in New York City before returning to Pittsburgh during World War II. After the war, she and her husband moved to Wisconsin, where they raised five children, two of whom have cowritten critically acclaimed books with their mother. Florence Parry Heide now lives in Wisconsin.
Florence Parry Heide wrote SOME THINGS ARE SCARY, a humorous look at childhood bugaboos, more than thirty years ago. "I had finished another book and was in the mood to write something else," she says. "I decided to get some kindling from the garage, reached into the kindling box and--good grief!--grabbed something soft and mushy. I fled back to the house, scared to death." A brave return visit to the kindling box revealed the object of terror to be nothing more than a discarded wet sponge, but the thought remained: some things are scary. As she recalls, "What scared me as a child was that I’d never learn how to be a real grownup--and the fact is, I never did find out how it goes."
One thing Florence Parry Heide does have a good handle on is the concept of friendship, in all its humorous manifestations. THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, a tongue-in-cheek tale cowritten with Sylvia Van Clief in 1967, pokes at the tendency of well-meaning friends to offer advice instead of help, and presents a valuable lesson about what true friendship means. "One of my many (true) sayings is ‘A new friend is around the corner of every single day,’ " the author declares. "Also true: Friendships last. And last."
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Florence Parry Heide worked in advertising and public relations in New York City before returning to Pittsburgh during World War II. After the war, she and her husband moved to Wisconsin, where they raised five children, two of whom have cowritten critically acclaimed books with their mother. Florence Parry Heide now lives in Wisconsin.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 10, 2019
I've never read this author or any of this series, and I knew it was older but I liked mysteries as a kid so I thought I'd try it. It started off with the three Spotlighters at the lake--Cindy, her brother Jay, and their friend Dexter--and I had no idea what that was or why they were called that. There was a girl on the dock not participating in any of the activities because she complained of a pain in her side--clearly suffering with appendicitis.
She suggested they take off in the rowboat and Guy, the handyman, gave them a map to navigate the lake system. But Jay read it wrong and they ended up going to the swampy south off the edge of the map where they weren't supposed to go. They found an island and the boys went off together while Cindy stayed on the sand. She felt she was being watched and threateningly so, and she saw a shadow moving in the trees.
The boys found a house in the woods surrounded by a tall fence. It was an ominous moment in that Dexter wondered if it was to keep something out or in. An old man was out back and was saying all these crazy things about having to be quiet and not wanting "them" to know the boys were there. The gate had a padlock that wasn't locked because they knew the man couldn't open it with his arthritic hands. He said they had to be careful and if they're seen there will be trouble. He called it a prison, though a beautiful one, and referred to his granddaughter and her husband as his jailers. They put up the fence after bringing him there and won't let him out because he'll get hurt.
His daughter Cassie only sent him one letter so far when she used to write all the time, so he's worried about her. Alan said there's something evil on the island. He and Cassie wanted to preserve the island so he left the island to her in his will. But now she's saying she's going to sell it to a company that's going to turn it into a resort. Lorie said Cassie isn't interested in him anymore and that she's going to ruin the island while they want to leave it as is. Cassie doesn't need the money but they do and they want him to rewrite the will. Development stories have been done a million times. I'm sick to death of the evil plot to sell a property so it can be developed. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that Lorrie and John wrote the note or made Cassie. Some mystery.
They were going to take him away if he didn't sign a new will. I can't believe he was so stupid not to see they were behind the note. So he concocted the idea to write the will, but secretly write another leaving it all to Cassie and having the boys mail it.
Sure enough, Mary had appendicitis and had surgery. So that was just another super-obvious element that took no thought whatsoever to figure out. The kids were going to have to leave tomorrow. Cindy stupidly told Guy about needing to help Mr. Whitson in a move I knew was bad. Guy warned them away from him, saying Mr. Whitson was feeble-minded and his grandkids are helping and not to go back. It was so obvious he was trying to get them out of the situation but they didn't make anything suspicious of his reaction.
They had a campfire with Guy and I couldn't understand why 3 lone kids were...somewhere, I didn't even know where they were staying or anything because she deposited us right in the middle.
The next day they were going to be picked up by Mary's dad and they knew they had to get to the island and wait for Mr. Whitson to raise the flag to let them know it was safe to come. But Guy invited them to go fishing, and the boat had trouble, and then they went to eat. Only to get back almost at the time they were to leave and find out they couldn't be picked up so they had to stay. It was so annoying. And he said he got permission from their parents that they could stay "here," wherever here is. It's ludicrous that I had no idea where they were at.
Mr. Whitson told them he was being taken away anyway after signing the will, and to stay out of sight because if Lorrie and John knew they were helping him they'd be in "grave danger." How could he not suspect they were lying if he's throwing out words like grave danger? Like they're murderers or something!
This was going to be an exercise in patience. Jay dropped Cindy and Dexter off, rowed around killing time, thinking about why Cassie didn't write to Mr. Whitson, how it was strange that she wanted to develop the island because he said she loved it. It must be because she wants money more and Jay wouldn't blame him for giving it to Lorrie and John. Like how stupid can you be?
While fishing his hook caught on a bag that contained letters to Mr. Whitson from Cassie and from her to him that had been sank. He stupidly hadn't watched where he was going and drifted closer to the island, thereby letting John see him from the bank. John aimed a rifle at Jay and I had had it. He kept shooting into the sky and he told them that he was shooting at birds even though there weren't any. They left in the boat with the new will and the letters in tow, but heard John coming out. They agreed it was best to tell Mr. Whitson about the letters and get the police involved. Jay dropped Cindy and Dexter off with the letters while he took the will.
I was so irritated when he told Guy everything when he got back instead of going straight to the police. They should have known Guy was bad from his first reaction. So Guy shut him in the boat house, admitting he was blackmailing Lorrie and John, threatened Cindy if Jay lied about anything to do with the story. He said he'd taken them out to purposely keep them from the island today.
When Guy arrived at the island of course Cindy and Dexter believed him. They were too stupid to be suspicious of why Guy knew where Lorrie and John kept the will. They bought his story about the cops coming later with Jay hook, line and sinker. Stupid kids. Then it took Jay forever to realize that he could swim out of the boathouse when I realized it the first thing. Man these kids aren't bright.
The only good part was when Jay got to the island and told them to get a fake will with blank papers in an envelope to pretend they're going along with Guy, and then get Mr. Whitson off the island. Finally.
I was getting annoyed with the delays. It would take too long for Mr. Whitson to go down the stairs so he rode the bannister down--not sitting on it, but laying over it going backwards. Yeah, right...The drawer with the will that stuck on Dexter but then ended up opening a second later. What's the point? So much time was wasted on unimportant details.
Dexter swapped the will out for blank papers and put the real one under his shirt. While Cindy and Jay got Mr. Whitson out, Dexter told Guy that Cindy was at the dock waiting for the police. Dexter gave the will to Jay to give to Cindy and Mr. Whitson. So Jay decided to go give Cindy the will and then stay with Dexter, after Dexter sabotaged the boats. Except he couldn't take a boat because the keys weren't there, so he set their boats loose and they hid on the island. They went in the water and breathed through reeds like a snorkel. They couldn't stay under, kept floating up, so they had to hold onto grass to stay down.
Then a reed got blocked all of a sudden after having just worked and Jay couldn't breathe so he had to surface. The illustration showed the adults right on the beach in front of the kids--of course.
That wasn't enough though. They realized they couldn't swim out so they went back for the canoe, turned it upside down in the water and moved to the channel. Then a spotlight is shown on them and they're spotted. They turned the canoe over and tried to get in but couldn't remember how. Why are these kids having trouble getting in, you ask. That's a good question. Why would they need to have trouble getting in the canoe right at this moment? Why can't they just get in and go?
They started rocking it--whatever that does--but Guy started swimming after them. A sec later he hurt his ankle. The boys got away and found Cindy and Mr. Whitson waiting in the lake. It was nice that he said they made it, with the kids and their soft hearts and guts and him with, and he couldn't finish, and Cindy said with us as his friends. They knew everything was going to be okay because they'd call the cops and Mr. Whitson said "Cassie, here I come!"
And then it ended.
I kept hoping there would be a nice moment between Mr. Whitson and his daughter, but she never came into the story. I couldn't fathom that decision. I hate endings like this. Nay, I loathe endings like this.
What happened to the bag of letters Guy confiscated? What punishment did Guy, Lorrie, and John receive? Why were John and Lorrie working with Guy if he was blackmailing them, or did they not know about it? Guy had told Jay that he's been working on it for a long time; he'd found those letters in their desk and wants his share. He'd stayed the night of the campfire to listen to them talking after they thought he'd left.
There were good bits of information.
Drown a fire with water and then choking it with sand because if a spark is ignited it could start again and burn the whole forest down.
Bats rarely attack and they use sense of radar to avoid contact. And Jay thought they're probably as scared of him as he is of them.
The kids were hard to get a read on, because we don't know anything about them, their appearance, personality, etc. The way they talked wasn't like a kid either. "What shall we do after we find it?" If you think kids use the word shall then you're so out of touch.
This book felt like a total waste of time because I didn't enjoy one moment. The plot was so overdone and worn-out so it was uninteresting and didn't hold my attention. All 3 kids were so stupid, kept making bad decisions the entire time and trusting the wrong person. I don't know anything about them or their history--heck, or even where they stayed the entire book! Mary seemed like the best character, but the only purpose she served was to get her dad away while she was in the hospital so the 3 "Spotlighters" could stay. I have no idea what Spotlighters means and I hope I didn't add any more in the series.
She suggested they take off in the rowboat and Guy, the handyman, gave them a map to navigate the lake system. But Jay read it wrong and they ended up going to the swampy south off the edge of the map where they weren't supposed to go. They found an island and the boys went off together while Cindy stayed on the sand. She felt she was being watched and threateningly so, and she saw a shadow moving in the trees.
The boys found a house in the woods surrounded by a tall fence. It was an ominous moment in that Dexter wondered if it was to keep something out or in. An old man was out back and was saying all these crazy things about having to be quiet and not wanting "them" to know the boys were there. The gate had a padlock that wasn't locked because they knew the man couldn't open it with his arthritic hands. He said they had to be careful and if they're seen there will be trouble. He called it a prison, though a beautiful one, and referred to his granddaughter and her husband as his jailers. They put up the fence after bringing him there and won't let him out because he'll get hurt.
His daughter Cassie only sent him one letter so far when she used to write all the time, so he's worried about her. Alan said there's something evil on the island. He and Cassie wanted to preserve the island so he left the island to her in his will. But now she's saying she's going to sell it to a company that's going to turn it into a resort. Lorie said Cassie isn't interested in him anymore and that she's going to ruin the island while they want to leave it as is. Cassie doesn't need the money but they do and they want him to rewrite the will. Development stories have been done a million times. I'm sick to death of the evil plot to sell a property so it can be developed. And it didn't take a genius to figure out that Lorrie and John wrote the note or made Cassie. Some mystery.
They were going to take him away if he didn't sign a new will. I can't believe he was so stupid not to see they were behind the note. So he concocted the idea to write the will, but secretly write another leaving it all to Cassie and having the boys mail it.
Sure enough, Mary had appendicitis and had surgery. So that was just another super-obvious element that took no thought whatsoever to figure out. The kids were going to have to leave tomorrow. Cindy stupidly told Guy about needing to help Mr. Whitson in a move I knew was bad. Guy warned them away from him, saying Mr. Whitson was feeble-minded and his grandkids are helping and not to go back. It was so obvious he was trying to get them out of the situation but they didn't make anything suspicious of his reaction.
They had a campfire with Guy and I couldn't understand why 3 lone kids were...somewhere, I didn't even know where they were staying or anything because she deposited us right in the middle.
The next day they were going to be picked up by Mary's dad and they knew they had to get to the island and wait for Mr. Whitson to raise the flag to let them know it was safe to come. But Guy invited them to go fishing, and the boat had trouble, and then they went to eat. Only to get back almost at the time they were to leave and find out they couldn't be picked up so they had to stay. It was so annoying. And he said he got permission from their parents that they could stay "here," wherever here is. It's ludicrous that I had no idea where they were at.
Mr. Whitson told them he was being taken away anyway after signing the will, and to stay out of sight because if Lorrie and John knew they were helping him they'd be in "grave danger." How could he not suspect they were lying if he's throwing out words like grave danger? Like they're murderers or something!
This was going to be an exercise in patience. Jay dropped Cindy and Dexter off, rowed around killing time, thinking about why Cassie didn't write to Mr. Whitson, how it was strange that she wanted to develop the island because he said she loved it. It must be because she wants money more and Jay wouldn't blame him for giving it to Lorrie and John. Like how stupid can you be?
While fishing his hook caught on a bag that contained letters to Mr. Whitson from Cassie and from her to him that had been sank. He stupidly hadn't watched where he was going and drifted closer to the island, thereby letting John see him from the bank. John aimed a rifle at Jay and I had had it. He kept shooting into the sky and he told them that he was shooting at birds even though there weren't any. They left in the boat with the new will and the letters in tow, but heard John coming out. They agreed it was best to tell Mr. Whitson about the letters and get the police involved. Jay dropped Cindy and Dexter off with the letters while he took the will.
I was so irritated when he told Guy everything when he got back instead of going straight to the police. They should have known Guy was bad from his first reaction. So Guy shut him in the boat house, admitting he was blackmailing Lorrie and John, threatened Cindy if Jay lied about anything to do with the story. He said he'd taken them out to purposely keep them from the island today.
When Guy arrived at the island of course Cindy and Dexter believed him. They were too stupid to be suspicious of why Guy knew where Lorrie and John kept the will. They bought his story about the cops coming later with Jay hook, line and sinker. Stupid kids. Then it took Jay forever to realize that he could swim out of the boathouse when I realized it the first thing. Man these kids aren't bright.
The only good part was when Jay got to the island and told them to get a fake will with blank papers in an envelope to pretend they're going along with Guy, and then get Mr. Whitson off the island. Finally.
I was getting annoyed with the delays. It would take too long for Mr. Whitson to go down the stairs so he rode the bannister down--not sitting on it, but laying over it going backwards. Yeah, right...The drawer with the will that stuck on Dexter but then ended up opening a second later. What's the point? So much time was wasted on unimportant details.
Dexter swapped the will out for blank papers and put the real one under his shirt. While Cindy and Jay got Mr. Whitson out, Dexter told Guy that Cindy was at the dock waiting for the police. Dexter gave the will to Jay to give to Cindy and Mr. Whitson. So Jay decided to go give Cindy the will and then stay with Dexter, after Dexter sabotaged the boats. Except he couldn't take a boat because the keys weren't there, so he set their boats loose and they hid on the island. They went in the water and breathed through reeds like a snorkel. They couldn't stay under, kept floating up, so they had to hold onto grass to stay down.
Then a reed got blocked all of a sudden after having just worked and Jay couldn't breathe so he had to surface. The illustration showed the adults right on the beach in front of the kids--of course.
That wasn't enough though. They realized they couldn't swim out so they went back for the canoe, turned it upside down in the water and moved to the channel. Then a spotlight is shown on them and they're spotted. They turned the canoe over and tried to get in but couldn't remember how. Why are these kids having trouble getting in, you ask. That's a good question. Why would they need to have trouble getting in the canoe right at this moment? Why can't they just get in and go?
They started rocking it--whatever that does--but Guy started swimming after them. A sec later he hurt his ankle. The boys got away and found Cindy and Mr. Whitson waiting in the lake. It was nice that he said they made it, with the kids and their soft hearts and guts and him with, and he couldn't finish, and Cindy said with us as his friends. They knew everything was going to be okay because they'd call the cops and Mr. Whitson said "Cassie, here I come!"
And then it ended.
I kept hoping there would be a nice moment between Mr. Whitson and his daughter, but she never came into the story. I couldn't fathom that decision. I hate endings like this. Nay, I loathe endings like this.
What happened to the bag of letters Guy confiscated? What punishment did Guy, Lorrie, and John receive? Why were John and Lorrie working with Guy if he was blackmailing them, or did they not know about it? Guy had told Jay that he's been working on it for a long time; he'd found those letters in their desk and wants his share. He'd stayed the night of the campfire to listen to them talking after they thought he'd left.
There were good bits of information.
Drown a fire with water and then choking it with sand because if a spark is ignited it could start again and burn the whole forest down.
Bats rarely attack and they use sense of radar to avoid contact. And Jay thought they're probably as scared of him as he is of them.
The kids were hard to get a read on, because we don't know anything about them, their appearance, personality, etc. The way they talked wasn't like a kid either. "What shall we do after we find it?" If you think kids use the word shall then you're so out of touch.
This book felt like a total waste of time because I didn't enjoy one moment. The plot was so overdone and worn-out so it was uninteresting and didn't hold my attention. All 3 kids were so stupid, kept making bad decisions the entire time and trusting the wrong person. I don't know anything about them or their history--heck, or even where they stayed the entire book! Mary seemed like the best character, but the only purpose she served was to get her dad away while she was in the hospital so the 3 "Spotlighters" could stay. I have no idea what Spotlighters means and I hope I didn't add any more in the series.
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March 9, 2017Bit higgledy-piggledy, didn't feel as though I got to know anything individual about the characters at all sadly. Not a bad little mystery though
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews