Mandie and the Trunk's Secret

Mandie #5

by Lois Gladys Leppard

Mandie and her best friend return to the attic to investigate and discover a set of old letters which include some important and exciting information. Ages 8-13.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Childrens, Christian Fiction, Young Adult

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1985

About the author

Lois Gladys Leppard was the author of the Mandie series of children's novels. Leppard wrote her first Mandie story when she was only eleven and a half years old, but did not become a professional author until she was an adult. Leppard has also worked as a professional singer, actress, and playwright. At one time, she and her two sisters, Sybil and Louise, formed a singing group called the Larke Sisters.
There are forty Mandie books in the main series, an eight-book junior series and several other titles. Leppard said that she could write a Mandie book in two weeks, barring any interruptions.
The eponymous heroine lives in North Carolina in the early 1900s, encountering adventure and solving mysteries with help from her friends, family, and pet cat, Snowball. These young reader novels are meant to teach morals as well as be fun and captivating stories to read. Leppard stated that her books contain "nothing occult or vulgar", and Mandie is depicted as a faithful Christian. The Mandie books often deal with issues of discrimination and prejudice relating to race (particularly with regard to the local Cherokee), class, and disability.
Lois Gladys Leppard based some of the incidents in her Mandie books on her mother's experiences growing up in North Carolina. The dedication in the first book is: "For My Mother, Bessie A. Wilson Leppard, and In Memory of Her Sister, Lillie Margaret Ann Wilson Frady, Orphans of North Carolina Who Outgrew the Sufferings of Childhood".

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same as the previous novels...which isn't a bad thing; as they say: If it's not broke...don't fix it!

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 4 out of 5]

About this book:

“Mandie and her best friend return to the attic to investigate and discover a set of old letters which include some important and exciting information.”


Series: Book #5 in “Mandie” series. (Read the reviews of: #1 Here! #2 Here! #3 Here! And #4 Here!) {There also is the “Young Mandie Mystery” series, (Book #1 review Here and Book #2 review Here!) but they do not connect together well}


Spiritual Content- Talks about God & trusting Him; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God (but not when “the Lord himself” is said; Prayers & a Blessing over food; A few Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, and prayed; A couple mentions of Heaven; Uncle Ned refers to Heaven as “happy hunting ground”; A mention of a graveyard.


Negative Content- April’s baaaaaack! (Not as bad this time though.)


Sexual Content- Reading old love letters & a mention of a man’s lips not touching a woman’s; Mentions of Joe & Mandie marrying when they’re older.

-Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, age 12
P.O.V. of Mandie
Set in 1900
126 pages (also available in a collection with four other Mandie books.)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
New Teens- Five Stars
Early High School Teens- Four Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
My personal Rating- Four Stars
I think the Mandie series gets better as it goes. :)
*See my thought on this series versus the younger series, Here!


Link to Review:
http://booksforchristiangirls.blogspo...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a more enjoyable installment than the previous book (in regard to Mandie‘s behavior) and was a more interesting mystery. While the resolution of the decades old mystery was a bit lackluster the finding of the clues and solving it was interesting.

[Makenzie Muñoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable mystery adventure!

I can't remember if April ever becomes less nosey and annoying...

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mystery series for the mystery reader!

[Devon G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, most boring of the first 5

[Becca]

I'm sure I had the full Mandie collection as a kid, but only a few titles stand out.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was better than the previous few.
Mandie is better behaved in this book, having learned some of the consequences of disobedience in the previous story. She is still directly disobeying school rules by visiting Uncle Ned whenever he visits though, and it isn't really portrayed as being a bad thing. It would have been a better moral example if Uncle Ned just coordinated his visits to when Mandie visited her Grandmother.
At one point Mandie says she hopes they can open the trunk in the attic, because she doesn't want to "do all that dirty work for nothing." Cleaning the attic was supposed to be a consequence, and it turned into a fun adventure for her and her attitude just bugged me.
I know these books were written a while ago, but I kind of flinch when Hilda is repeatedly referred to as "that poor retarded girl."
One thing that annoyed me over and over in this book in particular is that Uncle Ned always refers to Ms. Hope as Ms. Head Lady Number Two. Wouldn't it be far easier for him to just say Ms. Hope? He's not incapable of learning a name.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is such a thing as too much foreshadowing.

[Karina (Karina's Christian Reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Number of pages: 98

Genre: Children’s fiction

Series: Mandie Series #5

Age recommendation: 8-12; parents might want to discuss racism with younger readers

Summary: As punishment for breaking the rules and investigating the off-limits attic, Mandie and Celia are required to thoroughly clean up the attic. While doing so, they find a trunk full of old letters. Mandie is determined to find out to whom they belong and discover where the treasure referenced within is hidden.

My thoughts: I like that this book is a continuation of the previous one, with Mandie finally being punished for her inappropriate behaviour and also trying harder not to do things without permission. She does so much better at asking if she is allowed before going and doing it. Uncle Ned also warns her very strongly against meddling in other people’s business. She ends up causing trouble by investigating, but at least she apologize at the end and says she shouldn’t have done it because it wasn’t her business. However, there are still many occasions that the truth is stretched to keep Mandie out of trouble. It might have been mentioned once that this was wrong, but I wish it could have been a little clearer what is acceptable and not.
As I’ve mentioned in all the previous books, the Mandie stories are quite racist/offensive (even though I also get the impression that the author was trying to bring honour to First Nations peoples, particularly her Cherokee ancestors with these books). Sadly, they’re just really inappropriate.
I like that the plot of this book actually seemed solvable for Mandie. I hate books where the police can’t solve a crime and then a 11-year-old solves it for them. That’s just really dumb (though as a nine-year-old I would have thought it was cool).
I didn’t really love the foreshadowing at the end of the chapters. You’d have a perfectly normal story going, and then it would say, “but Mandie didn’t know that someone had already read the letters.” I personally didn't enjoy it, but I guess there wasn’t really anything wrong with it.
Overall, it was probably one of the better Mandie books I’ve read, but I’m still not a fan.

My personal rating: 2.5/5 stars.

Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Mandie and the Trunk's Secret
Author: Lois Gladys Leppard
Series: Mandie, 5
Format: ebook, bind-up
Length: N/A
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis: Mandie and her best friend return to the attic to investigate and discover a set of old letters which include some important and exciting information.

Favourite character: Celia & Joe
Least favourite character: April

Mini-review: Another good Mandie book. As a punishment for the events of the last book, Mandie and Celia have to clean the attic... only to get into another mystery.
Makes sense.
I was happy that Joe was in this one, if only because the scenes where Celia is pretending to ignore them while they make awkward yet adorable plans for the future (even if Joe deserves better than the bratty Mandie). I wish that they had added in a scene with Joe meeting Tommy, because that could've been hilarious. Another book, I suppose.

Fan Cast:
Amanda "Mandie" Shaw - Emma Rayne Lyle
Celia Hamilton - Sadie Sink
Joe Woodard - Louis Hynes
Miss Prudence Heathwood - Mary Steenburgen
Miss Hope Heathwood - Patricia Heaton
April Snow - Emily Carey
Aunt Phoebe - Alfre Woodard
Dr. Woodard - Gideon Emery
Grandmother Taft - Meryl Streep
Thomas "Tommy" Patton - Asher Angel
Robert Rogers - Kyle Red Silverstein
Miss Cameron - Emily VanCamp

[Kristi Drillien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen, and I read some of them to my now-teen daughter when she was younger. Nostalgia definitely affects my reviews for this series, and I'm okay with that. It's good to at least see some consequences from Mandie's disobedience in the previous book, though of course the consequence ends up being fun for her and Celia and leads them into another mystery. I appreciate that they are trying to behave better here as well, though she questions whether she should really be meeting with Uncle Ned at night while still doing it anyway. Uncle Ned himself clearly thinks it's important to adhere to the rules but still visits in secret. Overall, though, this book was better than the previous. While I think these books can still be good for younger people to read, especially if you're looking for something with Christian content, I strongly recommend discussing what's good and bad in them with your kid(s) after they read it.

[Kara Kuehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Mandie book. The mystery was good, but a bit hard to follow (for me at least). I loved how Mandie prayed in all circumstances. I think that is a great example to set. I was a bit confused at how Mandie goes the whole book hanging out with Joe as in previous books but then suddenly at the end of the book has a sudden interest in a guy named Tommy. Does like a 12 year old have a love triangle? That was weird to me.
Side note, I just love how the series is intertwined. You truly have to read each and every book in the series to get the whole picture and understand all of the characters. Love that!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this book, the children pry into a teacher's secret love affair from the past, and it's even more terrible than it sounds, since the result of the "mystery" is perfectly obvious to the reader long before the characters figure it out. I owned this book for a while as a hand-me-down, because some friends didn't want it, but I eventually decided that I didn't want it either. Even before I had any idea how horrible the Mandie series was, I knew that this was one of the worst in the series.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has the intrigue and mystery factor dialled up a bit more, although the mysteries are not crime related, they are more about unravelling secrets from the past, and it seems when you unravel one two more appear.
I thought she was a little hard done by in this one, but anyway.
Will we eventually find a motivation for her nemesis behaving the way she does?
Christian content was there, although it is still on the light side.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my daughters book club.
Mandie is always a great story. Love the light mystery aspect and how Lois Gladys Leppard intertwines faith in each book. I’m not sure Mandie will ever learn to stay out of trouble.
Mandie and Celia sure find themselves in trouble trying to figure out the mystery of the trunk and what is inside of it.
I enjoyed the adventure and getting to learn a little bit more of the details of the Prudence sisters story.

[Truly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Membersihkan loteng seharusnya menjadi hukuman bagi Mandie, namun ternytata ia malah menenukan sebuah peti kayu yang mengusik rasa ingin tahunya. Sebuah misteri menunggu untuk dipecahkan! Namun beda dengan misteri yang lain, ada hal yang sebaiknya tida diungkap. Bukan Mandie namanya jika menurut begitu saja. Larangan justru membuatnya semakin penasaran. Selalu saja ada keseruan yang timbul di asrama sekolah

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this installment in the series ... not only are the girls on better behavior, trying hard to follow the rules, but they are also working at being helpful, all while trying to solve a mystery, which was kind of fun for me.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mandie and her friend Celia were told to clean out the school attic and find some old love letters in a trunk that was left upstairs by the previous owners. Mandie learns that it's best not to snoop around in other people's business.

[Taz]

Wow, these are just... Not good. lol Between using the r-word to describe a girl who doesn't speak, to the way the author writes speech for the Black and Native American characters... Yikes. It honestly makes it hard to read.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite part was when Mandie and Celia found out who had written the letters. My least favorite part was when Mandie and Celia got in trouble.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series builds off of the previous one and each new story has its on mystery and suspense and laughter. The Mandie Books are a good series.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Can't young adult level mysteries be more like this?

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was a very good book. I’m liking the book series so far.

[Kynzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. Nothing amazing but it kept me entertained.
~3.5 stars

[Jasmyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, okay, this is the one I remembered! I loved this cute, romantic mystery. When I thought about the Mandie books, this is the one that I remembered!

[Savannah Haschak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the plot of this book and how the story ended. It was so well written and the ending was great!

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

“That r3t@rd3d girl in the attic” as they call her is NOT written as a Human Being

[wanderer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit it: I am reviewing these books years after reading them. However, do not even suggest that I'm no longer qualified, that too many years have passed to remember. My battered and faded copies of these books testify to how many times I read them growing up and plots and entire passages are seared in my memory forever.

Snowball always ran away, Mandie always got in trouble, Uncle Ned always rescued her, and Joe and Tommy bristled at each other. I myself prefered Joe, but Tommy's cosmopolitan airs nearly tipped the balance a time or two. I recall- fondly and as though it were yesterday- my glee when Mandie went off to Europe, my disgust at the new baby, my delight in Mandie's wardrobe of sky blue frocks, my puzzlement at all her near escapes and handy school vacations, my terror during the daring midnight adventures. Ah me, to be young and silly again...

If I had written goodreads reviews at the age of eleven, all Mandie books would've received automatic five-star ratings and gushing descriptions. As an adult, I will honestly give them all three stars, except for my special pets. And if I ever have a little girl, I will buy her the entire set. Oh, and did you know there are more than forty books in the series by now? And I'm guessing Mandie never grows up, either.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I was really disapointed in this book. The other books that I have read in the Mandie Mystery series have been really good, mature mystery books. This one was just plain cheesy and it was so immature that it was borderline stupid. There wasn't much mystery in it at all and Leppard didn't write the story well at all. She pretty much told the reader what was going to happen even before Madie and her friends figured it out. Plus Madie and her friends were just refered to as the three young children, like they didn't have names at all.

The whole point of reading these kinds of books when you are young or if you are reading them to someone is to engage your brain and figure out the mystery, not have the end of the story told to you in the middle of the book. Another bad note in this book was the fact that is wasn't interesting at all. So I ended up skimming most of the book because it was so boring and I didn't want to fall asleep.

I will read more of the Mandie Mystery books but I don't think that I will really care for the ones in the first part of the series.