Trixie Belden #2: The Red Trailer Mystery

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Trixie Belden, by far!!
Review: The good news is that Jim Frayne has indeed inherited money from his great uncle and will have a new guardian appointed. The bad news is that he left Sleepyside before he could find out. So Trixie, Honey, and her governess, Miss Trask, set out in the Wheeler's trailer to find him. The first night out, they stop next to a mysterious red trailer. The family stays inside with the curtains closed. When they arrive in upstate New York, they learn that trailer thieves are operating in the area. Will Trixie and Honey be able to find Jim before he leaves New York for good? What is going on in that mysterious trailer? And have the girls stumbled on the thieves' hide out?

This book picks up minutes after the first book in the series ended. This is unusual in kid's books, and I rather enjoyed it. There's enough of a recap that anyone new to the story will feel right at home, although it's obviously best to read book 1 first.

The first time I read the story, I knew the ultimate outcome of their search for Jim. However, the sub-plots kept me interested the whole way through. Trixie and Honey are more themselves then in the last book. And, like the last book, so much happens that it's hard to put the book down. This book also contains one of my all time favorite scenes from the series. I always laugh when Trixie and Honey are trapped in the loft by Al. Honey especially is funny while being perfectly in character.

Julie Campbell took her time setting up the characters and events of the series, so these first books are really needed to fully enjoy what follows. But that's no trouble since they are so much fun to read. I've been reading them for years, and I don't plan to stop in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: The Search for Jim
Review: The good news is that Jim Frayne has indeed inherited money from his great uncle and will have a new guardian appointed. The bad news is that he left Sleepyside before he could find out. So Trixie, Honey, and her governess, Miss Trask, set out in the Wheeler's trailer to find him. The first night out, they stop next to a mysterious red trailer. The family stays inside with the curtains closed. When they arrive in upstate New York, they learn that trailer thieves are operating in the area. Will Trixie and Honey be able to find Jim before he leaves New York for good? What is going on in that mysterious trailer? And have the girls stumbled on the thieves' hide out?

This book picks up minutes after the first book in the series ended. This is unusual in kid's books, and I rather enjoyed it. There's enough of a recap that anyone new to the story will feel right at home, although it's obviously best to read book 1 first.

The first time I read the story, I knew the ultimate outcome of their search for Jim. However, the sub-plots kept me interested the whole way through. Trixie and Honey are more themselves then in the last book. And, like the last book, so much happens that it's hard to put the book down. This book also contains one of my all time favorite scenes from the series. I always laugh when Trixie and Honey are trapped in the loft by Al. Honey especially is funny while being perfectly in character.

Julie Campbell took her time setting up the characters and events of the series, so these first books are really needed to fully enjoy what follows. But that's no trouble since they are so much fun to read. I've been reading them for years, and I don't plan to stop in the near future.

Rating:
Summary: Trixie's In Over Her Head Once Again
Review: Thirteen-year-old Trixie Belden, and her best friend, Honey Wheeler, couldn't have been more upset when their new acquaintance, Jim Frayne, ran away from Sleepyside, in the hopes that he would not be caught by his abusive stepfather. Unfortunately, Jim took off right before Trixie had the chance to tell him that he was the heir to a huge fortune. Now Trixie and Honey, along with Honey's Governess, are on a trailer trip through upstate New York to locate Jim. However, during their trip they meet up with a family in a red trailer, who couldn't look more upset, and when their eleven-year-old daughter runs off through the woods, Trixie and Honey decide to try and find her as well. But when the two girls meet up with a couple of trailer thieves, they have to try and save themselves, protect all trailer owners, get the trailer thieves arrested, and find Jim and the lost little girl before it's too late. If only the two girls had known that their little trailer trip would turn out to be so full of surprises.

I am a longtime reader of the NANCY DREW series, so when I stumbled across the TRIXIE BELDEN series, I knew that I had to give it a try. I read the first book in the series a few months ago, and loved it, so I decided to get the second book in the series. To my surprise, I loved it even more than the first. Julie Campbell is a marvelous storyteller, whose characters couldn't be more fun and exciting to read about. Trixie is an upbeat girl, who is always getting into trouble; while Honey is more shy, but at the same time loves a good mystery. Fans of mysteries will adore Trixie Belden, and find themselves grappling to read the next book in the series.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Rating:
Summary: Runaway Jim & a stolen red trailer
Review: This book is the direct sequel to Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion, which really must be read first. On the quest to find Jim -- on the lam from his evil stepfather Jonsey -- Trixie, Honey, and Miss Trask arrive in the Autoville trailer park, and the girls eventually find the dual mysteries of Jim's whereabouts and a stolen red trailer converging in one area of countryside.

The Red Trailer Mystery does get confusing and could have used a map, but the author summarizes the action periodically, and it sounds natural and helps develop the reader's comprehension and critical thinking.

I think this series gave me an appreciation in my adult life for the benefits of family, community, and enduring friendships.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Trixie Belden, by far!!
Review: This was my favorite Trixie Belden mystery, and continues where the Secret Mansion story leaves off. Trixie and Honey head off in search for Jim Frayne in Honey's trailer "The Silver Swan" with Honey's governess. Their goal? Find Jim before his stepfather Jonesy does, and before Jim leaves for good. The Red Trailer actually refers to the mystery of a down-trodden family living in a red trailer they encounter along the way. Of course, this mystery is linked to Jim, too.

Elements in this story that should appeal to pre-teens include: horseback riding, visiting summer camps, the independence of travelling in a trailer, and problem-solving.

I'm really pleased to see these books being reissued, with the original illustrations by Mary Stevens. They're so nostalgic, and a delight to read. I always enjoyed Julie Campbell's Trixie the best, but hope the other books in the series will be released, too.