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Summary: Great Mystery Starter!
Review: I remember the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew from my grade school days as the books I took out of the library over and over again. My 7 year old is a great reader. For his 8th Birthday I decided to spend part of his gift money on the Starter Set. We read The Tower Treasure together mostly, at least four chapters he read on his own, and in three days of his continual prompting, the mystery was solved. Great Book! Great Introduction into mystery novels for his age! The best benefit is that right away, he picked up the next book, The House On The Cliff and began reading it all by himself. In two hours he had read 8 chapters and couldn't wait until the next day to read some more. Though many words used are not the vocabulary of an 8 year old. With the first book, we gave him a yellow highlighter to signal out any words he didn't understand so that we can discuss them during the next days home-schooling session. The result was an instant vocabulary increase. Of course, no one talks or writes the way this book is formatted. I mean, the families actually speak nicely to one another (like in our family) and good children's authors and story's are rare (my opinion) but there is no greater benefit than having a good reader who still likes the Berenstain Bears and is engrossed in a non-picture book mystery his parents can trust (though we'll read them too, when he lets us. lol)
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Summary: The book that began a dynasty!
Review: Kudos to Applewood books for re-issuing this original text Hardy Boys book that started a line- up of great stories for youth that are still being published today. Most younger baby-boomers will not remember this story in its original form, as the text was substantially revised in the latter 1950's. This earlier, more hearty (no pun intended) story makes the revision pale by comparison. Applewood's reissue of Tower Treasure puts the series in its proper context. This story is truly the reader's introduction to Frank and Joe Hardy, and their mysteries. More than just nostalgia, this book is fun to read. If you read it to your children, you may have to put some of it in proper historical context, but that's part of the fun. I have found all of the original-text stories much more entertaining and substantial than the revised editions. Applewood has released six original-text Hardy's so far. I own them all, and highly recommend each one. In fact, I plan to purchase any of the original text Hardy stories Applewood will issue.
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Summary: Start of a Legacy
Review: The Series: In 1927, Franklin W. Dixon launched the "Hardy Boys" books, a series of books telling of the exploits of Frank and Joe Hardy, the sons of a big-city detective. The Hardy boys lived out in the country and, with their friends, loved following in their father's sleuthing footsteps. The result was a set of wonderful amateur detective stories that I read as fast I could find when I was a kid. The Hardy Boys helped launch me on my lifelong reading binge.This book: This was the first of the Hardy Boys mysteries. We get introduced to all the characters and are quickly thrown into a mystery involving a dying man's confession and buried treasure. Well-written, fast-paced, and just plain likable, this is a great book-gift for the young reader.
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Summary: Who stole Chet's hot rod?
Review: This review is of the 1959 Revised Version of "The Tower Treasure". The first 38 titles in the series were revised over the course of 15 years (some with minor changes, others were completely re-written). "The Tower Treasure" is the first Hardy Boys mystery. Starting out with Frank and Joe trying to track down the thief who stole the beloved yellow "hot rod" of their friend Chet Morton, the Hardy brothers find themselves in the midst of their first real mystery to investigate. The brothers discover the disguise the thief must have used. This leads them to seek help from their father, the famous investigator Fenton Hardy. Fenton and the boys suspect that there may be a connection to the recent robbery at the Tower mansion where the only suspect is the father of their friend, Slim. Neither Frank nor Joe believes that Slim's father could have possibly committed the crime and they are committed to clear his name before Slim's family is ruined. I remember when I was much younger and was the age of the target audience of this novel. I could not get enough of the Hardy Boys and read each of the books several times over. Reading them a decade and a half later, I can still easily understand my obsession with the stories. "The Tower Treasure" is fast paced, interesting, and has a mystery that is begging to be solved (though this is one that can't necessarily be solved by the reader before the brothers solve it). It is fun to read through the Hardy Boys, and this is a good, clean, young adult adventure story (the series is more adventure than young adult). I can only hope that when I have children that they will enjoy the Hardy Boys as much as I did. -Joe Sherry
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