Book Review: Nancy Drew #41

The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes

By Carolyn Keene

Haley, Kaya, Kirsten, Lanie, Melody, 2 or more

Can you tell we really like Nancy Drew mysteries? (giggling) 
We love the Hardy Boys too! 
Frank and Joe are cute. (giggling) 
Chet cracks me up he's so funny!
We like lots of others too.

Lanie

Ned is such a great guy. It's good he was able to help Nancy and the others with clues from the states. I LOVED that everyone was able to travel to Scotland to meet Nancy's great-grandmother. She was such a fun lady. I wish they had explored the estate more. Anyway, I liked how the team worked together to figure out what was happening to the sheep and find Nancy's heirloom pin.

Melody

Oh, those poor sheep! Nancy, George, and Bess to the rescue! Reading this reminds me of why I didn't like the new movie all that much...Nancy made friends wherever she went, but in the movie she was bullied. Okay , she was bullied and harassed in the book too, but it was by shady characters who were up to no good. Fiona was a great friend to make. She was very helpful in deciphering code and she taught them a lot about her homeland.

Haley

Can I travel like Nancy and her friends? Well, minus the car accidents.Nancy is so brave. I don't think I'd want to get back into a car after being run off the road. She's so smart too. Figuring out all the clues to so many different puzzles...she's brilliant!

Kaya

I'd love to visit Scotland. The pictures I have seen are so lovely. This was a very interesting story with so much going on. At first I was wary of Fiona and her offers to help Nancy, Bess, and George; she could have been in on it with the bad guys. You know, the spy who infiltrates the good group to throw them off the track. I'm glad I was wrong. Fiona and her friends were fun.

Kirsten

Honestly, I don't know what's so great about Scotland. I once read that the reason the thistle is the country flower is because it was planted because the thorns would deter the barefoot vikings from invading. (giggles) I guess I'd have done the same to keep my family safe. Okay, back to the review at hand. The story is well written and really moved along. It was a little too easy for everyone to travel together this time, but it's good all three girls could work together. Everyone has input and helps.

Xyra

The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love, love, love the classic Nancy Drew mysteries! While a lot of the activity couldn't and wouldn't happen today [teens renting a car, attending church (two times), staying overnight in a complete stranger's house, etc.] it really is a nice lesson in how being polite can be helpful and positive. Plus the classics do so much more in widening vocabulary than the newer incarnations. Although, I did get a good chuckle out of the use of "quicksilver." There are very good reasons we don't have such ready access to mercury anymore.

This Nancy Drew installment is very intriguing beyond the normal mystery. In it we learn more about Nancy's heritage and her ancestral homeland - Scotland. There are bits of history, local sites, geography and language lessons to be found as well. [If you're an adult reader and fan of Diana Gabalon's Outlander series I bet you could picture Jamie Fraser walking through the same areas Nancy trod. I know I did.]

The story is well written with an ebb and flow of action interlaced with clues and deductive reasoning. Ned tackled some sleuthing back in River Heights, while Bess and George were able to accompany Nancy and her father to Scotland. There they added a fourth member to the team, Fiona. In the end Nancy proved to be worthy of the same motto as the Canadian Mounties...she always gets her man.

I highly recommend this book and this series to any mystery fan; especially those honing their reading skills. These are wonderfully written chapter books.

Kid Lit Blog Hop

The Kid Lit Blog Hop continues. I hope no one is bored with our current focus. The next entry will be a different type of book. 

If you'd like to see more reviews, check out the Kid Lit Blog Hop hosted by The Logonauts among others.

Have you ever thought about traveling abroad? Where would you want to go? Why? If you went to Scotland what would you want to see or do? 

Best wishes,