Author: Julie Campbell
This was my absolute favorite book series when I was a kid. I had the entire series. Every holiday, birthday, or special event usually brought me new books and I remember being incredibly happy when several new books came out in the 80s. Before leaving for college, I sold the entire series to a mom who had two middle school age
girls at home. I hope they loved the books as much as I did! The first four books were re-released a few years ago, but the rest are OOP. Luckily, I found scans of many of the books on OpenLibrary, so I'm going to re-read as much of the old series as I can find! Revisiting my old Sleepyside buddies as an adult has given me some mixed emotions, but all things considered I'm enjoying it.
The Gatehouse Mystery is the third book in the series. Honey and Trixie are out walking and stop by the old Gatehouse on the Wheeler estate. The old building is overgrown with vines and neglected. They are shocked when they find a diamond in the old gatehouse wedged between two floorboards. Then they hear someone lurking in the bushes listening to their conversation. Who hid the diamond on the Wheeler estate? And are they in danger after finding it? Honey and Trixie know they need to discover the truth before the criminals attempt to recover the valuable stone.
As a young girl, I loved reading about Trixie and her friends' adventuring. I spent many an afternoon laying across my bed reading about their exploits. I sympathized with Trixie's occasional annoyance at her little 6-year old brother. My young nephew was a pain in the butt sometimes too when I was 11 or so -- he's 38 years old now -- and I often had to babysit him much to my chagrin. I also remember laughing at the constant teasing between the siblings and friends in the books. :) I ran around with the neighbor kids back in the day myself and I think every one of us had a creative nickname, mostly insulting stuff. I fell in the creek once and got called wethead for a few weeks. So I liked reading about the teasing among the characters. It made the group seem a lot like my own gang of friends. At the time, I did notice that the wording and situations were a bit dated, but I didn't care. As an adult, I had a few problems re-reading this book. For example, the use of the word "squaw' as an insult. One of Trixie's brothers uses that name to tease the girls. It might have been acceptable back when the original six books were written, but it's pretty much seen as racist and derogatory now. I cringed a bit each time Mart teased his sister about being a " lazy squaw'' who should bring him food, and do her chores faster. It was meant as good natured teasing between siblings in the story, but it did bother the adult me. I have seen a few negative comments in reviews of the Trixie Belden series because the dad goes off to work and the mom takes care of the house, home chores, canning food, gardening, etc. I didn't see it as a negative when I originally read the books, or now. It's not sexist. For many families, that's how life was during that time period. I don't see it as belittling of the mom in the stories. The kids and the dad constantly talk about how awesome she is for being such a good cook, mom, gardener, and home maker. What's wrong with that? She gets way more praise and attention than the dad, who gets mentioned only rarely. A reader has to remember that these books are set in the 1950s. It was a much different world back then. I like the fact that the kids all have chores to do each day to help out, and for the most part they obey and respect their parents. The mysteries are a lot like those from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys....unusual events, mysterious strangers, hidden treasures, etc instead of murders or anything too gruesome.
So, despite the fact that I read the stories with a much older outlook than when I was a teenager, I'm still enjoying reading my way through this series again. I enjoy the dated language for the most part. When there is a word or phrase I find a bit offensive, I have to remind myself that the series is 60+ years old, and take things in the spirit in which it was originally meant.
The Gatehouse Mystery is one of the Trixie Belden books that was re-released. I read an ebook copy using OverDrive through my local public library. I'm finding most of the OOP books in this series on OpenLibrary. They have many scans of OOP books available through Internet Archive. Register for an account here: https://openlibrary.org/ They provide links to books from Project Gutenberg, OpenLibrary scans, and publication information when print books are available. Everything is done with respect to copyright laws. All scanned materials and downloadable ebooks are in the public domain, or available to borrow and read online for a set time, just like a lending library. It's a great resource!
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