oh hey school year

slowly but surely i'm making it through my latest ND. i read about 12 pages before i fall asleep each night.

day 3 of school finished!

student: you know spanish?
me: well, i took 4 years in high school, but that was a long time ago
student: ms. ebberts, you only look like you are 28, you are not old.
me: you're right, 28 isn't old.
student: have you gone to any reunions yet?

so the good news is my students seem to think i'm quite a bit older than what i really am. maybe it will be easier to instill fear in them :)

oh, Togo!

I almost forgot the most shocking part of book #33!!!!
Togo (Nancy's terrier) gets hit by a car in the beginning of the book! Couldn't believe it when I was reading, but no worries, Togo survived and is as feisty as ever in The Hidden Window Mystery.
I'm reading an original copy and can already see some differences!

oh, i love my job!

the witch tree symbol

#33---LOVED IT

SO, this mystery takes place in the AMISH COMMUNITY. Nancy and friends travel to Pennsylvania Dutch country to try to track down an antique thief. It all starts with Nancy finding a mysterious symbol in an old mansion. I really enjoyed this book, not only for the mystery aspect, but also because it was Nancy in a different setting and the book included information about Church and Home Amish (not sure how accurate the info, but I felt like i was being educated. And also included various German phrases and different customs of the Amish. I also liked how this book (unlike the last) was not over the top and could have potentially happened. OH, and some of the Amish people thought Nancy was a witch, which I thought was funny.

My favorite quote from George (who is REALLY funny. I like here because she is VERY logical and rational, she compliments Bess and Nancy well) summing up their mission:

"So now we start roaming the countryside, looking for a fake Amish man driving a black horse and carriage. Who wants the honor of pulling off his false beard?" p. 63


I don't want to give away the ending but let me just tease you with an excerpt from the book:

"Suddenly Nancy had an idea. Perhaps the boy was a deaf mute! She decided to test him." p. 160

the scarlet slipper mystery

of all the ND mysteries i've read (32) this is by far the most far fetched!
The story starts off with Nancy flying back from visiting Aunt Eloise in NY. She sits by a man from Centrovia, and i knew in that moment that it would be KEY to her next mystery.

The premise behind this story is Nancy helps brother and sister Henri and Helene Fontaine from Centrovis who received a threatening note that they needed to leave River Heights. Natually, Nancy disregards this threatening message and asked Mr. Drew and Hannah if the Fontaines can stay with them. You see, the Fontaines had to leave France because they were accused of being jewel thieves and fled to River Heights to continue teaching dance in their studio. Did i mention Nancy is a superb ballerina? Because she is.

This story is really involved and includes a lot of characters with a lot of aliases. You would think that this would be really interesting and add to the excitement, but it does not. I found it very hard to follow in addition to seeing how the various characters and situations fit together in the conclusion.

I will say this is the first time in one of her mysteries where i truly doubted and was unsure about whether someone who Nancy had deemed as "good" really was. What I mean by this is there was definitely grey area about whether people were being truthful or not. Like, I was unsure of whether the Fontaines were being truthful or not---so props to you, writer of this particular story.

I don't want to give away the ending, but let's just say, if you smell kerosene and see someone with a large container of it near a house---get out, because chances are this person is going to burn the place up!

oh hey cali

so, i'm in santa monica right now.
i have 1 more full day here before i head back to missouri monday morning.
so far on my trip i have:
gotten a FREE nalgene and t-shirt
beached it up (read ND)
almost gotten attacked by a flock of seagulls (the actual bird NOT the really bad music group)
seen inception (fine movie)
worked out on muscle beach in venice
eaten at a bakery specializing in CUPCAKES--Sprinkles in Beverly Hills. it was like the cupcake places you see on TV, where you wait in line for a long time.
and lots of other things.

there's lots of organic places here. and as we've (me and sister) have been walking around, we've passed this restaurant called "Planet RAW" and each time we pass it, I like to saw the name as if I'm introducing a wrestler.

i have about 5 pages left in my latest ND book. More to report soon. just so you know, this has been the most COMPLICATED mystery yet. ever read count of monte cristo? yeah, kind of like that.

the ringmaster's secret

"This is so marvelous i could cry. This is the best mystery Nancy has ever solved."
-Bess Marvin

I don't know if i would go THAT FAR, Bess, but this was quite the mystery. This one involves a circus that stopped in River Heights. The story starts out with Nancy at her weekly riding lessons with Senor Roberto. Nancy is very skilled in the art of "bareback" riding, so much so, that when a circus performer got injured, Nancy took her place so the show could continue!
The premise behind this story is sparked from a charm bracelet given to her by Aunt Eloise which happens to be missing a charm. Also, Nancy befriends an aerialist named Lolita and helps to reunite her with her mother, who was presumed dead. I don't want to reveal how it ends, but let's just say that Nancy almost becomes permanently blind.

I'll be heading to Santa Monica tomorrow and I'm bring ND along to accompany me on the beach. Hopefully I'll have much to report when I return.