the mystery of the fire dragon

Nancy gets to go to Hong Kong! We learn a lot about the Chinese culture in this book. And guess what? Ned Nickerson (Nancy's kind of boyfriend) is studying abroad there! HOW PERFECT.

So, there are two things that really stood out to me in this book:

1) Nancy's friend, Bess's (the plump one with blonde hair who always tries to get Nancy to stop solving a mystery) weight is mentioned a lot in this book. There are several references to Bess being hungry, wanting to eat, or her friends laughing at her because of her appetite. For instance

Bess's worries did not seem to affect her appetite and she was able to eat every crumb of the food brought to her. George and Nancy declined dessert, but Bess...ate custard pudding dotted with almonds. Keene, c. (1961) The mystery of the fire dragon. New York: Grosset and Dunlap

2) Okay, so this is Nancy's 38th mystery. You'd think she'd get the hint: Peeps want to kidnap you and then mug you. YOU ARE NOT SAFE ALONE, Nancy. So what does she do? She leaves her friends at dinner to walk the New York streets (this is before the trip to China) to go to a stationery store. And what happens? Oh, you know, a flowerpot just gets thrown at her head, she gets knocked unconscious onto the sidewalk. Do her friends think to say, "hey, Nancy, we'll come with you" or "hey, Nancy, do you remember that phone threat you got from an unknown caller?" Nope.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nancy, however, I think sometimes she lacks a bit of common sense.