My sister was in from out of town last week, and was tormenting me with references to some kids book we had.
It was a mystery book - the detective heroine wore braces, which she always tapped while she was deducing stuff. tap-tap-tap … the auther would write it out. She probably wore glasses too, since as we all know, brainy girls with braces always do. Her sidekick had bushy red hair.
I can’t remember the title, or anything about it, but my sister’s making me crazy with my not remembering it. Ok. this is lame and pointless, I know, but I’d appreciate any ideas you have about this
was it two girls, one with like photographic memory or at least very good recall who was blond and germophobic, and her cousin who was a bit homlier with red frizzy hair who helped out?
Damn farley, I thought you said her cousin was a bit hornier. That would be the Nancy Screw Mysteries. Sorry, I have no idea meneith. Just pretend I wasn’t here.
I remember reading a series of books that had a character like that. One was called “Something Queer on Vacation.” The titles all began with “Something Queer…” The heroine had a basset hound as a pet, I think. The tap-tap girl was either in this book or the Cam Jansen (sp?) books.
The girl who tapped on her braces was named Gwen. Cam Jansen doesn’t ring a bell, but the basset hound does because, IIRC, he had a map of the United States on his side. Or maybe it was the Great Lakes.
I remember reading several of those stories in Cricket magazine when I was younger. Damn if I didn’t find this thread after I come back from NH, rooting around in my mom’s attic and finding the damn things. Which is cool, 'cos I got a letter published in the September 1980 issue.
Ah, Encyclopedia Brown! Didn’t they make a video series out of those books sometime in the early 90s? Those were pretty cool, except I remember being disappointed when Bugs Meany decided to be Encyclopedia’s friend instead of antagonist. Or was that Bert Rugg from the Bobbsey Twins?
I think you’ve found the series bibliophage. I remember having the book Something Queer is Going On when I was a kid (your link reminded me of the name). It was about Gwen and Jill looking for Fletcher the Basset hound. I loved that book.
YES! Gwen and Jill and Fletcher! Oh my gosh! this is great - I just ordered the book for my sister - HAH! I’ll show her. I’ll have to read it myself first of course …
Couldn’t have been Bert Rugg, because Bert’s last name was Bobbsey. Perhaps you mean Danny Rugg? I don’t know if Danny decided to be anyone’s friend, because I only read 4 of the books. I SWEAR THAT’S ALL I READ. I can’t believe I’m actually posting this.
Kat, Danny Rugg did eventually turn over a new leaf and became a friend of the Bobbseys. I never read the book in which he actually did it, just books written before and after the fact.
Not that I went out and bought the damn things. My maternal grandmother brought them for us from yard sales and flea markets and we read them 'cos there wasn’t much else in the excuse we called a library to read. It sort of balanced out though, because my granddad bought me the old Tom Swift books from 1911, and those were cool to read. Of course I read them as an adult and had to laugh at how stilted the writing and plot were, but as a boy the adventures were pretty damn cool. Flying machines and photo telephones and all that.
