From the back of the book - "The clouds of dust created by the struggle made the air in the loft almost unbearable. If I can't cough or clear my throat soon, Trixie thought in agony of suspense, I'll choke to death. And then Honey sneezed. Frozen with fright to the edge of the loft, the girls stared downward as the man's bushy-haired head fell back and his foxlike face turned up to meet their gaze..."
So, book two takes off not long after the end of book one, the Mansion at Ten Acres has burnt to the ground, Jim has run away and it's up to Honey and Trixie to track him down. Under the eyes of Miss Trask (Honey's governess) they set off in the Silver Swan, a luxury trailer home, to investigate some boys summer camps that Jim had mentioned hoping to get a job at. Along the way they run into the Darnell family who have "borrowed" the Robin (the eponymous Red Trailer) and are there when Joeanne Darnell runs away. Now they've got Jim to track, Joeanne to track, the Darnell family to find again not to mention trailer thieves to foil, a stolen locket to find and all that, plus dealing with a pair of unruly dogs all to do in just a few days.
At the end of Red Trailer we find that it's almost comical in how close people came but just missed each other the whole way through the book until the very end.
Once again the book puts in place a number of things for the coming books - Brian and Mart returning is mentioned (book 3), the Robin belongs to Di Lynch, a girl Trixie knows (book 4), Ben Riker, Honey's cousin appears (book 5), the Robin is the trailer Trixie gets kidnapped in (book 4), the overgrown gatehouse on the Wheelers property is mentioned (book 3).
Of course at the end of The Red Trailer Mystery we get to finally meet Honey's parents and Jim finally finds himself a new home with a little sister (here it finally gets mentioned that Matthew Wheeler and Jim have similar colouring). Even Honey's mum seems to be happy with the arrangement for Jim to become part of the Wheeler family and both parents seem to be quite happy with the effect Trixie and Jim have had on Honey.
Oh, also the traile rthieves get foiled, Joeanne is reunited with her family and everyone gets the ending they deserve.
One more thing before I move on and start reading book 3 later today - Until Donna mentioned it in comments I had forgotten all about the crow but once she mentioned it I was like "Oh, wow, how did I forget that?" and a few pages later in the book, there he was. But, seriously, I get that the book was first published in like 1950 or something but "Jimmy Crow" SERIOUSLY? Wow. This was within the lifetime of our parents (or mine at least) and this sort of thing wasn't even commented on as being racist, in fact it was in a kids book! Now I have no problem with the book but it just made me think how recent things really are in some regards.
Anyway, I'll catch you all back here when I finish The Gatehouse Mystery. or maybe beforehand if I have more random thoughts :)
There was one ending that I didn't enjoy. And that is the treatment of Reddy and Bud . They should have been left behind, not dragged along. They are left to thier own devices in strange woods. And then, Honey just GIVES Bud away as if he were an inanimate object, rather than a living creature!! That left a bad taste in my mouth!!
ReplyDelete