Brad Forrest Adventure Series, #5, 6, & 8

I purchased this set of books on a whim--the description sounded like good potential for the ridiculous, a la Christopher Cool. And while they're nowhere near Chris Cool levels of amazing, they're pretty campy. They're also extremely short--I can put one away in about 35 minutes. It was written as a Canadian series (a bit unusual) with eight volumes published in 1965, along with what are believed to be eight ghost volumes. Each title is in the format of Brad Forrest's Location Adventure. New York Adventure deals with heroin smuggling/the UN (yes, really), Yucatan Adventure is about Latin American revolutionaries, and London Adventure is a classic Cold War/defected/kidnapped scientist plot.

The front of each book has what sounds bizarrely like a brief bio for a company newsletter, which I believe I must reproduce in full.

"Bradley Raymond Forrest was born in Ottawa but he grew up in Toronto where his father's newspaper empire has its headquarters. Mr. Forrest owns a farm in Quebec and a Montreal house, so during the holidays, Brad learned to speak French fluently.

He is taking political science at the University of Toronto, and he plays hockey, golf, and football; he is keen on skiing and small-car [as opposed to large-car?] racing and, as a flier, he has his multi-engine ticket. Hunting and skeet shooting have made him a fair shot, and mountain climbing, skin diving and riding have kept him very fit. Although Mr. Forrest is very wealthy, he believes that his son should earn his holidays, so Brad has done all sorts of jobs in the newspaper business when not engaged in disentangling himself from his many fascinating and sometimes [no, always, trust me] dangerous adventures."

I mean, really. The awkward changes in tense, the random punctuation, the never-ending sentences . . .

• Brad has NOT done all sorts of jobs in the newspaper business. He has been sent to multiple locations to do such things, but inevitably ends up involved in international intrigue. Furthermore, his dad's job activities are described more as a diplomat than a news tycoon.
  
• There's never any explanation of the non-existence of Brad's mother. I assume she's dead, but it's not stated in any of these three volumes.
• Why is it almost never a dead FATHER? I guess it ruins the whole "must be rich enough to go on constant expensive adventures" thing.
  
• The wealthy blond athlete is in a frat. I know you're shocked. There's just as many mentions of him doing school work as there are of him doing newspaper work. AKA none.
  
• Girls are not mentioned AT ALL in these books. A little weird, considering he's supposed to be 18, good-looking, great guy, tons of money. While they're short (younger audience?), there's plenty of violence (older audience?), so I'm not sure why.
• He also doesn't have a chum. Instead, he has a different secondary helper character in every book. So another oddity. Brad Forrest has issues with close relationships?
  
• I swear, this boy kids kidnapped/held captive more than Nancy Drew. We're talking multiple times per book.

I really wish the ghost titles had been published, particularly the adventures in Toronto, Nassau, and Anchorage. Of the existing titles, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on Madagascar, Calgary, and Hallifax. Speaking of fatherless main characters, my next review will be one of the Lilian Garis Books for Girls, Nancy Brandon.

Judy Bolton #35, The Hidden Clue

I have to say, I liked this one more than the past few Judy's I've reviewed. And then I realize that it's because it's basically revisiting the Roberta books. I'm not the rabid Roberta fan that a lot of Phantom Friends are, but the Roberta books are seriously an improvement on these final volumes in the series.

The premise is that Judy and Peter are still taking care of a Sister, and her Younger Brother (seriously, that's what they're called) from the orphanage that burnt down, until the matron gets back from her honeymoon. The girl refuses to give any details about her or her brother's past, including their names. Of course, Judy immediately assumes that the children have been kidnapped. And I have to say, it was oddly satisfying to have her proved wrong--the children ran away from their foster parents, but their biological parents were definitely dead. Of course, once on the run, the kids accidentally choose to share a getaway vehicle with criminals and a bunch of loot, so Peter is able to get in on the action. Once Judy's obviously in the wrong, the children get adopted by the librarian (who Sister has bizarrely accused of being her mom all along) and her husband.

I think what I liked most about this book is that it considered a lot of moral and ethical implications of blissful ignorance and the rights of adopted children to know about their origins. Judy's opinion is that she always wants to KNOW, and that it's always better to have the truth. Pretty much everyone else, including Horace, Dr. Bolton, and the officials at a foundling home believes the opposite: that as long as the present situation is good, you're better off not knowing what happened before. Judy's biased, though, by her conviction that the kids' parents, or at least their mom, is alive and virtuous. Apparently, Judy's as caught by the parallels to Roberta as I am. Only, again, she's wrong.

• Holly again features as sidekick, although she annoys me less than usual. Again, I would have preferred more Horace and Honey in her place.
• I seriously dislike the Sister character. She's obnoxious and lies, which is played off as a mixture of trauma and imagination. I don't care, she's horrid. The best part? To an extent, Judy agrees with me. I also like that Judy isn't able to win her over; Sister instead prefers the woman who adopts her in the end.
• Good continuity: Horace quotes rather serious moral texts at her. In the earliest books, he's said to have considered the ministry, which gets revisited in a couple of the prior books.
• They're in Chicago, and they mention that they visit Roberta after the criminals are caught. However, nothing of this reunion is shown, which puzzles me. I think a nice chapter about the visit, emphasizing the parallels--and, ultimately, the differences-- of the situations would have been very much in place. Maybe this is another example of G&D brushing the whole Roberta storyline under the rug?
• Blackberry gets sent to the pound! I was seriously pissed on his and Judy's behalf. He's shipped off when their neighbor in Chicago complains about him to the super. Seriously. Pissed. The guy just does it after one word from the unpleasant tenant.
  
• I've always thought that the cover art looked more like a pulp novel cover than a Judy Bolton. The doll looks like it's about to go on a killing spree. I don't love the paperback format (the cover is . . . pixelly. and it doesn't blend with my other Judys on the shelf), but I'm not willing to shell out $50+ for a PC.
  

I WAS able to win a copy of The Search for the Glowing Hand, which means the only JB volume I lack is The Pledge of the Twin Knights. Which, by the way, is referred to as The Pledge of the Black Knights at the end of this book. I love it when the end of a text refers to a ghost text for the next title, or there's an obvious title or plot change from what was expected when the book was published, and the next volume was (or was not) released. That said, I'm thinking the next books up may be either a Shirley Flight or The Dormitory Mystery, by Alice Anson.