Peril in the Besseldorf Parachute Factory [Hardcover]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author), James Bernardin (Illustrator)

Book Description

The sign in the parachute factory reads: "...to insure that every parachute will open, each of our employees knows that at any time, an inspector may require him to jump from a plane in the parachute he has just completed."

Bernie Magruder does not think this will ever apply to his sister Delores, who works at the factory. What Bernie wants is for Delores to marry, leave home, and give her nice, large bedroom to him. So he and his friends create a romance between Delores and Dwayne Hopper, who also works at the factory.

There are puzzling questions about Dwayne, however, and also about a strange building going up in a nearby town. But as Bernie investigates, it proves, as his dad says, that "Magruders welcome challenge, thrive on change, seek out the difficult, go where angels fear to tread, feed a fever, and starve a cold." The results are nationwide publicity for Delores, tense moments for the Magruder family, and a wonderfully funny story for Bessledorf readers.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-This sixth entry in the "Bessledorf" series is disappointing because Naylor has seemingly run out of funny ideas for the Magruder family. In this misadventure, Bernie sets out to match up his sister with Dwayne Hopper, a new employee at the parachute factory where she works. Bernie's goal is to marry off Delores so he can inherit her bedroom. The action picks up when Delores must jump out of an airplane to prove that the parachute she made is not defective. As it turns out, Dwayne is up to no good and has used Delores for his own gains, but he still loves her. Too bad-she has already fallen for another man. Even those who are familiar with the series will have difficulty identifying characters and placing the story in any specific time period. Naylor utilizes advanced vocabulary and underlying themes that are too complex for younger children and there isn't enough here to interest more sophisticated readers.
Sharon R. Pearce, Geronimo Public School, OK
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Those weird, wacky denizens of the Bessledorf Hotel are back for their seventh adventure, and fans won't be disappointed. Bernie Magruder wants his sister, Delores, to marry so he can have her room. The prospective suitor is Dwayne, the newest resident of the hotel the Magruders manage. Delores, however, is torn between true love and job advancement at the local parachute factory. Meanwhile, a mysterious building is going up in a neighboring town, and somehow, Dwayne, the factory, and maybe even the Bessledorf Hotel are involved. The threads come together (with somewhat shaky logic) when Delores must jump from an airplane to test a parachute suspected of being defective. The humor is right on target for middle-graders; more sophisticated readers will appreciate Mr. Magruder's constant cliches and the family dynamics. Naylor mentions previous Bessledorf adventures, but children need not have read them to enjoy this one. Catherine Andronik

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689825390
• ISBN-13: 978-0689825392
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,921,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.