Customer Reviews

The Light in the Cellar: A Molly Mystery (American Girl Mysteries)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Light in the Cellar is much more than just a mystery; it is also a patriotic book of one girl's determination to make a difference! It's just too easy to enjoy Molly's sweet charm and zesty determination.

The Light in the Cellar is a mystery about missing rationed goods. Someone is stealing sugar, and Molly knows it's up to her to put the clues together.

This Molly Mystery, which takes place during WWII, does such a great job of relaying a patriotic message. Molly and all of her friends and family are always doing their part to help with the war-effort.

To find out why there is a "light in the cellar" you'll have to read this great mystery. This book is sure to be a page-turner and you'll enjoy Molly's journey, as you wonder, "will Molly catch the thief?"

Readers will be turning the pages quickly to see if Molly's detective work will solve the mystery!


Also, be sure to check out the last few pages, filled with a lot of interesting information about WWII, rationing goods, and much more!

One night while teaching Emily how to ride a bike, Molly and her friends see a light on in the cellar of an old mansion in Jefferson that they know to be vacant. When they get a little closer to investigate the light goes off! Who is turning on and off lights in an old abandoned house and does it have anything to do with the missing sugar from the Red Cross? Molly and her friends to the rescue!

While I'm a huge fan of the American Girl series in general, I've never been a huge fan of the mystery series the Pleasant company came out with to up their book sales. "The Light in the Cellar" may have turned me however.

"Light in the Cellar" is a fairly beefy book for American Girl, rounding out a whole 157 pages respectfully. That being said, because it's longer it ends up being a much more developed mystery than some other books in this series and the other Molly Mystery (Spy on the Home Front) can't hold a candle to this book (no pun intended). Because the author, Sarah Buckley, took the time to do research and create a good back story for her mystery the book became a much more enjoyable read than I was really expecting. I was pleasantly surprised.

Overall, the American Girl Mystery series is for a slightly older audience. The original books are much shorter and probably great for third to fourth graders. The mystery series I feel a third grader might have trouble getting through all the way because of the length. So if your girl(s) have outgrown the original American Girls, but still like the characters, the mystery series is a great stepping stone into YA literature. However, the great paintings and large pictures that make the original American Girl series so wonderful and vibrant are distinctly missing from the mystery series. Sad.

4 stars. Entertaining, but not overly complex or page-turning.

My 10 y/o referred to this as a "page-turner" and loved it so much she bought a large, hardcover Molly book with six different stories included (not offered thru Amazon) at a chain-bookstore last evening. She says, "It's incredibly interesting and I wished the book never ended. Probably the most interesting book I've ever read."

My 8 year old daughter thought it was interesting at first, but then got a bit boring. But on the whole, I think it is one of the more interesting American Girl Books. I like how the books make learning about history fun.

This story happens during the WWII, when Americans had to cope with shortage of many common products like sugar, meat, coffee and other things that nowadays we take for granted. Molly and her friend Emily were helping at the local hospital when they realized that someone was stealing sugar from the hospital. They decided to investigate the mysterious disapearance, even though it could get them in big trouble! For example, one night they were following a suspect and Molly got trapped in the hospital's caffeteria. It was really scary.
Eventually, the two girls managed to find out the crooks and called the police to catch them.

There are lots of real life experience in this book. You feel like everything they went through could actually have happened. In fact, we learn a lot from the reality of the time during the war by reading this book. Also, there are lots of facts about the WWII at the end, where we can see that not everybody was patriotic and willing to help out like Molly and Emily.

Nanda Chaves, Atlanta, GA, USA