Customer Reviews

Mystery of the Chinese Junk (Hardy boys mystery stories / Franklin W Dixon)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's amazing how time changes people's perspective on things and as they say, the cream always rises to the top. Now, as I approach the big 40, I've started my inevitable nostalgic journey and I've just come across this old edition of Dixon's classic that I first got at the age of 13.

Looking back, I realise now what a great debt I owe to what has now become institutions of teaching for my English education and for my love of reading. Sesame Street and the Electric Company from the world of television and my public library card and the works of Franklin W. Dixon from the world of books deserve much of the credit. I am not surprised at how with the amazing exception of The Electric Company the others are still alive and kicking today for a new generation of kids.

I've read many of the Hardy Boy's adventures but this edition #39 is the sole volume that I've still got on my bookshelf. Although it may not be THE best adventure of theirs that's been written, for me it still holds all the essential ingredients that has made the entire series an enduring success. We get for a change, many of the brothers' friends involved and we get the usual formula of mystery, sleuthing, capture, escape and solution in the end. The setting and the story changes but the formula remains intact.

Thank you Hardy Boys for providing me with such great excitement as an early teen and without me truly realizing it, educating me in the process and preparing me for a lifetime of friendship with books. "The Mystery of the Chinese Junk" will always remain on my bookshelf alongside my other friends.

I suspect that the authors of the Hardy Boys series liked caves because they appear so frequently in the series. In this book Chet Morton has decided to become an amateur spelunker. Chet's hobby soon plays a minor role in finding the criminals.

Frank and Joe Hardy and their friends purchase a very inexpensive Chinese junk to ferry people to a local island park. Soon the boys encounter several mysteries. Who is Dr. Montrose and why does he seem to be associated with women are robbed of their securities? An even better question is why are so many people interested in the Chinese junk, and what possible connection could those people have to Dr. Montrose. Or perhaps there is no connection. Join the Hardy Boys and their friends as the sort the good guys from the bad guys and, as usual, solve all the mysteries.

This story is slightly better than average because the story has aged well. There are a few anachronisms, but some of these are explainable. For example, a typewriter is a key element in the story. Typewriters are increasingly rare, but are still available and used. Similarly, the radios the Hardys used are still a feature of boats even with the availability of cell phones and other communications devices. This story provides enough mis-direction and mystery to keep a reader in the target audience interested. Though I recommend reading the first books in the series before reading this book, this book is a good one for a casual fan or for someone new to the series.

The publisher recommends the Hardy Boys series for ages 9 to 12 because the series is relatively tame for the previous target audience of ages 10 to 14. This particular book is a good fit for the new age range. Though the Hardy Boys series contains archaic information, as reading material for an increasingly younger audience they are good. Once a child has reached age 12 or so the stories may be of less interest, but given the combination of mystery and action, these books remain good safe choices for parents who want to know what their children are reading.

Sneaking around, discovering what other teens or adults were up to, solving crimes, ahh, I loved this series.
I read the entire series as a kid, and loved it. It chronicles two brothers and their friends adventures as they solve mysteries of all imaginable kinds. I only learned as an adult that Franklin W Dixon was a pen name used by several different authors, but the series had some great stories. I still enjoy a good mystery.

Paul Buckner,

author of "From Broke to Broker, and other stories of finding financial freedom."

The mystery of the chinese was a good book because it had a lot more fighting in it.

Frank, Joe and a group of their friends buy a chinese junk to make money during the summer by taking passengers out to picnic on one of the islands in Barmet Bay. However, shortly after they buy the junk, two rival chinese groups begin pressuring the boys to sell the boat. Also, Frank and Joe discover that a dangerous criminal who calls himself "The Chameleon" may be in Bayport. Frank, Joe and their friends must find out why the two groups of chinese are interested in their boat and discover the true identity of the Chameleon. The book has a moderate amount of action, but the mystery isn't that interesting. In the end, it isn't even Frank or Joe who discovered the secret of the junk or were responsible for capturing the criminals, it was their friends. While it was nice to see their friends do this for a change, this is the "Hardy Boys" series for a reason. One thing that I really did like about this book; though, was that it did remember that Frank and Joe have friends other than Chet and they were used quite often, unlike in many of the later books. The book is worth reading, but it is not one of the best of the series.

...Chinese Junk does neither, so it sits at a 3 rating. Its worth reading, but ranks among the average of the set. It is an adventerous book, full of that. Little suspense and little mystery however. The publishers in 1959 & 1960 published back to back Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys stories about Alaska/Hawaii & then added an Oriental book. Drew's The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, published the same year as Chinese Junk, correlates with Chinese Junk. Devil's Paw was about Alaska, and Drew's volume #36 about Hawaii. All this robs from all four volumes. I liked the characters in Chinese Junk. They seemed to have personality. Again average, but worth reading.

I love this book, it is the best- I could reread it and reread it........

This was a really good one. The mystery was very good and full of surprises.

This book was about Joe and Frank Hardy fighting crime against the Chamealion.

This was a forced attempt to bring Asian culture into the series. Keep in mind, The Mystery of The Fire Dragon of Nancy Drew fame was published the same year and it dealt with Asian culture. I view that as a negative. The brothers run a ferry service while operating a Chinese Junk in Bayport. The book was actually not too bad with a fair amount of interaction with the criminals. I rank it as average never really liking or disliking this particular volume. RATED C+