Mystery of the Dark Tower

by Evelyn Coleman

Book Overview

Bessie's father leaves Bessie's mother in North Carolina, taking Bessie with him to Harlem in 1928. She is encircled by writers, artists, and jazz dancers of the era. She must figure out what role her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1584850841
• ISBN13: 9781584850847
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: American Girl Publishing Inc
• Length: 149 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.2" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

such a good book

great middle grade mystery about the Harlem Renaissance

Great mystery!

There were many plot twists which lead you to draw the wrong conclusions. One of the better books in the series.

A Humorous Mystery

My daughter and I have completed another "history mystery". This one takes place in 1928. It begins with Ed Coulter taking his daughter, Bessie, and his son, Eddie, away from their North Carolina farm in the middle of the night, but leaving his wife behind. Bessie and Eddie soon find themselves living in their aunt's house in Harlem. Their father is hardly ever around and nobody will explain to them what's going on. Bessie is afraid that her family is breaking up, especially after an attractive, well-dressed woman picks her father up in a car one afternoon.My daughter rates this one about average for this series and I can see why. The mystery isn't the most compelling. There is little sense of danger and no pirates, secret tunnels, or dark forests with unseen characters lurking just out of sight. On the other hand, my daughter didn't see through it, so it maintained her interest right to the end.Personally, I found this one more humorous than any of the others. There are several funny situations, like when Bessie finds herself forced to eat oatmeal from a dish she had secretly had a big, slimy slug in earlier and had put away without washing. The situation surrounding Flo, the neighborhood hoodoo woman is also amusing.Like the others in this series, this story is good for kids. It includes real historical information and characters, and it has positive messages and role models. Originally, I gave the whole series 5-star ratings. In my opinion, however, the Harry Potter books are the heavyweights in this genre, and though I still recommend the "history mysteries", they aren't as good as Harry. So, in the interest of consistency, I've changed my "history mystery" rating to four stars. This one, while not the best of the group in our opinion, certainly isn't inferior to the rest, either. I recommend the entire series to girls in the nine to twelve age group.

Great

This book keeps you on end and you don't know what is going to happen next! There are a lot of twisting bends in this book. I thought the dad was cheating all the way but you will have to find out what happens! This was a great book and I think it deserves six stars!!1

Better than I expected.

This book was actually much better than I expected, but not nearly as good as the other books in the series. The mystery wasn't terribly exciting, and was kinda of predictable. The strengths of the book were the historical details and the characterization, not the so-called "suspense." Bessie is a twelve-year-old African-American girl living on a farm in the rural south in 1928. Her mother, who is ill, has remained locked in her bedroom for the past few weeks. One dark night, without an explanation, Bessie's father orders her and her little brother to get dressed and he whisks them away to their aunt in New York City, at which point he dissapears. The rest of the book is occupied with Bessie trying to discover what has happened to her mother and father, and wasn't terribly interesting. Still, it's worth reading if you want to read the entire series.

Great book with info about history

This book is a very good book for girls ages 10-13 who want to learn about history and have some fun reading a mystery, too. The characters are very real and there are lots of good details pertaining tothe time period. Bessie must test her courage when she is taken on a frightening journey full of twists and turns. Read the book to find out what happens to Bessie and her family in "The Mystery of the Dark Tower."