Thursday 14 November 2019

Trouble at the Arcade - Franklin W. Dixon - The Hardy Boys Secret Files Book 1

Trouble at the Arcade
The Hardy Boys Secret Files Book 1
Franklin W. Dixon
Scott Burroughs (Illustrator)
Aladdin an imprint of
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
ISBN 9781416991649
eISBN 9781416999225
ASIN B003GMFDDI



I first read this book to my son a few years ago. He loved it and we picked up several in the series. Now my son has just read this book to me, to get his reading time in for school. He made it through with help mostly on names. He really enjoyed the book and wants to read all 19 that are currently available in the series. It is very different than the Blue hard Cover Hardy Boys Mystery Stories I had when I was his age. But it was still a fun read.

The chapters in this volume are:
1 Alien Attack!
2 Fun World
3 A Major Score
4 Who’s the Thief?
5 A Big Threat
6 A Real Mystery
7 Who, What, When . . .
8 A New Suspect
9 Lost and Found
10 Secret File #1: Solved!

And from the books we have all the books in the series have 10 chapters. It is an interesting read. For my son they are new and exciting. The brothers are 8 and 9 years old in this book. The books have been scaled way back in complexity compared to the original series. But for younger readers, it will allow them to read the whole thing themselves. At the beginning of this stories the brothers are very competitive with each other. Teasing each other about the upcoming video game competition, and even making a bed about who will get to move into the renovated spare room. Their dad states:

“Anyway, don’t forget that you’re brothers,” he said. “You’re supposed to be a team. You’ll always have a better chance if you work together instead of against each other.”

And this comes back to them when there is a big problem at the video game competition. While they are at Fun World all the entrance money from the competition goes missing. The brothers decide to work together and try and use what they have heard from their father’s stories about his detective work, and solve the mystery.

Most of the story takes place at Fun World, and amusement center with multiple rooms and features. After the money goes missing the competition is on hold. And there is a lot happening. And the brothers find out that when they work together things do go better. For older readers they should be able to put the clues together and solve the mystery. Younger readers might miss the clues but will still love the story.

The story is fun. And we have already read this one twice and have plans to read many of the others in the series. Any book or series that my kids want to read again and keep reading is a win in my books.

The Hardy Boys Secret Files:
Trouble at the Arcade
The Missing Mitt
Mystery Map
Hopping Mad
A Monster of a Mystery
The Bicycle Thief
The Disappearing Dog
Sports Sabotage
The Great Coaster Caper
A Rockin' Mystery
Robot Rumble
Lights, Camera . . . Zombies!
Balloon Blow-Up
Fossil Frenzy
Ship of Secrets
Camping Chaos
The Great Escape
Medieval Upheaval
The Race Is On
...









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