The Mandie books are fun Christian mysteries for children, but I still love reading them. Even though she doesn't age very quickly and seems to get far too many breaks from school during the year, she's a lot of fun.

I never remember that joe is older than mandie

I mostly enjoyed this book. It had good amounts of action/suspense as well as romance and friendship. One of the biggest downsides for me, though was that the action did not really start until chapter 8. By that point, the book is half over. The beginning of the book is quite boring. Much like #27, there is monotonous searching for something that is clearly gone. I found the beginning to be a waste of time. Other than that, the book was good.

My feelings on book #30 are very similar to book #29. I love the Mandie books (with all my heart!), but the plot doesn't seem to be based on much -- just a variety of "curious" things that take place around the end of the holidays. Still, I have high hopes for the next books in the series.

Mandie Shaw is a good Christian girl, who relies on God for her strength. She's a good role model for young girls -- except, for maybe when she jumps headfirst into unknown dangers.

Starting with book #30, it looks like plans are changing for Mandie her friends. College is on the horizon already! :)

This book begins with a rather funny start when the turkey from the oven goes missing!
Then Mandie and her friends go a mission to figure out just where the turkey could have been taken as well as some other items that get lost along the way. I think that the final result of the way the mystery is resolved is very hilarious considering the somewhat depressing title of the book.

Leppard, Lois G. PB

Always including the disclaimer at the top that these books have outdated, offensive, gross depictions of people of color.

Unfortunately, this book was a repeat of recent books for the most part. I was excited at the beginning to see the author's note that she would be picking up the pace on Mandie's story, just to be disappointed that the first several chapters were repeating the process of searching the Shaw house that we saw in book 27.

How was Mandie able to discover a whole ancient journal despite searching more carefully in book 27? Papers are harder to find than turkeys. I also did not particularly enjoy the conclusion of some of these mysteries. The scarf being on the ground the hallway, the quilt being treated like a mystery and then set adise for another book, the failure to explain how a whole man knew there was a turkey cooking and stealing it undetected, the journal turning out to be basically nothing, Mandie appearing interested in what happened to the turkey for no real reason, the baddies turning to Jesus with minimal prompting, yet another convenient connection to the Shaw's.

Now for a few things I did like in this book. We got the clues and mysterious happenings sprinkled in at a better pace this time. There was danger, adventure, and a scuffle at the end that made it feel like real stakes were at play. I thought there was a chance Dr. Woodard was in terrible danger. I also enjoyed Mandie's interactions with her friends this time. She was much less bratty, she was trying to entertain everyone without forcing her ideas on them, and everyone seemed to get along quite well.

In all honesty, I think this book would have served better if Joe going away was treated as the main plot and there were no mysteries. Just for one book to push along a big change to the relationships in Mandie's life.

No looking forward to, I assume, another miscommunication plot in the next book.

Fun in between mystery

About this book:

“With only a few days left of her Christmas holidays with Joe, Sallie, Jonathan, and Polly at the Shaw house, Mandie is shocked to hear that a turkey has been stolen from Aunt Lou's oven in broad daylight. Whoever would do such a thing, and where have they taken it? Might is still be hidden in the house?
Mandie and her friends begin the search for the missing turkey, but instead of solving the mystery, they uncover another mystery, and then another, and another. No matter how hard they try, they can't see, to solve any of them. But when Dr. Woodard disappears, things get very serious-and dangerous!
Still nothing can chase away the pain that Mandie knows is coming!”


Series: Book #30 in “Mandie” series. (To read the reviews of the previous books in this series, click the number to be taken to that review: #1! #2! #3! #4! #5! #6! #7! #8! #9! #10! #11! #12! #13! #14! #15! #16! #17! #18! #19! #20! #21! #22! #23! #24! #25! #26! #27! #28! #29!) {There also is the “Young Mandie Mystery” series, (Book #1 review Here and Book #2 review Here!) but they do not connect together well.}


Spiritual Content- A Scripture is mentioned, quoted, & prayed; A few prayers & blessings; Church Going; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, & services; Mentions of holidays; A couple mentions of prayers & praying; A couple mentions of thanking the Lord;
*Note: A mention of spooks.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘shut up’, and four ‘shucks’; All about mentions of a thief, stealing, & a stolen item; Mentions of people shooting people; Mentions of outlaws & robbing a bank; Mentions of pain, fighting, & guns aimed; A couple mentions of deaths; A couple mentions of jail; A mention of car games (gambling); A mention of the possibility of chickens being ran over.


Sexual Content- a blown kiss and a cheek kiss; A couple hand touches (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of Mandie & Joe marrying when they’re older & blushes; A few mentions of jealousy.

-Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, age 13
P.O.V. of Mandie
Set in 1901
156 pages (also available in a collection with two other Mandie books.)

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Pre Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
New Teens- Four Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars
Alllllllllllll the Mandie and Joe feels, y’all.
I quite honestly didn’t care much about the mysteries in this one…there was so much Mandie and Joe that caught my interest instead! This is still technically a pre-teen series though, so it’s very clean and there’s only light hints of the possibility of the two getting married when they’re older. It’s really SO precious! This is probably one of my very favorites of the series because of that! :)


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

I love the Mandie books! My mom read the whole series like me and she said it was awesome! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!