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THE SECRET OF THE BRADFORD HOUSE
by Albert A. Bell, jr
Ingalls Publishing Group, April 2010
159 pages
$11.95
ISBN: 1932158871


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Steve Patterson is having an interesting summer. He’s reconnecting with his father, who now lives in Florida with his new wife. He’s reading a lot about baseball, and baseball cards, while his friend Kendra Jordan takes tennis lessons. The new girl on the neighborhood, Rachel Mendoza, treats Steve very differently than Kendra does; Steve isn’t quite sure what that means or how he feels about it, but Kendra sure doesn’t like it much.

Kendra is much more excited about the possibility of a ghost at The Bradford House, even if Rachel is the one who brings it up. Kendra likes Sherlock Holmes, and wants to investigate the lights and other possible manifestations of ghosts. Steve has mixed feelings, not just about investigating.

His father wants him to come to Florida for Christmas; Steve’s going to have a new brother or sister. Steve can’t understand why Kendra is upset about Rachel, except he totally understands the tennis rivalry part of it. None of the adults want the kids anywhere near The Bradford House, and most of the reasons make sense to Steve.

Bell weaves a lot of information into a relatively small book, and there is never that feeling that he’s doing a data dump. Steve is 11, and inquisitive about things he’s interested in; Kendra is inquisitive about things she doesn’t know much about. It’s a good combination, although they don’t always see eye to eye.

THE SECRET OF THE BRADFORD HOUSE doesn’t read, at least in the beginning, like a contemporary novel. I had to readjust my mental take on the time period when Kendra’s mother revokes her “screen time”; this felt more like it was set in the 1950’s. Steve is, for a kid his age, amazingly clueless about the nature of relationships between boys and girls of his age. I find that hard to believe, given the ubiquitous sexual content of almost every television show around, even those aimed at pre-teens. His blindness to the racial implications of his relationship to Kendra is also hard to believe, given that they live in rural Kentucky. Other than that, BRADFORD HOUSE is a good mystery, well suited for young mystery readers and kids one would like to steer toward mystery reading.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, January 2010

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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