Things may seem weird but it may be a clue to the mystery!

Nancy Drew: The crooked banister (1971)

Keene, Carolyn
Mystery
Disclaimers:none
Rating 7/10


             
          Nancy Drew is a  young, and smart, amateur detective.  Her dad is a lawyer who whenever he has a client who has a "mystery" to solve he always tells her about them.  In the crooked banister Nancys dad tells her about a client that he has who someone scammed them who has been scamming other people and will change his name. They soon meet the "crooked banister's" siblings who all the sudden one day got a key in the mail from him.  They soon found out that their brother had ran away so they go inside his house and find all sorts of clues to the mystery of where he is at.  But you will have to read the book to find out about these clues that the "crooked banister" leaves for them to solve!


           As you keep reading this book you start to learn that being a true friend is important.  Because, there is a lot of times when Nancy and her friends can stab each other in the back. But they don't because they know that ruing a friendship would be worse than keeping a clue that could give you all the pride and fame of solving the mystery. In this book it focus a lot on that.


         The crooked banister is a decently good book.  There were times when is was reading when I didn't want to because I felt like it was just repeating the same information over and over again.  But there were also times when I didn't want to put the book down because it would get so intense. Keene uses a third person omniscient narrator for this book.  Which I really like because, it tells you what the main character is thinking and also what the other characters are thinking.


         The crooked banister is for sure a middle/late elementary school book.  Because, of all the lessons it teaches in the book.  It also is for this age group I think is because of the little "jokes" that Keene puts in the book. They are jokes that little kids would think that would be funny for example: one of the things that the crooked banister puts in his house goes along with his name that they try to make into a joke little kids would think it would be hilarious.


           I think that the crooked banister would be a good book to read if you were a little kid.  If you were a teenager trying to find a good book this would diffidently not be a good book to read.  But if you were a kid looking for a funny book I would diffidently read this book. A kids review said "This book is by Carolyn Keen. It's titled The Crooked Banister. A wonderful mystery waiting to be explored .This book is about a zigzag house and its mysterious features. It will have weird thing happening and sad things appear. Many people try to solve a mystery and get in to HOT water! The main character Rawley lives in this extraordinary house, and he leaves clues to help others figure his house out. Some swindlers during the story try to cheat people out of their money, in frightful ways. Check out this wonderful mystery of suprises!

I think this book is very exciting, especially when the moat catches on fire. Also when Nancy finds thousands of dollars hidden in a secret place inside a wall! If you like adventurous and mystery stories I think you should read this book. My opinion of the best part is when, George and Burt slide down the banister. Into a wall where they find a secret passage way where they find some really weird suprises!

Some parts of the story are hilarious, especially when the robot comes into action! By doing a little Karate, you know HI-Yah! If you are into funny stories that just take a few days to read, get this book right off the shelf."  J.Thiel jtthiel said " Nancy investigates an oddly constructed house built by a man her father is investigating on charges of swindling numerous people. I read this book the first time when I was about ten years old and I loved it. I just reread it and thought that it was one of the worst books I've ever read. The summary at the beginning of the book makes it sound like it will a very interesting book, but it's not. The mystery is something anyone could have created, the house is not exciting, there is very little action and no suspence. In the end, Nancy can't even capture the owner of the house. I won't spoil the "exciting" ending, so let's just say that he is unavailable for capturing. It all made for a boring ending to a boring book. Boring! Boring! Boring!!! If you can't tell, I found this book to be boring, don't waste your time on it."