Child Life Mystery-Adventure Book: Stories for Boys and Girls

Title: Child Life Mystery-Adventure Book
Author: Compiled by Marjorie Barrows and Frances Cavanah
Publication: Rand McNally & Company, hardcover, 1936
Genre: Children’s Short Story Collection

Description: Child Life was an illustrated American children's magazine that began in 1922 and contained stories, games, people profiles, and other columns. It was incorporated into Children’s Digest in the 1960s, which stopped publishing in 2009. I can’t tell if this volume of adventure stories was specially commissioned or was a compilation from that year’s issues. There are some prominent names included: writer-illustrators Genevieve Foster (a Newbery Honor recipient four times) and Marguerite de Angeli (Newbery Award winner in 1950 for The Door in the Wall). Also, to my surprise, the collection includes a short story by Constance Savery. I was quite sure I had not come across any of her work before last spring when she was brought to my attention by Ellen Ruffin, curator of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection but, clearly, I was wrong as I read this book as a child. However, I do remember reading books by Child Life Associate Editor Frances Cavanah (1899-1982) in my school library. I think her best-known book was Jenny Lind and Her Listening Cat which was a Scholastic paperback but I also recall The Secret of Madame Doll and more recently I found a copy of When Americans Came to New Orleans, which I donated to More Than Words just last year, not expecting to see her name again.

The stories in this anthology include:

⧫ A Flying Knight by Bess Ann Elliot, illustrated by Genevieve Foster
⧫ Adventure in a Chimney, written and illustrated by Florence Choate
⧫ Adventure at Camp by Vere Krog, illustrated by Ruth King
⧫ Christmas Inside Out by Edith Mason Armstrong, illustrated by Genevieve Foster
⧫ The Mystery of the Spooky Baseball by Vere Krog, illustrated by L. Kate Deal
⧫ The Playhouse Adventure by Ruby Lorraine Radford, illustrated by Genevieve Foster
⧫ Ghost of Goldmount Manor by Rosalee Hawthorne, illustrated by Clarence Biers
⧫ Bertram's Adventure with the Camel by Paul T. Gilbert, illustrated by Minnie H. Rousseff
⧫ Mystery of the Talking Stove by Janet P. Shaw, illustrated by Pauline Batchelder Adams
⧫ The Wastwych Secret by Constance Savery, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli
⧫ What’s in a Name by Ruth H. Colby, illustrated by Eleanor O. Eadie
⧫ Stunts by Mae Foster Jay, illustrated by Donn P. Crane
⧫ The Case of the Home vs. Rex by Laura Long, illustrated by Alexander Key

My Impression: The stories all have a theme of mystery or adventure although sometimes the mystery is as trivial as the eerie sound made by birds or the adventure is caring for an ungrateful camel (this reminded me of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle). Several did stand out. Ned in A Flying Knight is fascinated by flying and has worked for months doing errands for a neighbor in order to purchase a Boys’ Aviator Costume from a catalog. His parents have promised to take him to the city to see flying ace Jack Picard and the outfit arrives just in time. At the last minute, his parents have to go buy a cow and he is left, disappointed, in charge of the farm for the day. When a storm causes the great flyer to make an emergency stop in the family’s pasture, Ned gets to entertain Picard and is rewarded for his selflessness with a trip to DC to fly with his hero.

Adventure in a Chimney is a historical story set in old Salem involving a boy chimney sweep who collapses and breaks his leg while cleaning the chimney at Miss Sally’s home. Distrusting his uncle, she keeps Richard while he is recuperating and becomes fond of him. When the alleged uncle reappears to steal the valuables, Richard is forced to choose between the man he fears and the woman who has tended him back to health. Fortunately, he makes the right decision and his reward is adoption and a loving home.  I recognized illustrator Florence Choate's name because I also own her book, Pinafores and Pantalets.

The Wastwych Secret by Constance Savery is not up to her usual standard of intrepid characters. It is set in 1809 and the protagonists are silly children who are persuaded by an officious neighbor that their grandmother is a witch because she has been seen visiting the nearby marshes at night. I guessed that she was tending to someone ill or injured and it turned out to be her estranged son Humphrey. The stern grandfather reminded me of the one in The Reb and the Redcoats but a reconciliation duly takes place.

Source: I know this book belonged to my father when he was a child but the inscription merely says, “Given by Jacqueline Sargent,” which is not a name I recognize. This is my fifth book for the 2022 Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.

(Child Life images copyright to Rand McNally)