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Mandie #12
Mandie and the Washington Nightmare
Mandie's return to school after her eventful Christmas vacation finds her not knowing whether she will be able to accept President McKinley's invitation to the White House. After a long talk, Grandmother Taft agrees to accompany her to Washington where they will be joined by Joe and Sallie.
The first night at the White House, Mandie hears something in the hallway and is convinced that she sees George Washington who's been dead for over one hundred years! The nights that follow she sees him again in different places.
Mandie's mystery is about to turn into a gigantic surprise!
The first night at the White House, Mandie hears something in the hallway and is convinced that she sees George Washington who's been dead for over one hundred years! The nights that follow she sees him again in different places.
Mandie's mystery is about to turn into a gigantic surprise!
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1989
8 people are currently reading
363 people want to read
About the author
Lois Gladys Leppard
120 books289 followersLois Gladys Leppard was the author of the Mandie series of children's novels. Leppard wrote her first Mandie story when she was only eleven and a half years old, but did not become a professional author until she was an adult. Leppard has also worked as a professional singer, actress, and playwright. At one time, she and her two sisters, Sybil and Louise, formed a singing group called the Larke Sisters.
There are forty Mandie books in the main series, an eight-book junior series and several other titles. Leppard said that she could write a Mandie book in two weeks, barring any interruptions.
The eponymous heroine lives in North Carolina in the early 1900s, encountering adventure and solving mysteries with help from her friends, family, and pet cat, Snowball. These young reader novels are meant to teach morals as well as be fun and captivating stories to read. Leppard stated that her books contain "nothing occult or vulgar", and Mandie is depicted as a faithful Christian. The Mandie books often deal with issues of discrimination and prejudice relating to race (particularly with regard to the local Cherokee), class, and disability.
Lois Gladys Leppard based some of the incidents in her Mandie books on her mother's experiences growing up in North Carolina. The dedication in the first book is: "For My Mother, Bessie A. Wilson Leppard, and In Memory of Her Sister, Lillie Margaret Ann Wilson Frady, Orphans of North Carolina Who Outgrew the Sufferings of Childhood".
There are forty Mandie books in the main series, an eight-book junior series and several other titles. Leppard said that she could write a Mandie book in two weeks, barring any interruptions.
The eponymous heroine lives in North Carolina in the early 1900s, encountering adventure and solving mysteries with help from her friends, family, and pet cat, Snowball. These young reader novels are meant to teach morals as well as be fun and captivating stories to read. Leppard stated that her books contain "nothing occult or vulgar", and Mandie is depicted as a faithful Christian. The Mandie books often deal with issues of discrimination and prejudice relating to race (particularly with regard to the local Cherokee), class, and disability.
Lois Gladys Leppard based some of the incidents in her Mandie books on her mother's experiences growing up in North Carolina. The dedication in the first book is: "For My Mother, Bessie A. Wilson Leppard, and In Memory of Her Sister, Lillie Margaret Ann Wilson Frady, Orphans of North Carolina Who Outgrew the Sufferings of Childhood".
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 29, 2016
About this book:
“Mandie accepts President McKinley's invitation to the White House. While visiting she is convinced she sees George Washington--who's been dead for over one hundred years!”
Series: Book #12 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!) {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- Proverbs 29:23 at the beginning; Prayers & Blessings over food; A couple Scriptures are mentioned and prayed; Church going; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; A few mentions of Church going;
*Note: Mentions of ghosts.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘shuck’s; Jealousy, & Boasting/Bragging; A mention of a family who was killed (no details); A couple mentions of a robbery & someone getting hurt (barely-above-not-detailed).
Sexual Content- N/A
-Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, age 12
P.O.V. of Mandie
Set in 1901
124 pages (also available in a collection with four other Mandie books.)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
New Teens- Four Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars
Oh, Joe! He’s so good to/for Mandie. She changed in the last book and is still having jealousy issues…not my favorite book in this series.
Link to review:
http://booksforchristiangirls.blogspo...
*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.
“Mandie accepts President McKinley's invitation to the White House. While visiting she is convinced she sees George Washington--who's been dead for over one hundred years!”
Series: Book #12 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!) {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- Proverbs 29:23 at the beginning; Prayers & Blessings over food; A couple Scriptures are mentioned and prayed; Church going; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; A few mentions of Church going;
*Note: Mentions of ghosts.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two ‘shuck’s; Jealousy, & Boasting/Bragging; A mention of a family who was killed (no details); A couple mentions of a robbery & someone getting hurt (barely-above-not-detailed).
Sexual Content- N/A
-Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, age 12
P.O.V. of Mandie
Set in 1901
124 pages (also available in a collection with four other Mandie books.)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
New Teens- Four Stars
Early High School Teens- Three Stars (and a half)
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars
Oh, Joe! He’s so good to/for Mandie. She changed in the last book and is still having jealousy issues…not my favorite book in this series.
Link to review:
http://booksforchristiangirls.blogspo...
*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.
May 31, 2018
Mandi is invited to meet the President of the United States but (oddly enough just like right now) everyone puts their own politics between her and the honor bestowed by the President.
A young girl does something amazing - President wants to thank her and everyone else who has political issues with the president wants to make it about what they want.
A young girl does something amazing - President wants to thank her and everyone else who has political issues with the president wants to make it about what they want.
August 25, 2019
Meh, not my fave but ok! Mandie whines a lot tho abt her brother 😂
November 30, 2020
Great mystery series for the mystery reader!
Read
June 29, 2021The storyline on this one is overly dramatic without needing to be. As set up in the previous volume, a 13 year old Mandie is personally invited by the President to the White House and her parents are… too busy? The mother’s excuse of being too pregnant to travel tracks for 1901 but the step father refusing to go when the baby is due in 3 months is baffling.
Also the school won’t let her go because the president isn’t in the part they support, proving that adults are idiots.
Nevertheless Mandie does go to Washington with her grandmother where she overhears a plot to kill the President (!) and then does nothing and tells no one.
Also Mandie decides in a minute that her grandmother needs to be remarried because there’s a convenient plot device, er Senator, to introduce.
While she is excited to go there’s a whole subplot that now she’s bragging? Weirdly the author starts putting in behavior which feels age appropriate and then implying it’s inappropriate and making the character spoiled. For example, at the start of the series Mandie had lived on a rural farm her whole life. Now she’s complaining that she has to wait until JULY to go to Europe!?! And it’s somewhat forgotten that Mandie lost her dad, got kicked out of her home to be free labor for another family, found her uncle, and met her mother within, like, a month. Then, right after reuniting with her mother Mandie was sent off to school and seen her mother for just a few weeks. Of course that 12 yo child would be jealous of a new sibling! Of course she would want time with her parents alone!
So in short it feels like the author can’t decide if Mandie should really grow up and get over the new baby or is too grown up and now spoiled because she has new dresses and got excited that the president invited her to Washington (when all the adults in her life downplayed the accomplishment).
Also the school won’t let her go because the president isn’t in the part they support, proving that adults are idiots.
Nevertheless Mandie does go to Washington with her grandmother where she overhears a plot to kill the President (!) and then does nothing and tells no one.
Also Mandie decides in a minute that her grandmother needs to be remarried because there’s a convenient plot device, er Senator, to introduce.
While she is excited to go there’s a whole subplot that now she’s bragging? Weirdly the author starts putting in behavior which feels age appropriate and then implying it’s inappropriate and making the character spoiled. For example, at the start of the series Mandie had lived on a rural farm her whole life. Now she’s complaining that she has to wait until JULY to go to Europe!?! And it’s somewhat forgotten that Mandie lost her dad, got kicked out of her home to be free labor for another family, found her uncle, and met her mother within, like, a month. Then, right after reuniting with her mother Mandie was sent off to school and seen her mother for just a few weeks. Of course that 12 yo child would be jealous of a new sibling! Of course she would want time with her parents alone!
So in short it feels like the author can’t decide if Mandie should really grow up and get over the new baby or is too grown up and now spoiled because she has new dresses and got excited that the president invited her to Washington (when all the adults in her life downplayed the accomplishment).
December 21, 2022
This one felt really slow and dragged out to me. And the mystery with George Washington was just silly.
It also felt like the author was trying to make Mandie look like a brat but wasn’t very good at writing her that way on purpose. I appreciate that she tries to make Mandie flawed, but there was like one comment that Mandie made about how she was better than the other girls because they had money and hadn’t done anything worthwhile with it, and we were supposed to just act like that was her whole personality now.
The ending felt abrupt too, but maybe that’s because I was reading it in a collection and didn’t realize the end of this one was coming up.
It also felt like the author was trying to make Mandie look like a brat but wasn’t very good at writing her that way on purpose. I appreciate that she tries to make Mandie flawed, but there was like one comment that Mandie made about how she was better than the other girls because they had money and hadn’t done anything worthwhile with it, and we were supposed to just act like that was her whole personality now.
The ending felt abrupt too, but maybe that’s because I was reading it in a collection and didn’t realize the end of this one was coming up.
March 8, 2020
Gonna be honest, Mandie’s pride and jealousy is really starting to get overwhelming! I think that’s why this one wasn’t the best, but from what I’ve read, they get better which I’m looking forward to! As a history fan, this one entertained me and I loved all the details of DC. This was another “chill and get to know Mandie” book, like its predecessor, the Holiday Surprise. While I enjoy a break from the action, I am really looking forward to a more action-packed book. Hopefully I’ll find this in the next one!
May 17, 2023
Mandie receives an invitation from President McKinley to attend his inauguration and be his guest at the White House. Despite many obstacles that nearly prevented her from going to Washington, she is finally able to go. At the White House, she and a couple of her friends have an experience of a lifetime.
October 6, 2023
Glad to see Snowball's character fleshed out in this book. It may be rife with Christian nationalism and an unsatisfying plot twist in which the murder threat was overblown, but it was a gripping read and a guilty pleasure read until the end.
April 27, 2020
This book taught me about the assassination of President William McKinley, and that's all it had going for it.
March 24, 2024
Would not recommend.
June 7, 2025
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
January 23, 2026
I really enjoyed the plot of this book and how the story ended. It was so well written and the ending was great!
May 9, 2020
Title: Mandie and the Washington Nightmare
Author: Lois Gladys Leppard
Series: Mandie, 12
Format: ebook, bind-up
Length: N/A
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis: Mandie's return to school after her eventful Christmas vacation finds her not knowing whether she will be able to accept President McKinley's invitation to the White House. After a long talk, Grandmother Taft agrees to accompany her to Washington where they will be joined by Joe and Sallie.
The first night at the White House, Mandie hears something in the hallway and is convinced that she sees George Washington who's been dead for over one hundred years! The nights that follow she sees him again in different places.
Mandie's mystery is about to turn into a gigantic surprise!
Favourite character: Uncle Ned & Sallie
Least favourite character: Mandie & Miss Prudence
Mini-review: Mandie is invited to meet the president of the USA and be in attendance for his inauguration. Most of the book is Miss Prudence and Grandmother Taft in a battle of wits as to whether or not Mandie can go to Washington or not. (Prudence no, Grandma yes.) Then when Miss Prudence caves (because Mandie is a spoiled brat who always gets her way) there is no nightmare. Also, this whole book just felt unrealistic.
Fan Cast:
Amanda "Mandie" Shaw - Emma Rayne Lyle
Celia Hamilton - Sadie Sink
Grandmother Taft - Meryl Streep
Miss Prudence Heathwood - Mary Steenburgen
Miss Hope Heathwood - Patricia Heaton
Uncle Ned Sweetwater - Zahn McClarnon
Joe Woodard - Louis Hynes
Senator Morton - Donald Sutherland
April Snow - Emily Carey
Etrulia Batson - Emily Alyn Lind
Thomas "Tommy" Patton - Asher Angel
Robert Rogers - Kyle Red Silverstein
Author: Lois Gladys Leppard
Series: Mandie, 12
Format: ebook, bind-up
Length: N/A
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis: Mandie's return to school after her eventful Christmas vacation finds her not knowing whether she will be able to accept President McKinley's invitation to the White House. After a long talk, Grandmother Taft agrees to accompany her to Washington where they will be joined by Joe and Sallie.
The first night at the White House, Mandie hears something in the hallway and is convinced that she sees George Washington who's been dead for over one hundred years! The nights that follow she sees him again in different places.
Mandie's mystery is about to turn into a gigantic surprise!
Favourite character: Uncle Ned & Sallie
Least favourite character: Mandie & Miss Prudence
Mini-review: Mandie is invited to meet the president of the USA and be in attendance for his inauguration. Most of the book is Miss Prudence and Grandmother Taft in a battle of wits as to whether or not Mandie can go to Washington or not. (Prudence no, Grandma yes.) Then when Miss Prudence caves (because Mandie is a spoiled brat who always gets her way) there is no nightmare. Also, this whole book just felt unrealistic.
Fan Cast:
Amanda "Mandie" Shaw - Emma Rayne Lyle
Celia Hamilton - Sadie Sink
Grandmother Taft - Meryl Streep
Miss Prudence Heathwood - Mary Steenburgen
Miss Hope Heathwood - Patricia Heaton
Uncle Ned Sweetwater - Zahn McClarnon
Joe Woodard - Louis Hynes
Senator Morton - Donald Sutherland
April Snow - Emily Carey
Etrulia Batson - Emily Alyn Lind
Thomas "Tommy" Patton - Asher Angel
Robert Rogers - Kyle Red Silverstein
September 19, 2012
I admit it: I am reviewing these books years after reading them. However, do not even suggest that I'm no longer qualified, that too many years have passed to remember. My battered and faded copies of these books testify to how many times I read them growing up and plots and entire passages are seared in my memory forever.
Snowball always ran away, Mandie always got in trouble, Uncle Ned always rescued her, and Joe and Tommy bristled at each other. I myself preferred Joe, but Tommy's cosmopolitan airs nearly tipped the balance a time or two. I recall- fondly and as though it were yesterday- my glee when Mandie went off to Europe, my disgust at the new baby, my delight in Mandie's wardrobe of sky blue frocks, my puzzlement at all her near escapes and handy school vacations, my terror during the daring midnight adventures. Ah me, to be young and silly again...
If I had written goodreads reviews at the age of eleven, all Mandie books would've received automatic five-star ratings and gushing descriptions. As an adult, I will honestly give them all three stars, except for my special pets. And if I ever have a little girl, I will buy her the entire set. Oh, and did you know there are more than forty books in the series by now? And I'm guessing Mandie never grows up, either.
Snowball always ran away, Mandie always got in trouble, Uncle Ned always rescued her, and Joe and Tommy bristled at each other. I myself preferred Joe, but Tommy's cosmopolitan airs nearly tipped the balance a time or two. I recall- fondly and as though it were yesterday- my glee when Mandie went off to Europe, my disgust at the new baby, my delight in Mandie's wardrobe of sky blue frocks, my puzzlement at all her near escapes and handy school vacations, my terror during the daring midnight adventures. Ah me, to be young and silly again...
If I had written goodreads reviews at the age of eleven, all Mandie books would've received automatic five-star ratings and gushing descriptions. As an adult, I will honestly give them all three stars, except for my special pets. And if I ever have a little girl, I will buy her the entire set. Oh, and did you know there are more than forty books in the series by now? And I'm guessing Mandie never grows up, either.
October 10, 2014
my favorite part was when mandie solved the mystery. it was only a person dressed up as the person. the worst part was when mandie thought it was a ghost because that person died a long time ago. my favorite character was mandie because she always solves mysteries. there was no worst character in this book beacuse the worst part was caused by mandies imagination. Auryn 11 years old
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2012
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.
Read
September 24, 2007Leppard, Lois G. PB
March 10, 2008
Cute. All the Mandie books are just very cute and suitable for little girls who like old-fashioned adventure.
Read
January 21, 2009JMAR4-Lev
November 6, 2017
Another great Mandie book! 5 stars! One of my favs!
Read
September 16, 2017Maddie gets an invitation to the White House, but with Elizabeth pregnant, and Grandmother preparing for a trip to France, nobody can take her.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews