The Search for the Missing Twin

Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess #10

by Helen Wells

#10 in the Vicki Barr Air Stewardess Series.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Original name: Helen Weinstock. Social worker turned full-time young adult writer, born in Illinois but moved with family to New York City when she was seven. In 1934 Wells graduated from New York University [where she'd been the first female editor of the literary quarterly], with a major in philosophy and a minor in sociology and psychology.

During World War II, she served as a volunteer with the State Department's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, escorting Latin American visitors in the United States.

Author of Cherry Ames, Nurse books, a series for young teens.

She was also the author of the Vicki Barr books, about a young mystery-solving flight attendant. And, as Francine Lewis, she penned the short-lived Polly French series (1950s), aimed at a younger readership.

After writing the first eight books of the Cherry Ames series and the first three Vicki Barr books, Wells decided to abandon both series to write for television and radio, and Julie Tatham took over (however, both the ninth Cherry Ames book and the fourth Vicki Barr book were published under Wells's name). Tatham later returned the Vicki Barr books to Wells in 1953 and the Cherry Ames books in 1955.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third Vicki Barr book. I feel like Vicki is becoming a dear chum! She is so charming, intelligent, kind and spunky (without being irritating). I love that, no matter how far her adventures take her, she always loves to return to her family and I wish I could go share a family dinner at The Castle. The books are a breeze to read (without being insipid) and the writing style really "clicks" with me.

Here we have another mystery that would probably never be a "mystery" in today's world with all our technological resources. Vicki flies some emergency supplies to a storm-battered island off the coast of Maine where Vicki's family had spent a summer vacation the previous year. She delivers a beautiful toddler dress with a rather unique pattern of embroidered bluebells among the is goodwill clothing. Through this (very big) coincidence, Vicki learns that her friend Mary's mother has a matching toddler dress hidden away. It is revealed that Mary is actually a twin, that her sister went missing in the shipwreck fifteen years ago that drowned the father (the mother has since remarried)! The twins' mother was (again, conveniently for the plot) suffering from shock and amnesia for two years after the shipwreck and when she was able to begin an earnest search for her missing daughter it was fruitless. Vicki, with her penchant for helping people and her ability to travel around the country as a stewardess (and now pilot in her own right!), is keen to help the Verga family find the missing twin. How she does it does rely a bit overmuch on coincidence, but it's an enjoyable ride none the less. I was also rather surprised how much information people were willing to give to Vicki as she searched for the missing girl (such as businesses giving information about former employees) but maybe this was more common back in the '50s than in our more reticent, security-conscious age.

I do appreciate that Wells includes some thought-provoking passages for her young readers. For example, in discussing the friendship between Mr. Verga and Vicki's father, a lobsterman:
"Professor Barr had found in Benjamin Verga a philosophical man with whom to talk. Mr. Verga's book learning was scanty, but he has his own self-reliant Maine philosophy. Mr. Verga in his turn valued a man of learning. Many afternoons the two men had conversed together on the beach, while Mr. Verga mended his traps or painted his dory. 'You wouldn't think,' Lewis Barr had later remarked, 'one could learn much about economics from a Main lobsterman but Verga has taught me several things the world would be better for observing.'"

I also appreciate the "girl power" in these books. Someone, usually a man, is always taking Vicki at face value (she's so slim and pretty and blonde) and think she can't do anything. Now, she is not only a stewardess but a licensed pilot and it's such fun to see her surprise people with this information!
"When I saw you yesterday I said to myself, 'There's a little bit o' fluff, helpless as a newborn yellow chick,'" says an opinionated old man.
Vicki protests, "I'm about as helpless as a- a-"
"As a licensed pilot. I sure was wrong. Well, I always was a sport. You ca bet your life I'll go flyin' with you!"

Lovely descriptions of the Maine island made the travel aspect of the book for me but there isn't as much interesting (to me) travel or air travel as in some of the earlier books.

Given the nature and audience of these stories I think most adult readers can easily guess whether the missing twin will be found. Therefore, I hope I give nothing away by warmly adding that the subject of adoption and adopted families is handled here with wisdom, heart and sensitivity.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Close to 4 stars. Coincidence and rugged determination help Vicki solve her latest mystery. While taking supplies to a Maine island after a storm, Vicki learns of the disappearance of two-year-old Jennifer — "the missing twin" — in a storm fifteen years earlier. Even, Mary, Jennifer's sister, never knew she was a twin. But Mrs. Verga's hope is renewed as Vicki sets out to follow the slim clues she has uncovered.

[Dawn DeJarnatt]

I read this when I was about 10-11 years old. I think it was the first book I ever owned.

[Emma]

i feel like i can’t judge a book written in 1954