Menace at Mammoth Cave: A Kit Mystery

American Girl: Kit

by Mary Casanova, Juliana Kolesova (Illustrator)

Kit is in Kentucky to visit her brother, Charlie, and her Aunt Millie. She's looking forward to riding horses and touring Mammoth Cave. But trouble has come to the quiet Kentucky hill country, and with locals blaming the CCC workers, Kit fears that Charlie's life is in danger. Then Kit discovers that the culprit may be someone she knows. Soon, Kit isn't sure who she can trust. But one thing is certain: she's got to find the culprit -- before things get worse.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens, Historical, Juvenile, Fiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2018

About the author

Mary Casanova is an award-winning children's author of novels and picture books. Many of her books stem from her life on the Minnesota-Canadian border; yet some of her stories have taken her as far away as France, Norway, and Belize for research. Whatever the setting for her books, Casanova writes stories that matter--and stories that kids can't put down.

Her book awards include: American Library Association "Notable," Aesop Accolades by the American Folklore Society, Parents' Choice "Gold" Award, Booklist Editor Choice, and two Minnesota Book Awards. Her books frequently land on state children's choice book master lists across the country. "The greatest reward for me," Casanova states, "is when a young reader tells me she or he loves one of my books. For me, it's all about communicating writer-to-reader through a character and story."

Casanova grew up in a family of ten children in St. Paul, Minnesota. In a bustling camp-like atmosphere, Casanova found that writing became her voice. "Words are my paintbrush," she explains, "my way of exploring the world around me."

Now, with 19 books published and many more under contract and forthcoming, she divides her time between writing and traveling. Nationally and internationally, at schools and conferences, Casanova shares her love of writing and reading with children and adults.

Her newest novel, The Klipfish Code, makes use of Mary's on-site research in Norway. The story explores an important facet of Norwegian history through the experiences of Marit, a 12-year-old Norwegian girl who finds a way to fight against the 5-year Nazi occupation of Norway. Marit and her brother Lars are separated from their parents (who are working for the Resistance) and sent to live on an island with their gruff grandfather and school teacher aunt. During the course of the story, Marit's aunt is one of the Norwegian school teachers that gets sent to a concentration camp for refusing to integrate Nazi propaganda into her classroom. With potential danger waiting every turn, Marit finds a way to help the Resistance and eventually reunite her family.

Mary's series, Dog Watch (Simon and Schuster) is based on her northern Minnesota village where dogs are allowed to roam free—as long as they don't get in trouble. If they get in trouble, they earn a sticker on their page at the village clerk's office; too many stickers and a trouble-making dog must remain at home. "I never know where the next story will come from. It’s a delight when the stories come right from this corner of the world I call home." She makes her home in a 100-year old house on Rainy Lake with her husband, Charles, and their three "above average" dogs and spends free time with their horses, Jay and Midnight.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kit's brother Charlie is working with a CCC group creating the national park at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Conveniently, their Aunt Millie has a friend in the area, so she and Kit come to visit. Unfortunately, the creation of the national park means that many of the locals are being forced to sell their land, and tensions are high. Someone's been causing mischief, and Kit wants to find out who! Which she sort of does? She stumbles into the answers by the end, but all around this is not her best outing.


More Kit babble

Meet Kit | Kit Learns a Lesson | Kit’s Surprise | Happy Birthday, Kit | Kit Saves the Day | Changes for Kit

Really, Truly Ruthie

Kit’s Home Run | Kit’s Tree House | Kit’s Short Story Collection

Danger at the Zoo | Midnight in Lonesome Hollow | A Thief at the Theater | Missing Grace | Intruders at Rivermead Manor | The Jazzman’s Trumpet | Menace at Mammoth Cave

[Beth E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked out this book because it is set at Mammoth Caves, a wonderful place that I have visited.

I really liked that this book takes an in depth look at the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, during the Depression.

My grandfather and all my uncles worked for the CCC. It was a life saver. It was the first time in a long time that these young men got enough to eat. It allowed them to send money home to their families, like Kit's brother did.

Sixty years later, my great-aunt still took us to visit a dam that was created in the CCC. She spoke with such reverence of the program. It was so important in their lives. Those who benefited from the program never forgot.

This book not only shows the importance of the CCC and national parks, it also showed the darker side, and how some families were negatively affected by having to move off their land to make way for the projects.

I was blown away by the story told by this book.

What I did not like was the way that Kit rushed around accusing those around her of crimes.
Some of the characters that she accused were African American, and could have faced much harsher recriminations if Kit's accusations had been taken seriously. This was not addressed by the book.

[Chaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Got about 74 pages in and even for a kid’s book this was bad. I’m not convinced the author ever read any of Kit’s books because Kit seemed horribly out of character the entire time. There was a lot of moralizing about rural people being racist in the 1930s when Kit lives in a segregated city. Yes, racism and segregation are wrong but the idea that Kit would be surprised by that is mind-boggling and belies a poor understanding of US history and also how people work, because, again… she has lived her entire life in a segregated city. Segregation is a fact of life for her; while I think she might question why segregation exists when confronted with the inequality (because Kit does have a strong sense of justice and compassion), the way this was done was very tired and boring “rural people are racist and city people are progressive”, which is a massive oversimplification and something progressive people in rural areas have been fighting for hundreds of years.
Also the idea that Kit would be afraid of a harmless little bat? No.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this one, because I'm been to Mammoth Cave several times. And I did enjoy it, and there's a lot to like about it. Casanova gives a fairly balanced view of the formation of National Parks: on one hand, they're wonderful and valuable creations. On the other, forming a national park isn't without casualties. The people who are getting evicted from their homes, homes they've lived in for generations, are treated compassionately. Their anger and grief is considered justified in the context of this book. That said, the mystery isn't really solvable from the information presented in the book. And there's also this strange thread with the story of Floyd Collins, and it's extremely odd to me that nobody really tells Kit the whole story in one go, instead of different characters giving it to her in dribs and drabs.

[faith wallace chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was an enjoyable read, but i was utterly disappointed by the ending. you'd expect it to be interesting and surprising, considering this is a mystery. but nope. of course, it had to be sweet and innocent and no one was a bad guy in the end.
on top of that, this book was a bit.. er, very cheesy. i sort of expected that since it's american girl, but... i think it could still be avoided. if you can include smoking in a book meant for nine year-olds, why can't you make it a realistic story with better writing?

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two things up front: not the target audience and also I read this while terribly sick with the flu.

I like my mysteries solvable and Kit's book has a few mysteries that seem connected but aren't, and the big one that Kit spends the longest amount of time trying to solve is simply not solvable as it's a "oh, and btw, someone completely unrelated set the fire!" kind of thread tying up ending.

To be fair, the mystery of the other big fire (not the truck fire) is pretty obvious in what happened, why, how, and who. It's just a surprise it took Kit so long to figure it out, though I guess trying to babysit a very sick old woman and trying to stop said fire would take a lot of your attention so there you go.

American Girl books don't always have very happy, tidy endings. Menace at Mammoth Cave is one of those. The people Kit meets during her trip don't all get happy endings to their stories of being forced from their homes. Heck, one family doesn't even get an ending as far as I can tell. Kit herself finds herself alone with a dead body and understandably freaks out more than a little, and the book tries to end on a positive note (kittens for Kit and Millie! National Parks are gonna be awesome!) but it still feels very much a downer. Or did to me, anyway, but that could very well be the flu talking.

I liked this mystery far more than her Trumpet mystery as this one at least felt like Kit and her era, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would.

[Little Seal]

I am conflicted on this one. I like some aspects but man, Kit was blaming every one left and right, in more of an obnoxious way than the other mysteries I have read thus far. Yet it is not my least favorite of Kit's mysteries (at the time of the review, I have not read 'Intruders at Rivermead Manor').

[Lilly DeFeudis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining! Great for road trips! But the mystery was resolved and solved too quickly.🙂

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

RTC

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

1934 - Kentucky
This takes place in August. It's about building a national park and the repercussions of doing so. Also, there are horses and kittens.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat little packaged story in the time span of a vacation. Lots of red Herring. Good time overall to spend reading.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery, adventure, history and a National park. This book has all of these elements and more.

[Jessica Arend · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really sad that this is my last Kit book.

[Jaime]

very fun