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The Hardy Boys #8
The Mystery of Cabin Island
With two mysteries to solve, Frank and Joe must climb aboard their iceboat the Sea Gull to reach Cabin Island, where a belligerent stranger orders them off. Sabotage to the boat, danger to themselves, and a ghostly prowler do not daunt the Hardy boys in their search for Johnny Jefferson and for clues to stolen antique medals. How the teenage investigators outwit a ruthless foe and succeed in solving both mysteries makes for mounting suspense in this brisk-paced adventure.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1929
162 people are currently reading
1485 people want to read
About the author
Franklin W. Dixon
736 books992 followersFranklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
September 13, 2020
This is my first Hardy Boys re-read since elementary school. The stories follow the same format as the Nancy Drew mysteries, and I can see how both series appeal to kids and parents. Comparing the two series, the Hardy Boys seem more action oriented; the boys are always exploring, pursuing, navigating land and water, and just plain detecting in some way.
Apparently, this story is regarded as one of the best among Hardy Boys fans, and I can see why mystery devotees like this one so much. You get a lot of bang for the buck in this mystery with its unique setting and uncommon accessory of an iceboat, as well as a ghostly and exotic character, a coded message, and hidden valuables. There are enough suspicious characters and questionable events to build intrigue and suspense and those elements paired with the remarkable and enviable adventures of the Hardy brothers make this an exciting escape from a humdrum everyday life. Recommended to kids who like mystery, action, and adventure.
Apparently, this story is regarded as one of the best among Hardy Boys fans, and I can see why mystery devotees like this one so much. You get a lot of bang for the buck in this mystery with its unique setting and uncommon accessory of an iceboat, as well as a ghostly and exotic character, a coded message, and hidden valuables. There are enough suspicious characters and questionable events to build intrigue and suspense and those elements paired with the remarkable and enviable adventures of the Hardy brothers make this an exciting escape from a humdrum everyday life. Recommended to kids who like mystery, action, and adventure.
February 7, 2017
Another thrilling adventure for Frank and Joe with the friends Biff and Chet! This time they are using an iceboat (being a Southerner, I didn't even know they existed) and camping in a cabin on Cabin Island with two mysteries to solve. They have to fight off some rowdy no-gooders in Ike and Nash and a pretty insistent bad guy Hanleigh as well as ghosts and ferocious snowstorms! So far, one of my son and I'd favorite Hardy Boy stories full of twists and excitement and Chet's pancakes! Loved it :)
April 4, 2018
This was the first Hardy Boy that I read, and I am glad I did because years ago when I tried to read one of these Hardy Boy books there was just too much action for me to believe what was happening, that is, every time they turned around something bad was happening to one of them. So far, I have not found that to be true of the ones that McFarlane wrote, but I have not read them all.
"The long cold snap had caused rejoicing in the hearts of the young folk of Bayport. Although the ice in mid-bay was not solid, along the shore and in the numerous covers of the indented bay it was frozen to a safe depth. The dark figures of skaters sped like swallows in flight on the miniature natural rinks close to shore, and father out the speeding ice-boats with their billowing sails resembled huge sea gulls as they raced before the wind."
Joe and Frank Hardy are on one such ice-boat, along with their friend Chet. It is almost the Christmas holidays, and they are looking forward to camping out. As they are sailing along they find Cabin Island and decide to stop and see the place. It is supposed to be deserted, but when they get off the boat they find foot prints in the snow, and as they begin to explore the island a stranger tells them to leave. The mystery begins.
Note: You know what those boys need to have? Roasted hot dogs, hot chocolate, and roasted marshmallows. And now I will tell you how to make them:
P.S. if you need chili, mayo or mustard, or even onions, bring them with you.
Make a campfire in a safe place. Cut a branch off a tree and trim it; then sharpen to a point. Place a hot dog on it and roast it over the fire, turning it when needed. Do the same for a mashmallow, but when the marshmallow catches fire, blow the fire out. You just want to marshmallow to be mostly black all over. As for hot chocolate: Boil water on a campfire, and then pour a packet of cocoa powder in each cup.
Note: Copyright: 1929
"The long cold snap had caused rejoicing in the hearts of the young folk of Bayport. Although the ice in mid-bay was not solid, along the shore and in the numerous covers of the indented bay it was frozen to a safe depth. The dark figures of skaters sped like swallows in flight on the miniature natural rinks close to shore, and father out the speeding ice-boats with their billowing sails resembled huge sea gulls as they raced before the wind."
Joe and Frank Hardy are on one such ice-boat, along with their friend Chet. It is almost the Christmas holidays, and they are looking forward to camping out. As they are sailing along they find Cabin Island and decide to stop and see the place. It is supposed to be deserted, but when they get off the boat they find foot prints in the snow, and as they begin to explore the island a stranger tells them to leave. The mystery begins.
Note: You know what those boys need to have? Roasted hot dogs, hot chocolate, and roasted marshmallows. And now I will tell you how to make them:
P.S. if you need chili, mayo or mustard, or even onions, bring them with you.
Make a campfire in a safe place. Cut a branch off a tree and trim it; then sharpen to a point. Place a hot dog on it and roast it over the fire, turning it when needed. Do the same for a mashmallow, but when the marshmallow catches fire, blow the fire out. You just want to marshmallow to be mostly black all over. As for hot chocolate: Boil water on a campfire, and then pour a packet of cocoa powder in each cup.
Note: Copyright: 1929
June 29, 2018
I enjoyed “The Mystery Of Cabin Island”, 1929, very much but gave three stars because, as a voracious reader, I'm conscious of contrived action. The Stratemeyer Syndicate planned these stories and assigned authors; largely Canadian, Leslie McFarlane. After you read a few, it is clear that too much of the action is artificial. One asks why the Hardy Boys didn't travel with the police in their pocket, for the number of guilty characters and burglaries they confronted and near vehicular misses: on the road, in the water, and now on the ice. What financially well-set parents! It's a missing element that the sleuths never needed to be inventive, like “MacGyver”. They always had professional equipment at their fingertips.
This is one of the special stories, with substance in the details of the mystery, of a personal nature. An antique collector is tracking his Grandson. Unfortunately the substance was in the background. I asked myself: what is going on in most of this novel? As worthy as the storyline is, the action is mainly that infamously artificial filler. There is too much running around. Every time the foursome of Frank, Joe, Chet, or Biff left Cabin Island, a rival iceboat bugged them. Whenever they returned to Cabin Island, the known villain had trespassed; an undeniably unintelligent villain.
They should have had the foresight to park police at either end of the ice, or they could have gone to the homes of the iceboat drivers. None of their identities were mysteries. A reader too young to ponder intellectual questions, or content with action, however overtly-fabricated it is, would delight in this story. I look for the gems among the Hardys and Nancy Drew, where I imagine their authors were given carte blanche to shine. There are four- and five-star books among them.
This is one of the special stories, with substance in the details of the mystery, of a personal nature. An antique collector is tracking his Grandson. Unfortunately the substance was in the background. I asked myself: what is going on in most of this novel? As worthy as the storyline is, the action is mainly that infamously artificial filler. There is too much running around. Every time the foursome of Frank, Joe, Chet, or Biff left Cabin Island, a rival iceboat bugged them. Whenever they returned to Cabin Island, the known villain had trespassed; an undeniably unintelligent villain.
They should have had the foresight to park police at either end of the ice, or they could have gone to the homes of the iceboat drivers. None of their identities were mysteries. A reader too young to ponder intellectual questions, or content with action, however overtly-fabricated it is, would delight in this story. I look for the gems among the Hardys and Nancy Drew, where I imagine their authors were given carte blanche to shine. There are four- and five-star books among them.
March 2, 2013
I loved this book - and a lot of the reason was that I was lucky enough to read the 1929 version. Lots of differences - the first being that Frank and Joe are age 16 and 15 respectively in the older books, instead of the 18 / 17 age they are in newer reprints.
The mystery is simple and honestly this book is more a wintertime camping adventure, which I enjoyed too. The clues kept one guessing, and ok some of it was a bit obvious, but the pacing was swift and we still got to spend a considerable amount of time with Chet and Biff, so it's all good.
Overall, I'd really like to track down more of the original books. If you're a Hardy Boys fan, do try them in the older versions. It's an amazing glimpse of life in the 1920s.
and a fun mystery besides!
The mystery is simple and honestly this book is more a wintertime camping adventure, which I enjoyed too. The clues kept one guessing, and ok some of it was a bit obvious, but the pacing was swift and we still got to spend a considerable amount of time with Chet and Biff, so it's all good.
Overall, I'd really like to track down more of the original books. If you're a Hardy Boys fan, do try them in the older versions. It's an amazing glimpse of life in the 1920s.
and a fun mystery besides!
November 5, 2022
A Quickie Review
What can I say about this series that I haven't already said? Another enjoyable episode; another mystery to be solved; more "PG"-level peril. No surprises there, right?
Content Concerns: See above.
Score: 4/5
What can I say about this series that I haven't already said? Another enjoyable episode; another mystery to be solved; more "PG"-level peril. No surprises there, right?
Content Concerns: See above.
Score: 4/5
March 25, 2024
4 Stars. Not that difficult to figure-out what's going on here, unlike one or two earlier Hardy mysteries which left me in the dark until the last few pages, but it's an action packed ride. And enjoyable. A fast read, all HB mysteries come in at 165 to 180 or so pages - part of their 1920s and 1930s formula. This one? 178. I enjoy more sophisticated, complex, and lengthy adult mysteries and thrillers by authors like Sandford, Christie, Parker, Engel, and Stout. But when I was a teenager, I only read a few Hardys and now I know I missed something. Time to catch up. Frank and Joe have earned a reward for solving a car-theft ring and returning the vehicle belonging to Elroy Jefferson. He gives them a stay at his cottage on Cabin Island during Christmas break. It's rough - no electricity, no running water and the weather may be bad. Jefferson adds two more problems for their consideration. His grandson Johnny, for whom he is guardian, has disappeared, and some valuable commemorative medals were stolen two years ago. Can Frank and Joe rise to the occasion? After ice boat disasters, ghosts in the woods, frostbite and more, care to make a guess? (Mar2024)
September 5, 2018
I've been reading a bunch of these early Hardy Boys books lately. I've got to say, this was the first one where I wanted to call Child Protective Services on their parents. "Sure, go camping on a secluded island in the middle of winter where one child has already gone missing. What could go wrong?"
No fun names in this one but there are:
- Ghosts!
- Fat Shaming!
- Casual racism!
- Code breaking!
- Ice boats! Ice Boats! ICE BOATS!
No fun names in this one but there are:
- Ghosts!
- Fat Shaming!
- Casual racism!
- Code breaking!
- Ice boats! Ice Boats! ICE BOATS!
January 15, 2024
1929 version: ★★★★✰ (3.5 rounded up)
1966 version: ★★★✰✰
Update, 11/25/18 (1966 version):
This was just altered from the original, meaning the bones of the story are the same. But just like with the others I've read, the revisers took the story and added a healthy heap of stupidity and utter nonsense. So much of what goes on in this makes absolutely no sense, and it's impossible to take any of the characters seriously. Why do they behave the way they do? I just don't get it. I don't recall seeing that problem with the original, though it's been two years since I've read it, and my memory is a little fuzzy on the details.
But the revision improves in one area: Action. There was a lack of action and mystery in the original, but they made up for it here even if the action is ridiculous and the mystery is retarded. The Hardy boys and their friends are as dumb as a box of rocks, but they solve the mystery anyway because the bad guys are also as dumb as a box of rocks. And the added plot of the missing grandson... And the guy from the middle east... Why do they... You know, I just can't go on. Oh, the inanity...
In spite of all that, I did enjoy reading this, but that's probably because I was just excited to be kicking off my Christmas reading. And partly because some of the plot twists are so ridiculous I just couldn't help but laugh at them. The writing is also subpar, but it's not so bad that it can damage impressionable young minds trying to learn grammar. I'd suggest it to kids who like this kind of thing, but I don't suggest it to anyone who has experience with reality.
It doesn't deserve three stars, but it's getting them anyway because, like I said, I did enjoy reading it.
Original review, 11/29/16 (1929 version and a bunch of other BS):
This was my first adventure with the Hardy Boys, but first a side story. (Review for this book marked below in bold if you want to skip to it.)
Mama was thinning out her books, so I snatched up the first two Hardy Boys mysteries because I had always wanted to try them again. (The Tower Treasure and The House on the Cliff). I gave the first one a whirl when I was a kid, but it just didn't take for some reason. Then I embarked on my own mystery adventure before I started reading them now. I wondered how many of these things there were, so I looked it up. There are, to date, 190. And it looked like all of them are attributed to F. W. Dixon, so I started digging to see how many were actually his before someone else took over as a ghostwriter and kept using his name. And down the rabbit hole I went.
Turns out there is no F. W. Dixon; the whole thing was a community effort using that pseudonym. It all started in 1927, and the two books I had were put out in 1959. Come to find out they were revisions! The first 38 were redone between 1959 and 1973 to modernize them a bit and to make them more politically correct.
I want the original 1920s stories, and I definitely don't wanna read no PC crap! Give it to me raw! I'm a big boy. I can take it. Also, I'm philosophically opposed to rewriting another author's work, and this just wasn't going to fly, but then I had an idea. It would be kind of neat to do a comparison if I could find the original versions. An extensive search yielded some affordable results, and I hope to give both versions of The Tower Treasure and The House on the Cliff a read next year. (11/25/18 update: Mission accomplished.) Personally I hope to find enough namby-pamby fiddle-faddle to thoroughly excoriate the revisions, but we'll see. (11/25/18 update: Hope fulfilled.) This website gives details about the revision project if you're interested. It also tells us that "the quality of the revised stories is generally so far below that of the originals that it can only be considered as an act of literary vandalism." Oooh, I can't wait. It's kind of like this:
(This is one of the many quotes often misattributed to Dorothy Parker thanks to the internet. I wonder if the poor woman ever said anything at all?)
Quite right, quite right. Thank you, sir.
Review of this book starts here:
The Mystery of Cabin Island also showed up on several "best of the Hardy Boys" lists, and it took place at Christmastime, so that was good enough for me to kick off my annual Christmas reading. Oddly enough the newer reprint was really expensive, but then I found an original copy printed right before the revision project for three or four dollars. SCORE! I don't have the revision of this one, nor do I plan to get it, (11/25/18 update: found it at my boss's house while house-sitting and here we are.) but after reading it I could take a pretty good guess at one scene that might have been deleted, and I was right. (If the internet can be believed, that is. (11/25/18 update: It can in this instance, but let's not get carried away.).)
The Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe) have rifles of their own which they just happen to have in their boat. This kind of thing was normal in the 1920s when kids were camping, and also not unusual in the 50s and 60s, but I guess grown-ups who were ahead of the trend didn't want guns in kids books? I don't know. Chet and Biff, two friends of the Hardy Boys, were given rifles so all four could go out and get a pair of foxes (why isn't that foxen like ox and oxen?) that were stealing and killing chickens. They manage to do this. Now, Chet is a bonehead, and has proven it about 43 times before this incident, so why anyone would ever give him a rifle is beyond me. The boys get on him for pointing it at them accidentally, and when they find the foxes, Chet goes to take the first shot, but he had forgotten to load the thing. In this case, that's probably a good thing because I can't imagine him hitting anything he aimed at.
Why this scene was deleted is anyone's guess, but I'd lay down money that it was because there were boys with guns in it. I think we do children a disservice by trying to shield them from such things. I maintain that if one is taught gun safety and has shown that he can safely handle a firearm, then there's no problem with him using one. I had been taught about gun safety since I was probably four or five years old and have been firing them since I was elementary school age. Some things are ingrained in me because I was properly taught. Always treat it as if it were loaded. If you don't know how to check whether or not it's loaded, then you don't handle it until you're shown how. Never aim it at anything unless you plan on pulling the trigger (unless you're sighting it while unloaded, of course). Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to pull it. Never point it at a person unless you're prepared to kill him, because that could happen when you pull the trigger even if you're shooting to maim. To me these things are common sense. If I ever broke any of these rules, or a few others, the spirit of my grandfather's hand would descend from on high and clonk me a good one on the back of the head. That would be followed up by the spirit of my uncle's hand, and then my dad would knock me for real when he found out.
False start, lane three.
Woops. Sorry. Review resumes below if you want to bypass this next batch of... whatever this is.
I asked a friend once if he wanted to go to a local gun show, and he was aghast. This twenty-something-year-old man was terrified of the things, but had no experience in his history to warrant such a reaction. He'd just never handled one, never been taught anything about them, had been indoctrinated since birth that they were bad, and being around them threatened to unglue him. I couldn't relate. (Needless to say we didn't attend that show.) Another friend who had similar feelings about them went with me to the shooting range once and found she enjoyed the experience.
This doesn't mean everyone should be using one, though. I went rabbit hunting with some friends in college once, and one walking beside me draped his shotgun over his shoulders and across the back of his neck with the barrel pointed right at my head. I mentioned it, and he didn't seem too concerned since his hand wasn't on the trigger. I made sure I was walking behind him from that point on. He must not have known that those things have been known to go off for no reason. Notice I said I went hunting with them "once." Just like with everything else, proper safety is key, but I guess we all have different definitions of "proper."
And, you know, I really didn't mean to get started on a gun control diatribe, and I think I'm rapidly approaching that point. Best to quit it here.
Review resumes here:
I think we do kids a disservice by removing scenes like this from books. We mollycoddle them into ineptitude nowadays, and now you have millions of millennials who can't even be on the losing side of an election without having to cancel classes/work, and retreat to safe spaces for a cry-in with therapy dogs, coloring books, bubbles, Legos, and Play-Doh... I'm all for people doing whatever they need to do to cope with trauma; I build Legos myself and find it quite therapeutic, but I do it on my own time. (And my deepest respect to the Dems who went to work the day after Trump was elected. Sincerely, thank you for showing the rest how it's supposed to be done. If I can make it to work the day after Obama was elected twice, anyone can do it).
False start, lane three. One more, and you're DQ'd.
Okay, okay. Fine. I'll be good. I'll stick to the book from now on.
There's a little bit of shameless promotion for the other books in the series going on. Stuff like this is peppered throughout the text: "The incident to which Joe referred was the climax of one of the numerous mysteries solved by the Hardy boys. The brothers, who were introduced to our readers in the first volume of this series, entitled: "The Hardy Boys: The Tower Treasure," were the sons of..." That was distracting, yet also amusing. I reckon advertising had to be done a little differently back then.
From what I understand the mystery plot of this book took a backseat to the camaraderie plot, which is encouraging because there wasn't a lot of mystery to this mystery book. There were a couple of clues and some follow-up, but it seemed a bit lacking. I don't read a lot of mysteries, though, so I'm not the best judge of that kind of thing. For a kids' book, I think it probably works just fine. (2-23-17 update: Mama read this after me and told me this had nowhere near as much mystery as the others she read in her youth. I consider her to be a competent judge since she's an avid Nancy Drew fan, and they're pretty much the same thing with a different leading protagonist.)
The characters are one-dimensional, but like I just said, this is a kids' book. I think I'd be judging it too harshly if I don't view it through the lens of the intended audience. The villains are especially flat, but I enjoyed it anyway. Chet, the bonehead I mentioned earlier, is just as 1-D as the rest, but he was my favorite because he was the most amusing.
One thing I thought of as I read was that this was published in September, 1929, right before the stock market crash changed everything for everyone. The country in November 1929 was a very different place than it was in October 1929. The cabin mystery events take place at Christmas 1929, but I'm pretty sure some things happening in this book wouldn't have happened in the real world in December 1929, such as kids getting an ice boat and some other fancy gifts for Christmas, the proprietor of a store selling his wares to the boys at cost as a reward for getting the foxes, , etc. I wonder if the ones written in the ensuing decade have a different flavor and reflect life during the Depression? I don't know that I'll be interested enough to find out, but that was on my mind.
I consider this a Christmas book mostly because I can. It takes place at Christmastime, but there's very little Christmas spirit involved. What's really unusual is that the boys and their friends are allowed to go camping for a week or so on an island over the Christmas holiday. Being allowed away from home for a week wasn't odd for teenagers in the 1920s, but over Christmas? Yeah, right.
This book also shows how much times have changed in the past century. The boys know how to take care of themselves, how to cook, clean up, etc. and I have no doubt that was probably common back then. Well, the knowledge of how to do such things was; teenagers actually doing some of it? Not so much. I expect the writer was trying to make the Hardy boys into role models who mind their p's and q's.
My friends knew how to do things that are lost on this current generation, and I expect the members of my parents' generation were even better at fending for themselves. I look at my nephew and his friends (who are currently of an age with the Hardy Boys), and I am amazed at how little they know even though they could work rings around me with technological geegaws. I imagine putting them in this cabin island situation, and with the exception of one of them who knows how to do manual labor and rough it (so there is hope for parts of the generation), I expect they'd all be dead in about three minutes. Okay, well not that quick, but I sure don't see them lasting a week before throwing in the towel. One night, tops.
Alright, that's it. Out of the pool.
Damn!
1966 version: ★★★✰✰
Update, 11/25/18 (1966 version):
This was just altered from the original, meaning the bones of the story are the same. But just like with the others I've read, the revisers took the story and added a healthy heap of stupidity and utter nonsense. So much of what goes on in this makes absolutely no sense, and it's impossible to take any of the characters seriously. Why do they behave the way they do? I just don't get it. I don't recall seeing that problem with the original, though it's been two years since I've read it, and my memory is a little fuzzy on the details.
But the revision improves in one area: Action. There was a lack of action and mystery in the original, but they made up for it here even if the action is ridiculous and the mystery is retarded. The Hardy boys and their friends are as dumb as a box of rocks, but they solve the mystery anyway because the bad guys are also as dumb as a box of rocks. And the added plot of the missing grandson... And the guy from the middle east... Why do they... You know, I just can't go on. Oh, the inanity...
In spite of all that, I did enjoy reading this, but that's probably because I was just excited to be kicking off my Christmas reading. And partly because some of the plot twists are so ridiculous I just couldn't help but laugh at them. The writing is also subpar, but it's not so bad that it can damage impressionable young minds trying to learn grammar. I'd suggest it to kids who like this kind of thing, but I don't suggest it to anyone who has experience with reality.
It doesn't deserve three stars, but it's getting them anyway because, like I said, I did enjoy reading it.
Original review, 11/29/16 (1929 version and a bunch of other BS):
This was my first adventure with the Hardy Boys, but first a side story. (Review for this book marked below in bold if you want to skip to it.)
Mama was thinning out her books, so I snatched up the first two Hardy Boys mysteries because I had always wanted to try them again. (The Tower Treasure and The House on the Cliff). I gave the first one a whirl when I was a kid, but it just didn't take for some reason. Then I embarked on my own mystery adventure before I started reading them now. I wondered how many of these things there were, so I looked it up. There are, to date, 190. And it looked like all of them are attributed to F. W. Dixon, so I started digging to see how many were actually his before someone else took over as a ghostwriter and kept using his name. And down the rabbit hole I went.
Turns out there is no F. W. Dixon; the whole thing was a community effort using that pseudonym. It all started in 1927, and the two books I had were put out in 1959. Come to find out they were revisions! The first 38 were redone between 1959 and 1973 to modernize them a bit and to make them more politically correct.
I want the original 1920s stories, and I definitely don't wanna read no PC crap! Give it to me raw! I'm a big boy. I can take it. Also, I'm philosophically opposed to rewriting another author's work, and this just wasn't going to fly, but then I had an idea. It would be kind of neat to do a comparison if I could find the original versions. An extensive search yielded some affordable results, and I hope to give both versions of The Tower Treasure and The House on the Cliff a read next year. (11/25/18 update: Mission accomplished.) Personally I hope to find enough namby-pamby fiddle-faddle to thoroughly excoriate the revisions, but we'll see. (11/25/18 update: Hope fulfilled.) This website gives details about the revision project if you're interested. It also tells us that "the quality of the revised stories is generally so far below that of the originals that it can only be considered as an act of literary vandalism." Oooh, I can't wait. It's kind of like this:
(This is one of the many quotes often misattributed to Dorothy Parker thanks to the internet. I wonder if the poor woman ever said anything at all?)
Quite right, quite right. Thank you, sir.
Review of this book starts here:
The Mystery of Cabin Island also showed up on several "best of the Hardy Boys" lists, and it took place at Christmastime, so that was good enough for me to kick off my annual Christmas reading. Oddly enough the newer reprint was really expensive, but then I found an original copy printed right before the revision project for three or four dollars. SCORE! I don't have the revision of this one, nor do I plan to get it, (11/25/18 update: found it at my boss's house while house-sitting and here we are.) but after reading it I could take a pretty good guess at one scene that might have been deleted, and I was right. (If the internet can be believed, that is. (11/25/18 update: It can in this instance, but let's not get carried away.).)
The Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe) have rifles of their own which they just happen to have in their boat. This kind of thing was normal in the 1920s when kids were camping, and also not unusual in the 50s and 60s, but I guess grown-ups who were ahead of the trend didn't want guns in kids books? I don't know. Chet and Biff, two friends of the Hardy Boys, were given rifles so all four could go out and get a pair of foxes (why isn't that foxen like ox and oxen?) that were stealing and killing chickens. They manage to do this. Now, Chet is a bonehead, and has proven it about 43 times before this incident, so why anyone would ever give him a rifle is beyond me. The boys get on him for pointing it at them accidentally, and when they find the foxes, Chet goes to take the first shot, but he had forgotten to load the thing. In this case, that's probably a good thing because I can't imagine him hitting anything he aimed at.
Why this scene was deleted is anyone's guess, but I'd lay down money that it was because there were boys with guns in it. I think we do children a disservice by trying to shield them from such things. I maintain that if one is taught gun safety and has shown that he can safely handle a firearm, then there's no problem with him using one. I had been taught about gun safety since I was probably four or five years old and have been firing them since I was elementary school age. Some things are ingrained in me because I was properly taught. Always treat it as if it were loaded. If you don't know how to check whether or not it's loaded, then you don't handle it until you're shown how. Never aim it at anything unless you plan on pulling the trigger (unless you're sighting it while unloaded, of course). Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to pull it. Never point it at a person unless you're prepared to kill him, because that could happen when you pull the trigger even if you're shooting to maim. To me these things are common sense. If I ever broke any of these rules, or a few others, the spirit of my grandfather's hand would descend from on high and clonk me a good one on the back of the head. That would be followed up by the spirit of my uncle's hand, and then my dad would knock me for real when he found out.
False start, lane three.
Woops. Sorry. Review resumes below if you want to bypass this next batch of... whatever this is.
I asked a friend once if he wanted to go to a local gun show, and he was aghast. This twenty-something-year-old man was terrified of the things, but had no experience in his history to warrant such a reaction. He'd just never handled one, never been taught anything about them, had been indoctrinated since birth that they were bad, and being around them threatened to unglue him. I couldn't relate. (Needless to say we didn't attend that show.) Another friend who had similar feelings about them went with me to the shooting range once and found she enjoyed the experience.
This doesn't mean everyone should be using one, though. I went rabbit hunting with some friends in college once, and one walking beside me draped his shotgun over his shoulders and across the back of his neck with the barrel pointed right at my head. I mentioned it, and he didn't seem too concerned since his hand wasn't on the trigger. I made sure I was walking behind him from that point on. He must not have known that those things have been known to go off for no reason. Notice I said I went hunting with them "once." Just like with everything else, proper safety is key, but I guess we all have different definitions of "proper."
And, you know, I really didn't mean to get started on a gun control diatribe, and I think I'm rapidly approaching that point. Best to quit it here.
Review resumes here:
I think we do kids a disservice by removing scenes like this from books. We mollycoddle them into ineptitude nowadays, and now you have millions of millennials who can't even be on the losing side of an election without having to cancel classes/work, and retreat to safe spaces for a cry-in with therapy dogs, coloring books, bubbles, Legos, and Play-Doh... I'm all for people doing whatever they need to do to cope with trauma; I build Legos myself and find it quite therapeutic, but I do it on my own time. (And my deepest respect to the Dems who went to work the day after Trump was elected. Sincerely, thank you for showing the rest how it's supposed to be done. If I can make it to work the day after Obama was elected twice, anyone can do it).
False start, lane three. One more, and you're DQ'd.
Okay, okay. Fine. I'll be good. I'll stick to the book from now on.
There's a little bit of shameless promotion for the other books in the series going on. Stuff like this is peppered throughout the text: "The incident to which Joe referred was the climax of one of the numerous mysteries solved by the Hardy boys. The brothers, who were introduced to our readers in the first volume of this series, entitled: "The Hardy Boys: The Tower Treasure," were the sons of..." That was distracting, yet also amusing. I reckon advertising had to be done a little differently back then.
From what I understand the mystery plot of this book took a backseat to the camaraderie plot, which is encouraging because there wasn't a lot of mystery to this mystery book. There were a couple of clues and some follow-up, but it seemed a bit lacking. I don't read a lot of mysteries, though, so I'm not the best judge of that kind of thing. For a kids' book, I think it probably works just fine. (2-23-17 update: Mama read this after me and told me this had nowhere near as much mystery as the others she read in her youth. I consider her to be a competent judge since she's an avid Nancy Drew fan, and they're pretty much the same thing with a different leading protagonist.)
The characters are one-dimensional, but like I just said, this is a kids' book. I think I'd be judging it too harshly if I don't view it through the lens of the intended audience. The villains are especially flat, but I enjoyed it anyway. Chet, the bonehead I mentioned earlier, is just as 1-D as the rest, but he was my favorite because he was the most amusing.
One thing I thought of as I read was that this was published in September, 1929, right before the stock market crash changed everything for everyone. The country in November 1929 was a very different place than it was in October 1929. The cabin mystery events take place at Christmas 1929, but I'm pretty sure some things happening in this book wouldn't have happened in the real world in December 1929, such as kids getting an ice boat and some other fancy gifts for Christmas, the proprietor of a store selling his wares to the boys at cost as a reward for getting the foxes, , etc. I wonder if the ones written in the ensuing decade have a different flavor and reflect life during the Depression? I don't know that I'll be interested enough to find out, but that was on my mind.
I consider this a Christmas book mostly because I can. It takes place at Christmastime, but there's very little Christmas spirit involved. What's really unusual is that the boys and their friends are allowed to go camping for a week or so on an island over the Christmas holiday. Being allowed away from home for a week wasn't odd for teenagers in the 1920s, but over Christmas? Yeah, right.
This book also shows how much times have changed in the past century. The boys know how to take care of themselves, how to cook, clean up, etc. and I have no doubt that was probably common back then. Well, the knowledge of how to do such things was; teenagers actually doing some of it? Not so much. I expect the writer was trying to make the Hardy boys into role models who mind their p's and q's.
My friends knew how to do things that are lost on this current generation, and I expect the members of my parents' generation were even better at fending for themselves. I look at my nephew and his friends (who are currently of an age with the Hardy Boys), and I am amazed at how little they know even though they could work rings around me with technological geegaws. I imagine putting them in this cabin island situation, and with the exception of one of them who knows how to do manual labor and rough it (so there is hope for parts of the generation), I expect they'd all be dead in about three minutes. Okay, well not that quick, but I sure don't see them lasting a week before throwing in the towel. One night, tops.
Alright, that's it. Out of the pool.
Damn!
August 7, 2025
The Mystery of Cabin Island is the eighth novel in the Hardy Boys juvenile mystery series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer syndicate (outlined by Edward Stratemeyer and written by the greeat Leslie McFarlane) and published in 1929 by Grosset & Dunlap under the Franklin W. Dixon house pseudonym. Between 1959 and 1973, Stratemeyer's daughter oversaw a project to revise, modernize, and simplify the first 38 books in the series, and a new version of this one appeared in 1966 which had been written by Anne Shultes, Andrew E. Svenson, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, though it also, of course, appeared under the Dixon byline. The original novel had 25 chapters with 214 pages, and the new iteration is 178 pages long with 20 chapters. I have just read the two versions back-to-back in order to compare the differences. I enjoyed the original one quite a bit more; it has much more characterization, some good humor, and a more plausible progression of plot. The new one has several more characters and situations thrown in briefly for no particular reason. The original story involves the Hardys wanting to go camping over their Christmas school vacation with pals Chet and Biff. (Never could figure out what kind of a name Biff is...) They have an ice boat and Mr. Jefferson has an island he's willing to let them use as a reward for recovering his stolen automobile in a previous volume. They take a look at the island and encounter gruff Mr. Hanleigh who orders them away. Hanleigh has employed two juvenile delinquent dropouts, Ike and Tad, to ferry him back and forth to the island. Mr. Jefferson used to own a valuable stamp collection which was stolen some years ago. (Remember the Boys recovered a stamp collection in their very first solo outing, The Tower Treasure... philately must have been much more popular in the Roaring Twenties!). They find a notebook with a cipher coded message which they ingeniously solve, and the mystery slowly unfolds... In the revision the stamp collection has turned into a medal collection, a missing grandson is added to the mix, there's a mysterious Arab (or is it a ghost?) flitting about, and there's a mistake made in the typeset of the code so that it wouldn't work... but I digress. Aside from the shortening and simplifications, among the other differences in the two is that in 1929 they spend Christmas day on the island and arrive the day after in 1966, the signal devices are changed from rifles to whistles, they have a pair of ice boats in the first and only one in the second, and the newer version has helmets and seat belts and other safety devices that the more robust adventurers of 1929 didn't need. My only quibble with the original is that they resolve to leave someone on guard at the cabin in chapter 14, but then they all four go off to replenish their supplies in chapter 15... which is, of course, a mistake. I had read the original version as a child (back when it was the only version), and think it was far better. I'd suggest it as appropriate for 10- to 14-year-olds, as the blue back covers famously said, and the newer one for younger people, perhaps 8-to-11. Four stars for the original, two for the reboot.
August 7, 2025
The Mystery of Cabin Island is the eighth novel in the Hardy Boys juvenile mystery series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer syndicate (outlined by Edward Stratemeyer and written by the greeat Leslie McFarlane) and published in 1929 by Grosset & Dunlap under the Franklin W. Dixon house pseudonym. Between 1959 and 1973, Stratemeyer's daughter oversaw a project to revise, modernize, and simplify the first 38 books in the series, and a new version of this one appeared in 1966 which had been written by Anne Shultes, Andrew E. Svenson, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, though it also, of course, appeared under the Dixon byline. The original novel had 25 chapters with 214 pages, and the new iteration is 178 pages long with 20 chapters. I have just read the two versions back-to-back in order to compare the differences. I enjoyed the original one quite a bit more; it has much more characterization, some good humor, and a more plausible progression of plot. The new one has several more characters and situations thrown in briefly for no particular reason. The original story involves the Hardys wanting to go camping over their Christmas school vacation with pals Chet and Biff. (Never could figure out what kind of a name Biff is...) They have an ice boat and Mr. Jefferson has an island he's willing to let them use as a reward for recovering his stolen automobile in a previous volume. They take a look at the island and encounter gruff Mr. Hanleigh who orders them away. Hanleigh has employed two juvenile delinquent dropouts, Ike and Tad, to ferry him back and forth to the island. Mr. Jefferson used to own a valuable stamp collection which was stolen some years ago. (Remember the Boys recovered a stamp collection in their very first solo outing, The Tower Treasure... philately must have been much more popular in the Roaring Twenties!). They find a notebook with a cipher coded message which they ingeniously solve, and the mystery slowly unfolds... In the revision the stamp collection has turned into a medal collection, a missing grandson is added to the mix, there's a mysterious Arab (or is it a ghost?) flitting about, and there's a mistake made in the typeset of the code so that it wouldn't work... but I digress. Aside from the shortening and simplifications, among the other differences in the two is that in 1929 they spend Christmas day on the island and arrive the day after in 1966, the signal devices are changed from rifles to whistles, they have a pair of ice boats in the first and only one in the second, and the newer version has helmets and seat belts and other safety devices that the more robust adventurers of 1929 didn't need. My only quibble with the original is that they resolve to leave someone on guard at the cabin in chapter 14, but then they all four go off to replenish their supplies in chapter 15... which is, of course, a mistake. I had read the original version as a child (back when it was the only version), and think it was far better. I'd suggest it as appropriate for 10- to 14-year-olds, as the blue back covers famously said, and the newer one for younger people, perhaps 8-to-11. Four stars for the original, two for the reboot.
June 23, 2023
3.5 rounded up
Another pleasant adventure with the Hardy Boys
Another pleasant adventure with the Hardy Boys
September 8, 2025
2025 reads, #15 and 16. The latest two public-domain Hardy Boys books have recently been released by StandardEbooks.org, a great organization that takes plain-text files from Project Gutenberg and lays them out as beautiful looking ebooks, so as usual I took them on in the spirit of one day being a completist of all the Hardy Boys books as they all slowly pass into the public domain over the second half of my (hopefully) long life. (I’m 56 this year, so with a little luck, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be around to read the last of the original run, 1979’s The Sting of the Scorpion, when its copyright expires in 2074, when I’m 105.) Today’s books, however, are numbers 7 and 8 from 1929, still back near the beginning of the series; so as such, they’re not much different than the six books that came before them, so you should probably just read my review of the first book to see what I’ve thought of all eight books so far.
That said, completists like me will be relieved to see that The Mystery of Cabin Island is finally the first book in the series to present an actual mystery (the “mystery” of most of them so far has turned out to be “a group of fugitives are hiding out at [that book’s particular abandoned structure at the edge of town]”), which like book #6, Hunting for Hidden Gold, can clearly be seen as a sign that ghostwriter Leslie McFarlane was finally starting to have some fun with these. (McFarlane notoriously hated writing these books, and only did so to pay his family’s bills; you can clearly see his displeasure in the fact that the first five books of the series have the exact same plot, namely the aforementioned “group of fugitives are hiding out in an abandoned mansion or an abandoned factory or an abandoned clock tower, before they’re accidentally discovered by our teen heroes while they’re out on their motorbikes one day.”) That’s making these more and more enjoyable with each new title, so we’ll see what happens with next year’s book, The Great Airport Mystery (which, given that it was published in 1930, I suspect will likely involve propeller planes and lots of derring-do). I hope you’ll join me here again for that one!
That said, completists like me will be relieved to see that The Mystery of Cabin Island is finally the first book in the series to present an actual mystery (the “mystery” of most of them so far has turned out to be “a group of fugitives are hiding out at [that book’s particular abandoned structure at the edge of town]”), which like book #6, Hunting for Hidden Gold, can clearly be seen as a sign that ghostwriter Leslie McFarlane was finally starting to have some fun with these. (McFarlane notoriously hated writing these books, and only did so to pay his family’s bills; you can clearly see his displeasure in the fact that the first five books of the series have the exact same plot, namely the aforementioned “group of fugitives are hiding out in an abandoned mansion or an abandoned factory or an abandoned clock tower, before they’re accidentally discovered by our teen heroes while they’re out on their motorbikes one day.”) That’s making these more and more enjoyable with each new title, so we’ll see what happens with next year’s book, The Great Airport Mystery (which, given that it was published in 1930, I suspect will likely involve propeller planes and lots of derring-do). I hope you’ll join me here again for that one!
September 5, 2017
Frank and Joe Hardy and their chums are given permission to spend a week of the winter break after Christmas in a cabin on Cabin Island as a reward for the owner's car being recovered in a previous book.
The owner, Elroy Jefferson, asks them to look for clues regarding the owner's missing grandson and some missing medals that he owns. The have two near accidents in the iceboat because of two delinquent teenagers, who have been helping a bad guy try to steal something from the island.
The boys have also experienced sightings of ghosts, eerie sounds in the night, and break-ins. Can the boys and their chums solve these mysteries? I am currently reading this series to my grandsons and they have remained interested through the first eight books already!
The owner, Elroy Jefferson, asks them to look for clues regarding the owner's missing grandson and some missing medals that he owns. The have two near accidents in the iceboat because of two delinquent teenagers, who have been helping a bad guy try to steal something from the island.
The boys have also experienced sightings of ghosts, eerie sounds in the night, and break-ins. Can the boys and their chums solve these mysteries? I am currently reading this series to my grandsons and they have remained interested through the first eight books already!
January 8, 2017
I first read The Mystery of Cabin Island on a cold winter night about 35 years ago and on this cold winter night decided to relive my childhood re-reading it! The Hardy Boys are a little dated in dialouge and technology and vary considerably in quality from book to book, but this is one of the better ones and I daresay even a modern kid might still enjoy reading the Hardy's winter adventure in a cabin on an isolated island. If you like the Hardy Boys you will enjoy this book. I even plan to track down the original 1929 edition to see the difference between that one and this "updated" version from decades later!
July 15, 2014
Having a moment of nostalgia. The Hardy Boys are just as good as I remember them from childhood.
December 22, 2017
I think this is a fun wintery book for everyone and anyone to read!
December 25, 2017
One of the best Hardy Boys Books! Great book for Christmas! Lots of adventure for all mystery lovers.
June 15, 2022
Een andere setting en toch hetzelfde. De jongens beleven dit avontuur opnieuw dicht bij huis maar wel in een ander seizoen en een iets andere locatie. Volle kerstperiode wanneer het meer bevroren is en de motorboten hebben plaatsgemaakt voor ijszeilers. Een onbewoond eiland vormt het centrum van het avontuur, al weten de jongens heel lang niet waar het eigenlijk over gaat.
Ze komen in het bezit van een bericht in een geheime code en het duurt lang voor ze de sleutel vinden, en dan volgt een anti-climax.
Zoals in de eerdere verhalen worden alle elementen al redelijjk vroeg in het verhaal aangegeven maar duurt het tamelijk lang voor de samenhang duidelijk wordt. Voor de helden althans, de aandachtige lezer heeft het al wel heel wat eerder door. Natuurlijk lopen de vier vrienden levensgevaar wat op zich wel verklaart waarom hun aandacht wordt afgeleid.
Een constante in de verhalen lijkt wel de diefstal van hun mondvoorraad.
Fenton Hardy en de rest van het thuisfront komen amper aan het verhaal te pas.
Dit keer vallen er geen doden en moet er ook niemand naar de elektrische stoel.
Het is in elk geval een (letterlijk) verfrissend verhaal dat het dipje van het vorige boek al snel zal doen vergeten.
Fenton
Ze komen in het bezit van een bericht in een geheime code en het duurt lang voor ze de sleutel vinden, en dan volgt een anti-climax.
Zoals in de eerdere verhalen worden alle elementen al redelijjk vroeg in het verhaal aangegeven maar duurt het tamelijk lang voor de samenhang duidelijk wordt. Voor de helden althans, de aandachtige lezer heeft het al wel heel wat eerder door. Natuurlijk lopen de vier vrienden levensgevaar wat op zich wel verklaart waarom hun aandacht wordt afgeleid.
Een constante in de verhalen lijkt wel de diefstal van hun mondvoorraad.
Fenton Hardy en de rest van het thuisfront komen amper aan het verhaal te pas.
Dit keer vallen er geen doden en moet er ook niemand naar de elektrische stoel.
Het is in elk geval een (letterlijk) verfrissend verhaal dat het dipje van het vorige boek al snel zal doen vergeten.
Fenton
June 17, 2023
these are really good clean stories for young people of all ages to read. No sex, violence, nothing but boys having fun solving mysteries. Joe and Frank Hardy the sons of Fenton Hardy are budding detectives in their own light along with their pals Biff and Chet they go for Christmas Break to Cabin Island to help the owner try to solve 2 mysteries one the disappearance of his 15 year old grand son Johnny and the other to find his missing box of collected very valuable medals....Along the way the boys meet rivals, and a salty customer. Rock climbing, secret caves, and running their ice boat the SEA GULL the 4 boys have loads of fun and some danger as well.
May 23, 2017
Didn't like this one as much as the other Hardy Boys mystery I read. It was just really hard to follow the story and I don't know why. :/
I did love the one character's obsession with food and eating...and his hiding those sandwiches for a "midnight snack" (but then he ended up sharing when the rest of their food was stolen) -- hilarious!
I did love the one character's obsession with food and eating...and his hiding those sandwiches for a "midnight snack" (but then he ended up sharing when the rest of their food was stolen) -- hilarious!
July 23, 2017
This one was great fun-and now I have a strange desire to go ice sailing!
January 29, 2021
Hmmm, over ten years since I last read a Hardy Boys story. Still very much in love with them, but this mystery wasn't one of my favourites.
March 5, 2023
Chef Chet to the rescue
January 21, 2024
Read this with my 7 year old. It was a good, straightforward mystery.
July 1, 2024
another great story and mystery solved by the Hardy Boys.
April 12, 2025
Amazing
July 11, 2018
Normally I wouldn’t include books I read to my kids on my goodreads, but a) technically we listened to it on audible instead of me reading, and b) I don’t think I had ever actually read a Hardy Boys. More of a Bobsey Twins and Boxcar children girl.
It’s funny flipping through some of the reviews here. Yes, it is ridiculous. I would certainly not encourage my children to bide their time while a criminal tried to kidnap them. I wouldn’t be like “have fun camping and just don’t get killed!” BUT kids need a world where they are in charge. Whether it’s through unsupervised imaginary play, or literature. The amount of the first they get is drastically diminishing, so the last must remain. I haven’t read much modern middle grade books. Most of what I read as a kid was from the 50s, when kids still roamed free. I wonder if it reflects the modern world - all scheduled activities and organized play dates. Or if there is still an imagined world where kids are in charge, even doing ridiculous things like capturing criminals.
I liked this one better than the other Hardy Boys we listened too. A simpler plot (my boys are 4&5 and while it was still largely over their heads, the single setting and single criminal helped them get the story much more.) They are now huge fans, and while they’re a bit young, I am enjoying them seeing brothers work together and also a less violent adventure than most superhero stuff they’re in to.
It’s funny flipping through some of the reviews here. Yes, it is ridiculous. I would certainly not encourage my children to bide their time while a criminal tried to kidnap them. I wouldn’t be like “have fun camping and just don’t get killed!” BUT kids need a world where they are in charge. Whether it’s through unsupervised imaginary play, or literature. The amount of the first they get is drastically diminishing, so the last must remain. I haven’t read much modern middle grade books. Most of what I read as a kid was from the 50s, when kids still roamed free. I wonder if it reflects the modern world - all scheduled activities and organized play dates. Or if there is still an imagined world where kids are in charge, even doing ridiculous things like capturing criminals.
I liked this one better than the other Hardy Boys we listened too. A simpler plot (my boys are 4&5 and while it was still largely over their heads, the single setting and single criminal helped them get the story much more.) They are now huge fans, and while they’re a bit young, I am enjoying them seeing brothers work together and also a less violent adventure than most superhero stuff they’re in to.
November 23, 2020
The Boys are back at it again, this time for a winter adventure on Cabin Island, located just in the bay near Bayport. The boys are given the keys to spend the Holidays on the island in a cabin owned by a family friend Mr. Jefferson. But they are also tapped to try to solve the mystery of Mr. Jefferson's missing medals, and more importantly to find his missing 15 year-old nephew Johnny.
One of the most interesting features of this story is the use of "ice boats" that skim across the ice. Of course the Hardys have their own ice boat called the Sea Gull. The ice boats play a role in the story, as does the chimney in the cabin. The island is close enough to the mainland that you can actually walk across the ice back and forth to the island in winter.
Turns out there are mysterious things happening on Cabin Island, ghost sightings, strange noises, and someone sneaking around looking for something. He is none too happy to see the Hardys show up, and what ensues takes us around the island, around the cabin, and across the ice. And yes, A CAVE. I know it is not surprising that a cave makes yet another appearance, but it does add quite a bit of drama.
I found this to be one of the more enjoyable books in the series thus far.
One of the most interesting features of this story is the use of "ice boats" that skim across the ice. Of course the Hardys have their own ice boat called the Sea Gull. The ice boats play a role in the story, as does the chimney in the cabin. The island is close enough to the mainland that you can actually walk across the ice back and forth to the island in winter.
Turns out there are mysterious things happening on Cabin Island, ghost sightings, strange noises, and someone sneaking around looking for something. He is none too happy to see the Hardys show up, and what ensues takes us around the island, around the cabin, and across the ice. And yes, A CAVE. I know it is not surprising that a cave makes yet another appearance, but it does add quite a bit of drama.
I found this to be one of the more enjoyable books in the series thus far.
Read
December 12, 2011The Mystery of Cabin Island by Franklin W. Dixon is about two brothers Joe Hardy and Frank Hardy and their friends Chet and Biff. It is Christmas time, and the boys are out for Christmas break and have been given permission to stay at a private island owned by Mr. Jefferson. While the boys and their friends head out to Cabin Island for the break they are looking for a lost medal collection of Mr. Jefferson's, as well as for his missing grandson Johnny Jefferson. But as they soon come to realize, Hanleigh a stranger, and Johnny Jefferson are all searching for the same things.But why? And from there these boys try their hardest to resolve this mystery for Mr. Jefferson.
The Mystery of Cabin Island was a great book, that I really enjoyed. It was an easy read as well as very interesting. I would definitely recommend this book, or any other mystery books by Franklin Dixon, because they are very suspensful and will keep the reader's attention. I feel that young adults would enjoy these books, in that they keep you on your toes and you get so in to it that you are almost trying to solve the mystery with them. Excellent book!
The Mystery of Cabin Island was a great book, that I really enjoyed. It was an easy read as well as very interesting. I would definitely recommend this book, or any other mystery books by Franklin Dixon, because they are very suspensful and will keep the reader's attention. I feel that young adults would enjoy these books, in that they keep you on your toes and you get so in to it that you are almost trying to solve the mystery with them. Excellent book!
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