A Bundle of Trouble

American Girl Mysteries

by Kathryn Reiss

When Rebecca is put in charge of the new neighbors' baby, she hesitates to take on such a responsibility--especially with a kidnapper on the loose in New York! While her brother creates trouble in the neighborhood, Rebecca brings the baby to the park and meets some mysterious children. But when she returns home with the baby, she discovers there has been a terrible mistake.

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

173 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Kathryn Reiss was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Ohio, and received B.A. degrees in English and German from Duke University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. After college, she lived in Bonn, Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, and during this time wrote the first draft of her first novel, Time Windows.

Ms. Reiss is an award -winning author of 20 novels for kids and teens. She has been a Writer in Residence for the Princeton Arts Council, a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant for Writers, and has been a featured speaker with (among others) Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Northern California Library Association, The International Reading Association, Fresno County Office of Education, California Reading Association, The American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in Northern California with her husband and the last of her seven children still in the nest. She is a Full Professor of English at Mills College at Northeastern University, and also teaches in the low -residency MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Reviews

[Miranda Reads]

"So, who wants to play with a real live doll today?" The baby in her arms screwed up her face and howled.

The Brodskys with their little baby, Nora, moved in downstairs to Rebecca's apartment. Unfortunately, their move isn't necessarily a happy one.

Mrs. Brodsky is temporarily blind due to an infection, Mr. Brodsky is working two jobs to support their move and Little baby Nora cannot stop screaming.

Rebecca's mom offers to give Mrs. Brodsky a break and the two of them borrow Nora for a bit - changing a diaper and clipping her nails to help their neighbor. Since Rebecca is eleven, she's allowed to take Nora to the park (provided Nora's bundled up against the chilly weather).

There Rebecca bonds with Francesca who is there with her baby sister, who looks almost identical to Nora. After a bit of a kerfuffle, Rebecca runs home with Nora to escape the rain. Only when she returns, she notices something is off about "Nora."

"You're such a help," Mrs. Brodsky said warmly. "And you have such a way with babies! She's like a completely different little one today."

"Nora" is a calm, quiet baby now. The diaper rash that Rebecca noticed earlier is gone and the fingernails that her mother clipped the night before are long and ragged. With a stunning realization, Rebecca realizes what happened.

"Rebecca felt the wings of panic beat harder. Little Nora Brodsky was out in New York City . . . somewhere, but where?"

How can Rebecca find the right Nora in a city as big as NYC? How can she hide this from her neighbors? What should she do??

Wellll...I definitely didn't have "baby-snatching story" in my American Girl Bingo Card (but I also didn't have "steal a dead man's furs and sleep in the house with his body" on it either (Changes for Kirsten) sooo, I guess I need to work on these predictions.

I've read a few of the Rebecca mysteries right now - one thing I've noticed is that different authors tend to take on the mystery novels. This one really nailed Rebecca's character but it felt a bit weak on the plot and the mystery element.

Now this book had a few plots running around it - there's the Nora baby-snatching, but also a regular kidnapping-and-ransom ring for babies and Victor (Rebecca's brother) was also doing something sneaky on the side.

For the Nora-Snatching Plot - I had a hard time connecting to this plot I just didn't believe Rebecca for most of the story. I feel a bit bad about it in hindsight but at the same time, Rebecca seems to be the American Girl who's prone to dramatics and I just assumed that her imagination was running away from her..

The second baby-snatching plot was quite interesting though I definitely felt like the culprits were telegraphed waaaay too early. When the "grand reveal" happened, I had more of a 'meh' response since I already figured it out about halfway through the book.

The Victor plot confused me the most - without going too deeply into it, his plot felt like a lot of "oh, Victor is doing bad things and in with the wrong crowd" quickly followed by "actually, he's really good and everyone misinterpreted what happened." Though I'm not actually convinced that that is true, despite what the characters seem to believe.

On a side note, there were a couple of moments that did throw me off with this book.

In Rebecca to the Rescue we find out that her brother (who had previously barely been in the books) was rather misogynistic, controlling, and rude to his sisters. And yet he's back to his bland book 1 version of himself.

Maybe Victor went through some character growth over the past couple of years BUT at the same time, I feel like if that happened, they would've acknowledged it.

Furthermore, I was confused by this quote:

"Girls need good grades, too," Mama said from the stove. "Especially if they're going to be teachers." Mama looked pointedly at Rebecca.
"What if they want to become actresses?" asked Rebecca in a quiet voice.
Mama shook her head. "A lady doesn't make a display of herself."

But one of the major conclusions from Changes for Rebecca was that Rebecca was able to vocalize to her parents how much her dream of being an actress meant to her and her parents seemed to accept it. Yet, here we are back to Book 1's version of her parents who insist Rebecca will be a teacher.

Annnnyway, I'm happy that I was able to get more Rebecca stories even if this one wasn't my favorite.

More reviews in the Rebecca-verse

Main Series:
Meet Rebecca - ★★★☆☆
Rebecca and Ana - ★★★★☆
Candlelight for Rebecca - ★★★★★
Rebecca and the Movies - ★★★★☆
Rebecca to the Rescue - ★★★☆☆
Changes for Rebecca - ★★★☆☆
Rebecca's Boxed Set - ★★★★☆

Mystery Books:
Secrets at Camp Nokomis - ★★★☆☆
A Bundle of Trouble - ★★★☆☆
The Crystal Ball - ★★★☆☆
A Growing Suspicion - ★★★★☆
The Showstopper - ★★☆☆☆

Additional Historical and Activity Books:
American Girl Cross-Stitch - ★★☆☆☆
American Girl Sweet & Savory Treats Cookbook - ★☆☆☆☆
The Official American Girl Cookbook - ★★★★☆

Beforever (Re-Release of Main Series in 2014):
The Sound of Applause - ★★★☆☆
Lights, Camera, Rebecca! - ★★★☆☆

Abridged Version (Re-Release of Main Series in 2019):
Rebecca: The Sound of Applause - ★★☆☆☆
Rebecca: Lights, Camera, Rebecca - ★★★★☆

Picture Books:
Grandmas are the Best! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★☆
Happy Birthday! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★☆
Happy Holidays! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★★
Time for School! (Little Golden Book) - ★★★★☆

[Katie]

The great AG marathon continues. Again, reading for the first time as an adult, inspired by the American Girls podcast.

This one is a lesson in how to make a couple of kids look really suspicious. After the initial incident at the park, it's crystal clear that Something Is Up involving both Francesca and Luigi. And while I spotted the first twist (that the babies had been switched) right away, I didn't guess the full explanation at all, which turns out to be a tangled tale indeed, and far more innocent than what Rebecca starts to imagine. On the one hand, the wilder Rebecca's speculation became, the more sure I was that Francesca and Luigi were notkidnappers. But in Rebecca's defense, Francesca has a least one opportunity to explain everything, but passes it up in favor of acting shifty.

In light of that — coupled with feeling awful because the swap happened on her watch — it's no wonder Rebecca goes into high drama mode, even though (or perhaps especially when) the baby's parents don't seem to notice anything wrong. Her mother's reaction "Oh, Beckie, you're so dramatic," only makes her spiral more.

Hilariously, not only does Rebecca eventually get the full explanation out of Francesca, she also manages to crack a far bigger case. Rebecca solves a mystery — just not quite the one she was expecting to solve.

[Rebekah Morris]

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this story. Since there is a string of kidnapping going on in New York City, Rebecca is concerned when she realizes that one baby she took care of is not the same baby when she takes care of it the next time. Yes, her active imagination goes a little wild, but things all work out. There was only a little bit about the Jewish holiday of Sukkos, but since that wasn't the main part of the story, I didn't mind.

Nothing objectionable comes to mind about this book.

[Ciara]

the more of these american girl mysteries i read, the more ludicrous they seem. i guess it must be challenging to come up with a plotline that is truly mysterious but also age-appropriate for a child. & at least this book involved more of a mystery than, "there's a polio epidemic & the girl in the next bunk over at sleepaway camp seems to have some health issues. wonder if it's polio?" (ie, secrets at camp nokomis).

rebecca is concerned about a rash of kidnappings sweeping new york city. someone is stealing babies left unattended outside shops & other such places (apparently this was a pretty common practice back in ye olden days) & ransoming them for thousands of dollars. the babies are often from poor families who have to beg friends & neighbors for donations to raise the ransoms & get their babies back. rebecca becomes even more suspicious when she realizes that her older brother snuck out of the apartment on the night that one baby was returned to its family.

but she is swiftly distracted when a new family moves into her building. they moved from a nearby tenement & the mom in the family developed an eye infection that is imperiling her vision. the father works two jobs to pay for her medical care, & they have a little baby named nora, who is screaming her head off when rebecca meets the family. various cousins & aunts & whatnot are also milling around, as well as another woman who lives in the neighborhood & offers to look after the baby while the family gets settled in. mrs. rubin takes the baby instead & she & rebecca notice the baby has a bad diaper rash & needs her nails trimmed. rebecca guesses that nora's parents didn't have time for these things, or maybe even didn't notice, with the mom's eyesight failing & everything.

they get the baby all spruced up & rebecca takes her to a nearby park. she makes the acquaintance of another young girl there, named francesca. francesca is also looking after a baby, her little sister. rebecca is spooked by a slightly older boy with a thick italian accent who looks a little too closely at nora & asks rebecca some mundane questions about her. rebecca thinks it's strange that a boy that age would pay any attention to a baby. she even wonders if he might be involved with the kidnappings that have been happening. when she sees her brother running around with the boy, she gets even more concerned. then the boy's dog runs off with nora's rattle & rebecca chases after it.

the next day, rebecca stops by to visit with the new family again. she notices that nora is cheerful & happy as a clam, compared to all the screaming & fussing she was doing the day before. she remembers that the baby that was with francesca was very calm & sweet. she checks nora's dress & finds a little embroidered horn on the hem, the same as the embroidered horn on francesca's little sister's dress (an italian charm to ward off the evil eye). she realizes that the babies must have been switched while she was chasing after the dog. she rushes out to find francesca & get her help to switch the babies back.

she discovers that francesca is the little sister of the boy who seemed so interested in nora the day before. when she finally finds francesca & tells her that the babies have been switched, francesca insists that it's not true & won't listen to rebecca. rebecca becomes concerned that francesca switched the babies on purpose--that maybe she is mixed up in the kidnappings as well (although switching babies is not really the same as kidnapping them & holding them for ransom). she also unearths other odd or unsettling information: her brother is running around in a "gang" of "bad boys". rebecca sees them steal lollipops from a local ice cream vender. she also sees the local woman who has offered to look after nora. she sees the woman drop a package of brand-new baby clothes in the trash, & she realizes that a stern-looking man in a hat saw rebecca remove them from the trash.

rebecca tells her mother about the babies being switched, hoping that she can lean on francesca to switch them back. mrs. rubin dismisses this, insisting that a mother always knows her own child, even if her eyesight isn't the best. but rebecca knows the sweet, quiet baby the neighbors have now is not the same fussy, screaming baby she took to the park. the new baby's nails need to be clipped again already & her diaper rash is completely gone. (i guess they needed this kind of actual physical evidence to forestall arguments that sometimes babies cry & sometimes they're cheerful & it doesn't mean they are different babies.)

finally rebecca tracks down francesca's mother, who is sitting outside bouncing a fretful, crying baby. she confirms that the baby is her own daughter. rebecca starts hooting & hollering about how the babies have been switched. by this point, she thinks francesca's entire family is running some kind of very confusing baby-switching/kidnapping ring & she bolts over to a cop & requests his assistance in switching the babies back. francesca appears & seems very determined in her insistence that the babies have not been switched & that rebecca should drop it. then nora's father turns up & he knows francesca's family. apparently they live in the tenement building that he & his family just moved out of. rebecca is even more confused but she drops her kidnapping assumptions when she sees nora's father greeting the italian baby with no recognition that it may be his own child.

finally francesca explains: her brother likes to play pranks. while nora's family was moving out of the tenement, they asked francesca to look after nora for a little while. she was also looking after her little sister. something happened to nora's dress, so francesca dressed nora in one of her sister's spare dresses. then she was called away & asked her brother to keep an eye on the babies for a minute. he did, & thought it would be a funny prank on francesca to place their sister in nora's pram & nora in their sister's bed. unfortunately for him, nora's aunt & uncle came to pick her up & take her to the new apartment before francesca realized the babies had been switched. they weren't familiar with nora & didn't realize they were taking the wrong baby, & francesca didn't realize it until it was too late. she machinated a meeting with rebecca & nora in the park (using her older brother as a look-out, hence his strange interest in the baby) & switched them when rebecca's back was turned. but because rebecca was introduced to the impostor baby as nora, she didn't realize that francesca was switching the babies BACK. they decide not to tell anyone what happened because the babies are back with the right families & that's what counts. i think francesca & her brother are pretty lucky that nora's family wasn't moving to, like, des moines. switching babies is no joke!

rebecca is walking through the park when she suddenly realizes that the woman who had offered to look after nora & the stern man in the hat are the real kidnappers. she happens to run into them almost immediately & they grab her & try to hustle her out of the park. at first she goes meekly, rememering what her mother says about how "ladies don't draw attention to themselves". then she remembers what her grandmother says about how ladies are loud if they need to be & she starts hollering. francesca's brother helps catch the kidnappers, earning the goodwill of the police for once, & rebecca breaks the kidnapping case (via that old chestnut, deux ex machina, basically). her brother admits that he's been sneaking out at night to build the family a sukkah on the roof of their building.

rebecca came across as a bit of a meddlesome drama queen in this book. she could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she just stayed out of other people's business. there was also a weird scene in which francesca's mother is holding a baby, nora is in her pram, & rebecca "looks at the baby in her arms". i was super confused by that because i couldn't figure out how a third baby came on to the scene. i read it like ten times before i concluded that it was just an especially egregious editing/continuity error.

[Little Seal]

Rebecca is always the hero. It's kind of wild she seems to save the day in every book, in comparison to the other AGs. I still love her though.

[Shayla Salazar]

This book was so stressful and reminded me how fun reading mysteries can be!

[Jessey kissir]

I have loved all of the AGC books that I have read so far. I did not know that there was a mystery collection. I really enjoyed this one. looking forward to reading more.

[Meghan]

Wish the book gave a little more attention to Sukkos. Nora was an interesting name choice for a child of Jewish immigrants, when most of the family had names from the Old Testament.

[Panda Incognito]

When this book came out, I thought that it looked boring, and since I hadn't cared for the Rebecca series, I didn't bother with it. However, since I am rereading all of the American Girl books this year, I decided to give this a try. I enjoyed it much more than I had expected, and have now read every single one of the American Girl mysteries.

This book conveys the setting and cultural flavor of immigrant New York very well, and even though the mystery isn't spectacular, it has some clever twists and historical insight. The book also incorporates some details about the Jewish holiday of Sukkos, and continues to develop Rebecca's character and her relationships with her family members. I enjoyed this, and thought that it was satisfying as a whole.

[Greer]

A bundle of trouble is a story about a girl in the 1930's looking after a baby when one day the baby gets swapped with another one after a strange encounter with a girl. Rebecca becomes worried as many babies around this time are being kidnapped and then being held for ransom by citizens in New York. Rebecca has to go on a hunt to find out what has happened to this child.

This book shows the times back in 1930 and how it was like for many children, that is why I found this book so interesting to read.

[Annie]

Honestly, this was not my favorite book, but it was okay. Rebecca lives with her family in an apartment. When her new neighbor moves in, their baby daughter, Nora was gone! Rebecca panics and she doesn’t know what to do. Read the book to find out more! I rate this book 3 stars because there is no main idea and it doesn’t explain much about what happened to Nora.

[Grace Lynch]

I always enjoy reading mysteries so this was a fun read for me. However, I did find the mystery to be very obvious and just know that if I read this at a young age, I still would have figured this one out pretty quickly. That being said, it was still fun and I enjoyed reading the cultural and historical aspects of the story as well.

[Grace]

I don’t even like babies, but I TORE through this one because I just had to know what happened. One of the better AG mysteries - the right amount of suspense while still being ultimately believable. Bonus points for there being actual crime and not just a big misunderstanding.

[Thea]

3 1/2 stars

[Larissa Blong]

These are such fun, light and quick reads. I'm glad there's so many books in the American Girl series!

[Joy]

I thought this was kind of “creative,” in terms of having a crime that a young girl in a tenement might actually come across and be able to solve.

[Danae]

3.5*

[Katy Lovejoy]

I love rebecca

[Sue Ann Dashnaw]

An amazing story.
Love this book series. Great characters, awesome looking back into the past and incredible mysteries

[Sesana]

Re-read 2022: I guess I read this before, but I have literally zero memory of any of it. At any rate, the mystery is a bit more mysterious than in the previous Rebecca mystery, in that there's some actual twists and turns and the full solution is much more complicated and innocent than expected. Rebecca is extremely dramatic in this book. On one hand, her suppositions about Francesca and her family are reasonable enough leaps of logic, but when she takes a detour into accusing her older brother of being part of a kidnapping ring it feels like a huge stretch. The historical details are a little light on the ground here. It's sort of based kidnapping and ransoming children being a thing that happened, but it doesn't feel thoroughly grounded in Rebecca's time. All the more so because the historical notes at the end use the Lindberg kidnapping as a famous example, but that was almost two decades later. It's slightly more effective at showcasing the differing expectations parents would have had of their sons and daughters at the time: girls would have been expected to help with younger, even infant siblings, and boys would have had more freedom to play. Again, this is kind of undercut by Rebecca not actually having those responsibilities herself. She's volunteering to watch the neighbor's baby, and nobody expects her to. All this historical stuff is me being super picky, mostly because much of this book doesn't feel specific to Rebecca or her time period.

[Emma Miller]

I am reading a book called a bundle of trouble. It's about a girl named Rebecca and it was like 3am and she heard noises so she went downstairs and saw her brother laying on the couch with his shoes on. So in the morning they were eating breakfast before they were planning on going for a run. The grandpa pulls her brother aside and starts talking to him. I am wondering what happens when the grandpa talks to Rebecca's brother.

[Addie]

I loved It, I am a big friend of mystery books and this is for sure one of my favorite. I won't make sure to spoil anything but This book is about Rebecca babysitting her neighbors baby and learns that the baby she is babysitting isn't her neighbor's baby. With a kidnapper on the loss she has to put all her effort into figuring out this mystery. Loved it, please make more.

[rzells]

I read this book when I was about ten years old, and I really loved it. Rebecca was one of my favorite American girls. Great story that I recommend to all girls. I think every little girl should read the American Girl series. Enjoyable

[Sydney]

its about Rebecca loves to babysit their neighbor's baby but when she hears there is a thief in town she is worried about the baby.

[Laura]

A good mystery but sort of scary.

[Cici]

this seemed to build up into a good mystery, and Rebecca did catch the kidnappers, but the mystery was really the result of a joke.

[Kathleen]

One of the better American Girl mysteries I have read. I was actually in suspense! 3 1/2 stars.

[Ruth]

a fun read

[Schylar]

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

[Clara]

Not predictable, but not very interesting either. A huge step down from the last AG mystery I read, though that one was unusually good.