The biggest thing that bothered me about this book was that why a person would sew stolen jewels on a skating costume that was in plain sight of everyone. Children like the Aldens aren't smarter than grown-up dectectives. This book was really AWFUL!!

This is a great mystery. The diamonds are in the place you least expect. Two people get engaged in this book too. One of the characters is really funny. This is a good book if you like mysteries.

The story basically happens in one place,and the mystery isconfusing,with a few suspects,and until almost the end it's unclearwho is the troublemaker.It is interesting to read what the kids do all the time they are there(and nothing is close to being solved),but,as I said,not very exciting. END

When the children hear that Mr. Wood's cat, Spotzie, is missing, they immediately help out by putting up Lost Cat posters and going door-to-door with a photograph of the cat. The more they search, the more mysterious the situation becomes.

The book has its interesting and exciting parts, but the ending shows it to be a simple misunderstanding.Not the best...

Suffragettes by Gertude Colemore expresses a somewhat historialview of the fight for women's rights. In my college History of Womenclass, we read this book and I must admit that I was so disappointed with it for newarly 150 pages. I struggled with the author jumping between the characters. Once I reached the more intense parts of this book however, I was intrigued to find out what happens to all the characters. I finally made it to the end and upon discussing the book in my class, I realized that I, like many others had not even realized that one of the characters dies. Upon re-reading it, I still do not understand. I must give this book credit for transforming history into a book. Many of the characters actually stand for real historical figures with the names only slightly changed. I would recommend this book for teachers who wish to expand their students minds. However, I would not assign it to each student, have them read it in groups and discuss it along with studying the actual historical facts behind it.

Completely manipulative, devious, dishonest drivel...

Please look at the facts, side by side, while reading this book.

This book is pure hagiography. Too uncritical to be of much value. Incidentally, passe what has been said elsewhere, the Nazis were not at all oppposed to the setting up of a jewish state in Palestine. On the contrary, it accorded with Nazi beliefs that Jews were "foreigners" in Germany and needed their "own" territory, being incompatible with any country they settled in. Although not true of Ben Gurion himself, many early Zionists were complicit with the Nazis.

This is the moving story of the man who secured for the Jewish people, rightfully, a homeland. The establishment of the state of Israel was trully miraculous considering the opposition by the Goliaths of the world, namely the Nazis and the inheritors of Nazi ideology, the Palestinians and numerous Arab states. Ben Gurion was a warrior poet.

This is the most boring book I have ever read! I loved the boxcar children books, and all of them I would rate better the 3 stars, but this one was so borring. MYSTERY ranch? What MYSTERY? The was no mystery in this book at all. The whole thing was just so borring. It's the worst boxcar book I have ever read, and I have read about 42 of their so far 87 books! It's just so borring.

This was the book where the Boxcar Children ate peas for dinner and went to bed at 8:00. They took an entire chapter to plan what they were going to do that day, instead of just doing it. I think this is the right book, but I don't remember because they were all so boring I forgot them. If you are looking for a series for your children to read, I would advise you to keep this out of children's reach. They may need psychiatric treatment after reading this bore of a lifetime. Nothing worth your time is in this book, except that going to bed at 8:00 was a good laugh. --Andy, 12 years old

Why isn't this book as good as the rest? I hated it when i was little, much as I loved the rest of the original series. Years have passed since then and I read it again and it's not so bad. But the other reviewers are correct in the fact that this is no mystery, really.

As for the purpose of this book in the scheme of the entire series, it's actually very important. This book is the important link between books 3 and the rest of the series. This book introduces Aunt Jane, a very important role in the future of the children, and it sets the groundwork for book 5, "Mike's Mystery", which takes place on the same ranch some time later. And book 5 is the springboard for Mike to be more important in later adventures. So there is a purpose to this book.

I can't really recommend it though. But any child who wants to read the whole series should not skip this book - it's still part of the experience, no matter how dull it may seem, and it's really not THAT bad.

This book was very good, but I think it needed more action in it. It got kind of boring, but it was a good book. It needed some more story to it to.

I really liked Benny uncovers a mystery and I think you will too. Just take my advice. Don't expect too much excitement. I recommend this book to kids who like excitement and surprises!

This book came to us as part of a Reformed homeschooling curriculum. My son was terribly pleased as there are pictures in this book. I was not so pleased as I found that I had to edit the stories early on. Also, the translation of the story of Esther is so questionable that the homeschool recommends we not read it to the children. I have dropped the book from our daily study and fortunately, so far, my son has not noticed. If you are looking for a Reformed children's bible try The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos. We have used that as part of our family worship time for several years and have not found any problem's theologically.

As a chidren's story Bible, this book has two strong points in its favour:

1. The pictures are respectful and faithful to the Bible. For example, care has been taken to ensure that there are no pictures of Christ's face, since this would portray an illustrator's imagination rather than Biblical truth.

2. The stories are faithful to the Biblical text, and do not contain exegetical errors or man centered theology.

However, these advantages are outweighed by a very large disadvantage: The story telling is very poor and dull. The way the stories are told is distinctly dull, and does not interest children. Our children lost interest as a result, and we were compelled to begin using a different children's Bible.

Recommended instead: The Children's Story Bible by Anne DeVries.