Dawn & Halloween Mystery

[sotypical42483]

I'm in the middle of reading this one now! Funny how a few of us were all reading it Anyway, how small of a town is Palo Alto? I always thought it was decent-sized (def bigger than Stoneybrook), but they are talking about cancelling halloween and enforcing a curfew because a robber is on the loose?! What?!?! Nobody under the age of 18 allowed outside after 7pm?! I mean geez, aren't they taking it a bit too far?

[aln1982]

^ You're probably right but I always thought of Palo Alto as a really small town, maybe becuase of the curfew thing in this book (which was the first one I read of Dawn in CA). That seems like the kind of thing they would do in some tiny, gated community, which is how I picture Palo Alto. I think that's why this part of the book never bothered me (even though I agree it does seem extreme) I'm sure that's just how I'm picturing Palo Alto, though, for who knows what reason and that's not at all how it is portrayed in the books. ;D

[booboobrewer]

I reread this one a few days ago and something caught my eye. Sunny says she's going as Mrs. Claus to their Halloween party, but the outfit she borrowed belonged to her dad, and it was pants, boots, she was going to stuff the jacket, etc. That sounds like Santa Claus, not Mrs. Claus! Shouldn't Mrs. Claus wear like, a red and white dress and look very grandmotherly?

[starrynight]

^ Yes, she should!

I always saw Palo Alto as a medium-sized, fairly suburban, well-off community. Not exactly a super fancy, rich, gated area, but not a ghetto, either.

[booboobrewer]

Oh you guys mean Palo City I live about an hour away from Palo Alto. The Stanford campus is located there, downtown is nice, and there are a lot of beautiful homes. Not too far off from how I picture Stoneybrook or Palo City.

[Deleted]

I really liked Dawn and the Halloween Mystery. I did find something strange though, I used to live around Disneyland where this takes place, and it's way crowded, so I serioulsly DOUBT that Dawn and her friends would find the guys who bought the masks, even if they did go the right H.S. Even if they did, there would at least 5 guys who would fit the guys' on the track tream who fit, the guys' description because it's so croweded. Unless, it's based on Palo Alto, and it's a small town. Also, I think they were going to the "Halloween Store" which is a year round chain in Ca. of awesome halloween props!

[tiff85]

I liked this book, and would like to read it again. I also like books that are centered around Halloween.

[virgoscorpio]

I know that most of you have said that you enjoyed this book, but I have to admit that I was disappointed.

Today is Hallowe'en (2009). I was looking for a Hallowe'en-themed BSC book and this one came to mind first (obviously since Hallowe'en is mentioned in the title). I think that more could have been done with such a great theme. I have a few issues, in general, about this book:

1. Why do we have another Dawn mystery? At this time, Dawn has 4. She just had the Surfer Ghost mystery a few books ago and now we have to see a Hallowe'en book narrated by Dawn, too? I would have preferred something to take place in Stoneybrook related to Hallowe'en.

2. The mystery didn't have much to do with Hallowe'en. It was a robbery. That just took place around Hallowe'en, and the attacker was wearing a clown mask. Oh, and Hallowe'en is jeopardized for the whole city because of one robbery (is that even realistic? Robberies and crime happens in EVERY city and yet there is no complete ban on Hallowe'en, especially a city as big as what Palo City is/could have been.

3. I, personally, would have preferred more emphasis on Hallowe'en (maybe some of the traditions, maybe a mystery involving someone the BSC thinks is a witch, or ghost, or something that is more closely linked to a Hallowe'en mystery.

***

I did enjoy the sub-plot with the Barrett DeWitt kids, although that could have been placed in another book and had nothing to do with Hallowe'en, either. It would have been nice to have had a glimpse at the Stoneybrook clients during this festive time.

Overall, DISAPPOINTING HALLOWE'EN BOOK. Dawn needs to stop narrating mysteries for awhile...

[booboobrewer]

There are several Halloween books taking place in Stoneybrook so for me this was a nice change. None of the kids were annoying so that was a plus. And the party that Dawn, Sunny, Maggie, and Jill organize sounded fun. The ban did seem pretty unrealistic though. And I don't care for the subplot with the Barretts and DeWitts at all, I would have rather heard about something more related to the holiday.

[Kylie90210]

A few of my issues with this book have already been mentioned, Stephie's outfit, the curfew etc.

I totally thought it was Timmy's Dad though :/

[oldhickory]

i thought it was kind of creepy how the worker at the store totally divulged information on the other customers and how to find them. at my store i would get written up so fast if i gave out a customer's information. i'm not sure how old this book is, but nowadays any employee with half a brain would suggest looking online or even at another store, but never following other people.
also (kind of random) it always bugged me that they named the town "palo city." why is it half in spanish and half in english?

[anzuhana]

This book isn't one of my favorites. I thought it was a little boring. I'm surprised that Dawn didn't think that the robber might be a female. After all, in Starring the BSC, she had a problem with the play because she thought it was sexist.

[zoar3]

You go, Virgo, ITA with everything you said. Of course we had to endure many a Dawn annoying lecture about food. I did love Mrs. Stevens helping Timmy with his costume and would have liked seeing pictures of Erick DeWitt in his lifesavers costume and of Claudia had Dawn ever sent her the chocolate trophy. Marnie was, most definitely, the best part. Oh and Tiffany Kilbourne was 11 in this one.

[celaeno]

I lucked out, as this was the next in my line of BSC books to read! Perfect timing.

Like I mentioned in the thread for Mary Anne Breaks the Rules - these two books take place at the same time (as Mary Anne Breaks the Rules came out immediately before this one, and they both take place during the weeks before Halloween and on Halloween itself), and it annoys me that there was no mention of one in the other. It's especially annoying since Buddy played a part in both books (in Mary Anne Breaks the Rules he and Jake made a haunted house; in this one his family is house hunting).

I'm glad that the Barrett-DeWitts ended up with a smaller (for their size family, at least) house. For most Stoneybrook families, it seems like money isn't an issue (even single mothers can afford four bedroom houses!), so it's nice to see that they were realistically forced to have 2 to 3 kids in all the bedrooms. But, man, is there going to be endless fighting in that house.

Did anyone else think that they were going to reveal at some point that Mrs. Stevens (the clerk at Ellie's Variety Store) was actually Ellie? They made multiple points of how Ellie was a real, live person even though no one ever saw her.

I know you shouldn't think too hard about a BSC book, but there was just so much wrong in this one. Timmy and his dad just moved into their new house and his parents were separated, so why why why WHY would his mom go to Timmy's new house just to bury HER gun in THEIR backyard??? Am I missing something?

[starrynight]

^ Nah, I don't think you're missing something. It was just something to make the plot of book work.