Julie W. (cloverluv) reviewed on 8/25/2011 + 129 more book reviews

One night while teaching Emily how to ride a bike, Molly and her friends see a light on in the cellar of an old mansion in Jefferson that they know to be vacant. When they get a little closer to investigate the light goes off! Who is turning on and off lights in an old abandoned house and does it have anything to do with the missing sugar from the Red Cross? Molly and her friends to the rescue!

While I'm a huge fan of the American Girl series in general, I've never been a huge fan of the mystery series the Pleasant company came out with to up their book sales. "The Light in the Cellar" may have turned me however.

"Light in the Cellar" is a fairly beefy book for American Girl, rounding out a whole 157 pages respectfully. That being said, because it's longer it ends up being a much more developed mystery than some other books in this series and the other Molly Mystery (Spy on the Home Front) can't hold a candle to this book (no pun intended). Because the author, Sarah Buckley, took the time to do research and create a good back story for her mystery the book became a much more enjoyable read than I was really expecting. I was pleasantly surprised.

Overall, the American Girl Mystery series is for a slightly older audience. The original books are much shorter and probably great for third to fourth graders. The mystery series I feel a third grader might have trouble getting through all the way because of the length. So if your girl(s) have outgrown the original American Girls, but still like the characters, the mystery series is a great stepping stone into YA literature. However, the great paintings and large pictures that make the original American Girl series so wonderful and vibrant are distinctly missing from the mystery series. Sad.

4 stars. Entertaining, but not overly complex or page-turning.

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