Adventure & Mystery Novels

  Five go to mystery moor was the first book in the famous five series that I read, sometime around 1963. I continually read this series until I couldn’t find any more and the public library. It about two kids who goes to a riding school and meet three other kids. They find out that something bad is going on in a dark and mystery place they call Mystery Moor. Of course they investigate find out what’s going on and fix it. As they do in all of the famous five books.  One of my older sisters was a big reader and the library was over a mile walk from our house. Once she started to walk to the library she always convince me to walk with her. She could tell a good story about anything and the story would always be true.  Even today I can remember her telling me “you can read so good, you going to have the most fun you ever had”. You know what it was true.  

So imagine back then on a Saturday morning around 11:00 o’clock and most of the boys on my street are already out on the street. They are playing marbles, racing and playing with their cap guns. They begin to wonder where I am and why I am not outside. So they all begin to converge on our house. Before they get there another big sister say, those boys are coming over here to get you and she really smiling. At first I didn’t know why, then I realize that it’s Saturday and I am dress up in my good school clothes with my school shoes. I knew none of my friends would understand why I was dress up for school on a Saturday.  It’s very clear now more than fifty years later they didn’t.  I open the door and they were all very concern at first.  Some of their first words were “WHAT WRONG”; they were genuine concern about me.  I said in a normal cool voice; “I am going to the library”.  Their concerns quickly turn into confusion.  Then all the questions started like, “what?”, “what do you mean”, “what kind of library”, “for what”, “What are you going to do there”, “who’s making you go”. 

Well by this time my big sister came to the door. I don’t know how or why but she always had some type of authority or control over me and all my friends.  When she finished talking to them somebody said can I go with yawl? She very politely said no that these trips are only for her and me. 

I knew this was something special and it turn out to be more than I could imagine. Over the years many of my friends didn’t understand this reading thing. You know I was a more fun and crazy person than most of my friends and they thought it was unusual to be spending so much time reading. So over the years I’ll been a secret reader even throughout my college years. 

The first novel I read was Robinson Crusoe and I was completely hooked on reading novels right then. The next novel I read was “The Secret Garden”, and then Huckleberry Finn. I only check out three books for that two week period of time and I was finished before the second Monday.  

Now my sister had read these three books and enjoyed them a lot. I am telling you now there is nothing like discussing a book with someone who also read and enjoyed it too. You get to relive the book all over again and find out things you may have missed. 

 Well after that first visit to the library our book selection completely separated. As she somehow knew that I would really like mystery and adventure novels.  I was pointed toward my first mystery and adventure novel series. I then started with an adventure series about a boy named Augusta. He lived during the same time as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I know because Augusta once met Tom Sawyer on the river and thought he was lazy. 

The first book I read in that series was Augusta Help the Navy. The library copy was a hardback yellow book with about 128 pages. All the books were similar in color, size and pages. The book was a little bigger than many other books and a distinct yellow. I could recognize the book on the shelves from a distance.   

I was overwhelm and overjoyed with the Augusta series. Whatever the maximum number of books I could check out is what I got every other week. 

To date, I have search high and low for the Augusta series of mystery books and they are not to be found anywhere. They are completely missing from Google and some others book search engine.  I don’t remember who the author was. I remember how cool it was that Augusta had actually encounter Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in his own adventures. I believe the Augusta series had to be first published in the late 1800. I don’t understand how such a great series of books like the Augusta series is not listed with Google and other search engine.  

I haven’t contacted the Toulminville, Mobile, AL branch library yet, I wonder if they have a record.  If anyone is familiar with the Augusta Series Adventure books or know who the author is please share it with us. 

@rodrook