#trixie belden

[skelavender]

in retrospect i think i liked trixie belden because she and honey were obviously gay together

[scopostims]

trixie belden books inspired stimboard for anon :•]

[ID: A 3x3 stimboard of 8 GIFs surrounding a central image.

GIF 1: Someone flipping through the pages of a book with occasional biology diagrams in the pages.

GIF 2: Footage in a train as it goes through a tunnel, the cabin lit by sun then suddenly becoming consumed by darkness.

GIF 3: First person POV of walking between library shelves.

GIF 4: Light-skinned hands pasting a cutout of a book page into a scrapbook.

Image: 7 trixie belden books laid out, all of them about various mysteries.

GIF 5: A closeup of someone writing in cursive on lined paper with a calligraphy pen.

GIF 6: First person POV of walking between library shelves, the place lit by warm yellow lights.

GIF 7: First person POV of walking through an abandoned but clean mall.

GIF 8: A light-skinned hand moving a magnifying glass over a book page.

End ID]

[julieverne]

Maura read a lot. The television was locked up in the visitor's longue room, and mostly they were documentaries they watched as a family. The occasionally Katherine Hepburn. Tall. Brash. Cuttingly sharp. Maura loved Sunday afternoons on days it was too rainy to take the horses or the boats out. Just her and Katherine Hepburn.

She read the books her mother gave her. Books from another country, from another time. A world which the war had shaken. A lot of them were terribly outdated. Where only the boys got to have any fun and the girls were left alone to - what, bake? Clean? Sew? She gave up on those. She loved George Kirrin fiercely. The illustrations in the books always portrayed her as a little prettier than Maura liked to imagine her; in her mind she gave her thick brows, a strong jaw. The kind of face that would make a stranger falter for their pronouns before addressing her. And she was fearless and devoted to her friends and her beloved Timmy, of course. Maura loved Bass, but she wouldn't face a man with a gun if he were in imminent danger. No one would shoot a tortoise anyway.

She saw herself as more of an Anne, just dragged along for the ride, often terrified and completely impotent. Maura did martial arts, and horseriding, gymnastics and fencing. She could play the violin but she didn't like to. She could take care of herself. But poor little Anne was always getting dragged into dangerous situations. No one listened to her voice of reason. And if the villains they'd faced had been a different sort, the sort that rarely featured in kids books, she'd have been the most at risk. George herself was protective, but the two brothers should have been ashamed of themselves.

Still, she read all twenty one books in the series, and she longed for the salt of the sea, the wind on her face bicycling through the countryside, the sound of laughter on a summer morning.

She longed for friendship.

She tried Nancy Drew, but she found them a little too simplistic, a little too rushed. A list of things that happened with no tension building to make the reader concerned for Nancy or her friends. Another female George who was boyish, though. Smart and sporty, easily able to tackle criminals.

And the Trixie and Honey in upstate New York. So close to home, and yet so far. A spoiled rich girl, an only child. Rich and awkward. And the rambunctious neighbour girl, who thought her strange but didn't let that bother her for a single moment, didn't deter her from making the best friend either of them could ever have. The sleepovers. The sharing of clothes and food, riding through the woods. She could almost smell the pine. She could see how Trixie noticed how vulnerable and scared Honey was and how she tried - in her own clumsy way - to make her feel safe and welcome. And Honey was so sensible and feminine and Trixie was all scraped knees and skinned knuckles and Maura wanted that. She wanted a Trixie. She wanted someone to tell her she was okay as she was, someone who saw her and knew she was enough.

But no matter how long she hung out in the woods by herself, no one ever came. Her parents' estate was too large, and her parents' friends didn't have children, or had ones much older than her that babied her.

But it was the boarding schools that got her in the end. She read hungrily about midnight feasts and swimming competitions and school pantomimes. She read about stolid, stable Darrell Rivers, headstrong and certain of herself. And by her side, Sally Hope, less certain, a little resentful, not as nice in the first books but blossoming into a fine young lady by the end. At her best friend's side. All the little interactions that young women had - all the spiteful little tricks, all the jabs and jeers and exclusions. It helped her to understand a little the social quagmire of her schooling days. She'd not been a success, at school. Academically she was very gifted. But socially she suffered. She chose Paris because she felt like her foibles might be seen as exotic, and she gave her parents the brochures.

But it was fruitless. While she wasn't bullied at boarding school - she was too smart to be openly derided, and she would do anyone's homework if they sat with her, but also even with all her studies on human behaviour she rarely noticed when someone tried to insult her - she never did find her Darrell Rivers. Her bosom friend, her companion. She gave up, after that. Adults had acquaintances, not friends. She threw herself into her studies and took the jobs offered her.

And then someone tall and dark with strong brows and a firm jaw was calling her 'sista' and Maura knew she'd been slighted. But a few months later the detective had bounced into her morgue, looking over the body. At least she didn't vomit, like some of them. It was fortunate Maura, despite being a super taster, didn't mind most smells. But Jane had come in, her curly hair tied back, business shirt and slacks. And she grinned at Maura, her smile cheeky and knowing, like she knew her, like they were friends already. And it was like if Katherine Hepburn had been a detective. It was like George Kirrin grown up and taking on the world with her quick brain and quicker smile. It was George Frayne on horseback, reaching her hand down to a damsel in distress. It was like Trixie Belden had stumbled through the woods to her mansion and stood outside waiting to play. It was like Darrell Rivers with her hot temper but warm nature had come to life from a book and seen her Sally Hope.

+++

"I don't know who any of them are," Jane said when Maura told her this, years later, curled up on the couch together. "Well, I read some Nancy Drew but she was a bit of a wimp in the early books. Trixie - she was the one - oh yeah, I liked those! She was always running through the woods and filthy. She was great! And you think of me as her?"

"Remember when you tackled a Federal Agent in a creek?" Maura asked, laughing.

Jane chuckled and pulled Maura closer.

"The point is, I always read about women having close friendships. About women like you - strong and masculine, protective and loyal. And their useless little sidekicks."

"Here's one for you then. Xena and Gabrielle. Gabby wasn't useless though. She had spunk, and she could fight too. You're not a useless sidekick, Maura. You're a fierce warrior in your own right."

Maura crinkled her brow as though she was trying to remember.

"I've seen your DVD boxset, Maura." Maura blushed; her roommate in college had watched the show religiously, and Maura had too, loving the dynamic of the women. The tall, strong brunette. The short, smart blonde. Visually striking together, perfectly suited. The way they were so protective of each other. So thoroughly loyal.

"They - they weren't just friends though." Maura had kind of known at the time, but as more years passed she saw how blatant it had been.

"Are we just friends?" Jane's voice dropped, and Maura looked up sharply at her.

"We're friends. Aren't we?" Maura looked terrified for a moment and Jane reached out to reassure her.

"We are," Jane said, rubbing her hand over Maura's shoulder. "But we could be more, couldn't we?"

"That's up to you," Maura said uncertainly, and like headstrong Darrell Rivers, like impetuous Trixie Belden or crusading Xena, Jane leaned in and kissed Maura.

And Maura knew what female friendship was about. She had female friends now; Nina and Susie and Angela. People who knew who she was and liked her.

But a bosom friend was a friend that touched your bosom. And that was Jane, all over.

[sleepyside]

Am I creeping through the Trixie Belden tag liking 5+ year old posts?

Yes, yes I am

Tumblr is so damn confusing anymore. Is it dead or isn’t it? The amount of abandoned blogs is astounding. And then I find a blog that’s been active for 13 years and I’m astounded again

[lalunearts]

Idk how old my copies of the books are, theyre all in paperback(except the one copy of book 5 i got at a thrift shop about a year ago)

But these might be some of the oldest books i own

I am very careful especially with this one bc its falling apart and well loved.

[ladysnowangel]

The Black Jacket Mystery (Trixie Belden #8)

[bargainsleuthbooks]

#ARC #CharlotteIllesIsNotADetective by #KatieSiegel #NetGalley #CozyMystery #LGBT #Humor #Contemporary #BookReview #KensingtonBooks

Imagine being a teen sleuth like #NancyDrew but grow up and want to move past that? For #CharlotteIlles, it's not that easy. #KatieSiegel #NetGalley #BookReview #kensingtonbooks #cozymystery #teensleuth #teendetective #June2023Books #newbooks #ARCReview

As a kid, Charlotte Illes’ uncanny sleuthing abilities made her a minor celebrity. But in high school, she hung up her detective’s hat and stashed away the signature blue landline in her “office”—aka garage—convinced that finding her adult purpose would be as easy as tracking down missing pudding cups or locating stolen diamonds. Now twenty-five, Charlotte has a nagging fear that she hit her peak…

[queerauntie]

February Reads

Trixie Belden: The Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Solito by Javier Zamora

Trixie Belden: The Mysterious Visitor by Julie Campbell

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

The Kindred by Alechia Dow

So This is Ever After by F.T. Lukens

Wow Wow WOW what a month of reading! It's been a crazy month, too! My new job is so delightful I could cry (and have lowkey) tears of joy! The reads have been phenomenal companions on my drives and while out of town helping a friend recover from surgery! So let's get into it:

What can I say about the Trixie Belden books I haven't already? They're so quaint and enjoyable. I continuously compare them to chewing gum, they are stimulating without being exhausting and they have a fun flavor every time! Unfortunately, I ran out of audiobooks this month, the library only carried the 1st four in the series so I have not decided yet how I want to proceed. Get more invested with like 3 more ebooks and then go cold turkey, or just cut my losses now... We'll have to see.

Stone Butch Blues was really impactful and a story I will not quickly forget. It took me almost 2 months to read this one, all of January and a decent chunk of February. Each chapter is a whole story beginning to end that you need to grieve and sit with, it was not a story to be binged, it demanded your time and respect. And that I gave it. This was also the first book I "annotated" (I took notes in my journal bc I was reading the digital edition) which I am so glad I did. Now, the experience will be forever embedded in my journal for future versions of myself to remember!

This next book was what I read on the way to visit my friends. It's about a 4-hour drive one way so I love queuing up a good book (at 2x the speed I can get through some big bois on a round trip) and this was a hauntingly good choice. In Solito, Javier Zamora remembers his terrifying and deadly journey to America to join his parents. At 9 years old this child travels from El Salvador to Mexico and Zamora's ability to recapture what it was like... I know we as readers must only be experiencing a fraction of the stress and fear that so many go through just for a chance at safety, at freedom. This book should be required reading and I recommend it to all of you!

Finally, I have gotten a taste of Akwaeke Emezi! I've heard about their work for a long time now, and my favorite source of book inspo (teacher twitter) has long been raving about their collections. I am thrilled PET was my first novel because it was phenomenal. Emezi has the power that few people have which is to discuss violence with kindness and empathy. It brought me joy to know this book is taught by teachers equipping their students with crucial knowledge. It's going into my required reading for my commune in our intro to restorative justice because WHEW it made me realize just how much more unlearning growing I had to do myself!

This next book was selected for my book club! I joined a book club in January in hopes of having some more intentional reading sessions. Audiobooks are my fave but I still dissociate sometimes and notice I sometimes miss out on themes when I'm not looking for them. So with book club books I am reading physical copies to force myself to slow down and journaling between sessions to reflect back on when the whole thing is read! Reading This Is How You Lose the Time War was a book I am SO GLAD I read in this way! The tension building was so effective this way and the yearning, the yearning oooh I was living for these characters! What a legendary novel! The authors did a phenomenal job putting you into these characters' heads and creating a story that wasn't overwhelming and difficult to understand, but surreal and vast. You knew of the world, but because of who the characters are, you aren't entirely in it. The creativity of this book feels like reading a world where metaphors become literal. It's magical and heartbreaking. It's an instant classic. And you already know it, a must-read!

Damn February was BUSY!! (Okay fair a couple were started in January, but STILL!) We are almost at the end of the month (damn the shortest month to how did I DO this!?) and being the neuro spicy dork that I am, the close to the end of an imaginary deadline means crunch time! That brings us to are you listening? by Tillie Walden. When visiting bestie, they let me borrow a whole bunch of books (I'm counting 9 including this one) and so now I have a lovely intimidating stack on top of my bookshelf I want to slowly widdle down, and this is what we started with! I was definitely not prepared for the undertones of this book, emotionally I was on edge the whole time but very uncertain why. The colors in this story do a magnificent job of making you spend time in the shadows, looking at the edges and focusing on small details. By the end, I was in tears and felt the whiplash of a short but powerful journey. Bestie's given me a bunch more of Walden's works too so you'll be seeing more of those too, I'm sure they'll be just as devastatingly beautiful!

What I need is for the emerging book genre, New Age, to become more prominent and specified because some of these books are there, they're THERE, but a lot of them still get pushed into the YA pg-13 section which is so limiting! I think The Kindred by Alechia Dow is a great example of this where it could've given me more but it was appealing to a younger audience so we had to keep it innocent, which is sweet, but these are two characters I know would be doing it down and dirty if they were just aged up ever so slightly! It's a good story, a fun way to talk about the issues that our country struggles with. It's definitely because of the way the author approaches these human rights topics that definitely feels rooted in YA so maybe it was always meant to be there! The young YA yearning is cute too, it's just not seamy in the way that adult romance is, and maybe I want a little bit of both! Sue me!

Admittedly, I do not learn my lesson from The Kindred and continue reading YA romances! I don't know how it happened, I think I just put a bunch of books on hold, and wham!, here we are a mini sprint of sci-fi romance! And after reading So This is Ever After I was not complaining!! These boys are SO cute! I loved how the story started, seemingly picking up where the gang left off- post-slaying the big evil monster and fulfilling their prophecy. It really gagged me and made me feel like I was reading a sequel, but of course, that is the intention, as we are now in the "ever after". Our protagonist and hero, now King, must do his best to fulfill his new role, which of course comes with its own plot twist problems to solve! The writing in this was really sweet and entertaining. I loved the scenarios the characters are put in, I will always be a slut for an ensemble cast, so this was a really enjoyable read! Unlike The Kindred though, I thought this book was perfectly aged as their shenanigans could only have been concocted by immature insecure, and communication-skills-lacking teens! It was a good time!

I did it! That's February everyone, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings if you read through it all, I always have fun writing these and if nothing maybe you'll see a book you want to read from my tags and it'll be the push you need to go for it!

Yearly Book Count: 16/?? Yearly Reading Goal: 50 Books

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Love how many kids books have always been about mystery solving because that's literally what it's like growing up. You don't know anything. There appear to be all these secrets. No one will explain them to you. Adults are completely useless. Might as well get an Aztec artifact out of it as well as self-discovery.

[hopefulcanary]

like the hardy boys

just with way more bickering

and y'know, copious amounts of life-affirming smut 🍑

[princesscolumbia]

Babies! Yer ALL BABIES!!!

[sleepyside]

One time in 5th grade I had an antique Trixie Belden book on my desk and my teacher scooted some desks around to fit another desk in the middle so she could start up the overhead projector. My book got knocked off my desk and ended up under the leg of her desk. The spine was damaged and I brought it to her attention. “Well it should have been put away.” I told her I wasn’t reading it while she was teaching, only when my assignment was done. She shrugged it off. I told her she damaged the spine. She rolled her eyes and accused me of not actually reading it, that I brought an old book to school to show off and look interesting. In front of my classmates.

I didn’t bring the books I was reading to her class after that. When it was time to turn the page of the textbook I stared straight ahead. When she called on me to answer a question I ignored her. I don’t know how long it lasted but I remember spending her classes not participating, just waiting for them to end.

[lalunearts]

all my favorite books i own are second hand probably because my mom used to by me her childhood series for me to make sure i had them i think im one of the few people who has the entire series of Trixie Belden on a shelf in my house.

[ladysnowangel]

Currently read the top four, going to read the next two shortly.

[tildeathiwillread]

She wasn't my first (that goes to Nancy Drew), but yes I loved the two (2) books that I got my hands on

Time for a new poll! I'm curious to see the spread of answers on this one (and hear any other series not on the list.) Tried to go for a range of older and newer series on here, more on the older end of the spectrum, but I can't cover everything with the limited poll options here, so I hope you'll share your answers! :)

Please reblog for a larger sample size, thank you!

[jewishevelinebaker]

When you were a child did you ever think that one day youd have to suck the venom out of a snake bite and mentally prepared yourself for that