The Hardy Boys and Dogs

The Hardy Boys (The Short-Wave Mystery/Undercover Brothers – Operation: Survival, by Franklin Dixon (Grosset and Dunlap/Aladdin Paperbacks, 1966 or 1945/2005, 176/148 pages, $7.99 /$4.99)

Dogs are Everywhere!

Dogs appear in books and magazines and movies, as backdrops where you least expect them but, of course, they are so much a part of our lives, why not be in books and magazines and movies, too, if only in the background?

We picked up a couple of Hardy Boys mysteries since we had never read any of them but had read all the Nancy Drew books – and were pleasantly surprised. Plots were very good and they even had dogs! And puppy love (Iola and Carrie).

Ah, the Hardy boys: Joe, the cute one, and Frank, the budding biologist (at least in Operation Survival) (“. . . eye color is determined by three genes, not just two.” Page 8) often alternate chapters. And then there is Chet, their always-hungry sidekick.

The Short-Wave Mystery

Dits and Dah’s and stuffed animals to fight over at an auction that results in a robbery. And sidekick Chet has a new hobby, taxidermy. And then you have a car explosion and a secret code and ‘Leapin’ Lizards!’ a boy named Biff and a boat named Sleuth. And a bear and an aardvark and a fox and a wolf and a bison and even industrial spies. And wonder drugs and polygraph tests and a hunting lodge in Canada and the FBI – whew! But, where’s the dog?

Typically, boys’ books have boy topics, like taxidermy and boating and fishing and short-wave radios and this adventure is no exception.

Undercover Brothers – Operation Survival

Teenagers Joe and Frank go undercover in each book of this upshot series, this being number seven), this time to Camp Wilderness which is a boot camp for juvie boys (and a sister camp for girls and, yes, teen love plays a part). A really physically tough boot camp and if they don’t succeed, it’s off to prison. However, Camp Wilderness recently had a boy die: then same thing happened in its predecessor, Camp Character in Montana. 

Hmmmmmm. Could it have been murder?

And, in preparation for the wilderness, the Hardy boys and their parents have a discussion about black bears, so you know they will play a part later. After the knock-out and a boathouse on fire.

Dreaming of a dog. A golden retriever. With Nancy Drew mentioned in a passing conversation.

But what does genetics have to do with it? Hairy knuckles, attached earlobes (recessive), dimples (dominant). Read it and see.

Clever Plots

Both these books are quite clever, even for adults, but I suspect the more Hardy Boys books you read, the better you will become at guessing ‘who done it.’