The Sand Castle Mystery is the 49th book in the Nancy Drew Notebooks series. It was published in August 2002 for Aladdin Paperbacks. The cover tagline says “Nancy, Bess, and George are digging for clues…”
Back of the Book Summary:
Is this contest building up to a big letdown?
While vacationing at a lake, Nancy, Bess, and George have their eyes on first prize in the annual sand castle contest. They use special colored sand and carefully build the castle to look like the ones they researched at the library. If the girls win, they’ll get their picture in the local paper and all the ice cream they can eat.
But before the judging begins, someone wrecks the girls’ castle and writes a mean message in the sand. Nancy and her friends will have to dig deep to get back into the contest before it’s too late!
Inside Teaser:
“Hey,” said Nancy, “there’s a crowd around our castle.”
“What are they doing there? asked George. “Did we do that good a job?”
Nancy frowned. They walked closer. “There’s Lisa,” George said, waving, but Lisa looked upset and didn’t wave back. The girls inched closer and Bess suddenly gasped. There in the sand, in big letters, was written STAY AWAY! Even worse, their castle was destroyed!
Bess’s hand flew to her mouth. “How will we ever rebuild our castle in time?” she wailed.
Review:
Carson Drew goes on a business trip and brings Hannah Gruen, Nancy, Bess and George with him for a four day vacation. It is summer break and they are at Echo Lake, Michigan, renting a cottage on the beach. The girls enter the annual sand castle contest, along with some other kids their age. Some girls befriend Nancy, Bes and George, while others are jealous that out-of-towners get to enter the contest. When the girls leave their sand castle, they return to find it ruined with a mean note written in sand that says “stay away.” Nancy uses her waterproof camera to take pictures, and the girls right out ask others if they had messed up their sand castle. Was it the pesky boy? The jealous competitors, the newspaper reporter who is always looking for a story about trouble?
In a matter of two days, the girls rebuild their sand castle, visit an ice cream parlor, pizza parlor, go miniature golfing with Carson, and shop for fun colored sand at the nearby store. They swim and enjoy their time at the beach, and the culprit is finally confronted and apologizes. Nancy is quick to forgive, and they successfully finish their sand castle.
This story has a few moments of challenging friendliness with the other kids, but kindness really sets things right. The beach tourist theme is prominent in this story, and the detective tactics are simple. The camera’s photos do give Nancy an idea which helps her investigate an angle to the case.
Overall, a cute story, but I recommend it for the theme most of all.
Nancy Drew Canon Observations:
Nancy, Bess, and George are eight years old.
Nancy keeps a blue notebook for her sleuthing, and in this book, uses just a pencil.
The story mentions Hannah Gruen, the Drew housekeeper who has been the Drew’s housekeeper for five years, since Nancy’s mom died. It’s said that she always made sure that Nancy had clean clothes and ate balanced meals.
George and Bess are cousins. George’s real name is Georgia.
Brenda Carlton is mentioned as having gone to their same school.
There is an ice cream parlor nearby called the Peppermint Park. In the first visit there, Bess says “I’m done. If I eat another bite, I’ll turn into ice cream.” I found this amusing, as a similar instance happens in the game, Alibi in Ashes at the Scoop ice cream parlor in River Heights.
Extra Notes:
Printed by Aladdin Paperbacks, which sport the red band on the cover and part of the spine.
Cover photography by Michael Frost. Cover photo-illustration by Joanie Schwarz. Inside pages are illustrated by Paul Casale.
Length: 75 pages in the main story (more with the title page, series lists, and ads).
