The Mystery of the Red Tide by Frank Bonham

The Mystery of the Red Tide Reviews

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  Siskiyou-Suzy

  Mystery of the Red Tide is not a bad story, but it has not aged well. One of the characters, Woody, is a budding archaeologist, interested in local native artifacts -- he has a theory that the indigenous peoples of the area had pottery though that goes against the current knowledge. I believe that there are only good intentions behind this part of the book. Woody seems to want to be respectful of native peoples and makes arguments for their intelligence against Jill's supposition that they must not be very smart to build settlements in a place that later flooded. But then Woody behaves as if native peoples are cartoons -- he frequently busts out some offensive, old-timey "Indian" talk: "Squaw girl pretty smart," he says to Jill at one time. "Squaw girl get scalped one day," he says another time. It's clear that the Indians of the book are not intended to be characters themselves -- they are caricatures, ones we never see or meet: people that are not allowed to speak for themselves.
  
  Because of the above, I would not read this book to children today.
  
  Plot-wise, it sort of fizzles out. The writing on its own is engaging, but there is never a satisfying moment when everything is tied together -- instead the mystery, which gets more and more confusing, is solved in starts and stops. The solutions are somehow both obvious and yet seem unconnected from the rest of the story. The characters are mostly similar; save for the casual racism Woody drops in, I wouldn't be able to discern one character from another based on dialogue alone at any point -- which isn't a good sign when you have children and adults interacting.
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  Taylor R

  This is a fantastic book for anybody who likes mysteries! I reccomend it for everyone who enjoys a good mystery. So, if you end up reading it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
  
  The book The Mystery of the Red Tide is about a boy and a girl who are cousins. The girls name is Jill, and her dad is Tommys Uncle. Somebody is trying to get Tommys uncle, Mike, into trouble. Tommy and Jill look for the answers to why, in the dark tunnels by the ocean. But, then Tommy's flash light goes out and they are enclosed in darkness. There is a loud noise and then the two cousins see glowing green foot prints on the floor.
  
  I don want to spoil any more so I will cut this off here. If you want to hear more, read the book! It will keep you at the edge of your seat, wanting to read more!
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  Miela ♥ =^•.•^= ♥ McGhie

  I love mystery books, and this is definitely one of them, while tommy and Jill search the lost tunnels by the ocean, their light goes out. What are they to do? Tommy and Jill are trying to figure out who is trying to get Tommy’s uncle, aka Jill’s dad, into trouble. I recommend this book to anybody who loves a good mystery.
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  Kris

  I've been rereading a lot of books I loved as a child/teen. Some have held up pretty well over 40+ years and some have not. Sadly this is one of the nots. The casual racism towards native Americans is appalling, with one character saying "The Indians in this area were as civilized as squirrels." Not to mention the repeated and over use of the word stolen to describe junk picked up off the beach, supposedly picked up by "an Indian boy", junk even the author deems "not worth stealing".
  
  Moreover, would a marine biologist REALLY turn his lab over to a trio of 11 year old kids? Even with him supervising? And this is his business? How in California can he NOT find college students willing to work for little to have the opportunity to hang out on the beach?