The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery (American Girl Beforever Mysteries)

Review by Blake: A really good book. Mystery is magnificent because you could never tell who could be the culprit. Samantha does some detective work and finds out who the culprit is. I would recommend this to anybody.

A story greatly lacking in intrigue and suspense, "The Curse of Ravenscourt" is only for the die-hard fan of American Girl books. This particular book is a Samantha mystery, featuring the American Girl Samanatha and her family at the turn of the Twentieth Century.

The family temporarily moves to a

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brand new apartment-hotel in New York called the Ravenscourt, where trouble and mysteries ensue. A service elevator breaks, crashing to the first floor. A red 13 is painted outside the top floor elevator. Samantha must uncover the culprit of these acclaimed dangerous events, though at first she cannot tell if he is supernatural or real because of the curse on the owner of the Ravenscourt. When she sees the hotel manager prying a large stone raven off the roof of the building Samantha figures out that he is indeed the one behind the mysterious occurrences.

The mysteries themselves are quite dull, and only the end of Chapter 12, The Raven Flies, is suspenseful in the least. With only fourteen chapters total the book takes a very long time to get to the exciting parts. Most of the first three chapters are filled with exposition describing Samantha's family, her house, her adopted sisters' past, and the decor of the Ravenscourt. After that the story begins to pick up pace, though at each opportunity for excitement or suspense or mystery the plot is unceremoniously pulled to a halt for lengthy descriptions of clothing, room decorations, elevator construction, or the weather.

Most children would find it very hard to make it all the way through "The Mystery of Ravenscourt" unless they had a particular affinity for the American Girl series, and so the book is especially appropriate for girls ages nine through thirteen.

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The Curse of Ravenscourt is about a girl named Samantha and when there house is being remodeled in the attic, they go to Ravenscourt to stay until their house remodeling is completed. Samantha's sister Nellie tells Samantha that Ravenscourt owner, Mr. Ravens, is cursed by an old woman who's

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grandson died because they are very poor and he didn't get enough warmth. The old woman blames Mr. Ravens for her grandson's death because he did not care about their difficulties. Samantha and Nellie try to solve the case of the curse and try to really find out if the building is cursed.

I'd recommend this book because it is adventurous, scary and dramatic. I enjoyed the suspense that the author created in her writing.

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