The Mandie books are a children's historical mystery series written by Lois Gladys Leppard. There are forty novels in the main series and eight in the junior series, along with several special books. The story starts around the year 1900 when Mandie finds a mystery to solve with her friends like Joe Woodard and Celia Hamilton. The setting is mostly in North Carolina in the early 20th century, although Mandie and her friends travel to Charleston, Washington, D.C., Europe and New York City throughout the series.
The series was successful; by 2001, more than six million Mandie books had been sold. Leppard said that she could write a Mandie book in two weeks, barring any interruptions. A direct-to-video film based on the first book, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, was produced in 2009, starring Lexi Johnson and Dean Jones.
Background
Mandie was born on June 6, 1888, and grew up in a log cabin in Swain County, North Carolina, with her beloved father Jim Shaw, her stepmother Etta, and her stepsister Irene. She knew nothing about her family background until her father died. Mandie was soon sent away to live with the Brysons to take care of their baby son. Then her father's old friend, Ned Sweetwater, a Cherokee, came to take her away from the family who treated her cruelly and escorted her to the home of her uncle, John Shaw, who Mandie had never seen.
In Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, Mandie is reunited with her birth mother, Elizabeth, in Franklin, North Carolina. She learns the truth about her history that her paternal grandmother was Cherokee. Mandie is proud of her Cherokee heritage, and Mandie soon meets many new friends among the Cherokee people. However several times throughout the series she meets people who tease her because she is part Native American.
Many of the books in the series are spent in Cherokee, North Carolina, where she stays with her uncle and always manages to find a mystery to solve. In Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure, she finds a cave with gold that belonged to a Cherokee warrior. She gives the gold to the Cherokees to help them build a new hospital. In Mandie and the Forbidden Attic, Mandie attends Miss Heathwood's Boarding School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina where she is taught how to act like a lady of high society.
In the last published novel, New Horizons (2006), Mandie and her friends attend college at College of Charleston Ladies' College in Charleston, South Carolina, where Mandie majors in business administration and minor in English literature and visual art. New Horizons is called the "Book One" of the Mandie: Her College Days series, but was the only one to be published before the author's death.
Themes
The Mandie books are Christian as well as mystery in theme. Mandie prays when troubled, and attempts to demonstrate Christian virtues of tolerance and compassion. Mandie is proud to be part Cherokee, and she has a diverse group of friends, including a girl with intellectual disability. Some critics have noted that the Cherokee and African American characters are at times depicted sentimentally and as speaking in a stereotypical dialect. For instance, Uncle Ned's speech is filled with terms like "happy hunting grounds", "squaw", and "papoose".
Author
Author Lois Gladys Leppard was a Federal Civil Service employee in various countries around the world. She made her home in South Carolina until she died on October 5, 2008. Stories of her own mother's childhood are the basis for many of the incidents incorporated in this series.