"A group of professional detective challenge Nancy to tackle a mystery that they have failed to solve: find an invaluable message hidden by a missionary centuries ago in a hollow oak tree in Illinois. While searching the woods for the ancient tree, Nancy and her friends live with a group of young archaeologists who are excavating prehistoric Indian burial mounds on a nearby farm. A shadowy enemy stalks Nancy and harasses everyone at the dig. The young investigator pursues her dangerous adversary to the outlaws' cave, and is threatened hen she discovers an unusual treasure. How Nancy , with few clues to go on, solves this complex mystery will thrill all readers."
- I don't understand why church was added into all the revised texts. Was Harriet Stratemeyer very religious or was there a big church craze in the 1970's? It's ridiculous that even out in the Illinois wilderness they have a makeshift church sermon. I personally have no problem with Nancy attending church or being religious but it feels a little awkwardly placed into the text, not natural at all.
- While I was taking notes while reading this I simply wrote down "pg. 38-41" for this because there was just so much I had to remark on. Nancy, Julie Anne, and Clem are out searching for a hollow oak when they stop to have a picnic lunch. Clem entertains the girls with funny old stories such as one about a big catfish knocking over a fisherman, then suddenly changes the subject to his good luck coin: "Clem said there were no more big fish in the river, then abruptly changed the subject, "would you like to see my good-luck coin?"". This is such an awkward turn of conversation. It would make more sense and feel more natural if they had been talking about good-luck trinkets or even old superstitions of the local Native Americans the archaeology students are learning about.
The coin has the initials P.F. engraved on them which Nancy immediately decides must stand for Pére François since the coin was found in the area. However, Clem never said it was found in the area until after Nancy makes this remark. In fact talking about items found in the area would have been a better conversation to segue into the coin discussion instead of the funny catfish story.
Nancy tells Clem the coin is an important find and Clem says he's giving it to Nancy since the coin "don't mean nothin' to him"...but just a minute ago he said it was his good-luck coin. Nancy offers to pay him for it but he declines the offer because "what would I do with a lot o' money?". Gee Clem, I don't know maybe pay your bills, put food on your table, buy your wife a nice gift.
- The illustration on pg. 43 seems a little odd to me. Nancy is in the background looking at the helicopter in the sky while Julie Anne is in the foreground investigating the hollow oak which makes it look as though Julie Anne is the main character/detective.
- I really like how Art gets a crush on Nancy and wish this had caused more drama in the story.
- I have a feeling Clem's old car is not accurately depicted in the illustration which shows it as a large, clunky 1930's model. The description of it being old with thin tires, able to handle rough off road conditions, and be so light Nancy, Julie Anne, and Clem could turn it upright by themselves after it flips makes me think it's more like a car from the 1910's.
- After the group returns from their tugboat trip Nancy asks Ned to call Roscoe Thompson, the helicopter pilot while she apparently stands around waiting and doing nothing. Why didn't Nancy make the call herself? That would make more sense since Roscoe already knows Nancy but has never met Ned
- At one point Art puts one of the lead plates into his pocket. I was under the assumption the lead plates were far too big to fit into a pocket. I'm quite confused about their size.
- On page 167 Ned uses a hunting knife to uncover one of the plates but on page 169 Ned has Dave use his hatchet to remove another plate. Why didn't he use Dave's hatchet in the first place? Seems that would be much easier than a hunting knife.
- I find the fact that the mystery of the hollow oak has gone unsolved for several centuries to be quite hard to believe. It wasn't so much a mystery as it was a scavenger hunt. All that had to be done to solve it was travel in the direction the arrows point. If Kadle hadn't been involved and Nancy had her own transportation the "mystery" could have been solved in a day.
- One thing I did appreciate was the added danger that this rewritten book brought in from the original. In the original story guns are involved and someone is shot. In this Kadle's henchman carries a gun and A.C.E. Armstrong said he believed Kadle was going to kill him once he had found the treasure of the Hollow Oak. This is quite a bit more intense and dangerous than the usual Nancy Drew book.
Overall it's an enjoyable book and it's one I'm going to be keeping in my collection, although mainly because my copy is attached to Clue of the Broken Locket.
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