Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West facts for kids
First edition
|
|
| Author | L. Frank Baum (as "Edith Van Dyne") |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | James McCracken |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Aunt Jane's Nieces |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Reilly & Britton |
|
Publication date
|
1914 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 316 pp. |
| Preceded by | Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch |
| Followed by | Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross |
Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West is the second to last book in the popular Aunt Jane's Nieces series. It was written by L. Frank Baum, who also wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He used the pen name "Edith Van Dyne" for this series. The book was published in 1914.
Contents
What is Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West About?
This exciting story follows the adventures of Beth de Graf and Patsy Doyle. They are staying in Hollywood, California. This is after they left their cousin's ranch, which was in the previous book.
A Trip to Hollywood
Beth and Patsy accidentally find themselves on a movie set. The film shows a building falling apart. Beth is not happy about being in a movie. She thinks films are terrible and fake. Their Uncle John Merrick offers to help them. He suggests they meet a filmmaker before they decide how they feel about movies. This filmmaker turns out to be Otis Werner. He is the same director who made the film they saw. He explains that the building in the movie was already old and falling apart. The film uses a story to show the dangers of unsafe factories. In the movie, the factory owner's daughter dies from a falling wall. This makes him change his life.
Making Movies for Kids
Beth then believes that movies can teach good lessons. She, Patsy, and their cousins, Arthur and Louise Merrick Weldon, decide to start their own project. They want to make movies especially for children. Uncle John is very proud and supports their idea.
While at a restaurant, they meet two actress sisters, Maud and Flo Stanton. They also meet the sisters' Aunt Jane. Everyone is staying at the same hotel, the Continental. This hotel is owned by a movie company called Continental Pictures. One afternoon, the nieces join the Stantons at the beach. There, Maud saves a weak young man from drowning.
A Mysterious New Friend
The man says his name is A. Jones, with no first name. He jokes that his parents thought it was funny. He says his father is a distant relative of John Paul Jones. A. Jones is from an island called Sangoa. His father bought the island from Uruguay. He becomes very loyal to the Stantons and the nieces. He claims he has enough money to open twenty movie theaters for the girls. This would save them more money than the one or two they had planned. Soon after, he gives them pearls. He says these pearls came from his island.
Proving Innocence
A detective named Isidore Le Drieux believes that A. Jones is a jewel thief. He thinks Jones's pearls were stolen from a countess in Vienna. Le Drieux thinks he can easily prove his case. However, his clues do not directly prove guilt. He plans to have Jones arrested and sent back to another country. But Uncle John and the others gather more information. They become sure that Le Drieux's case is not very strong. They spend the rest of the book trying to show that Jones is innocent. To help, John Merrick hires a new, young lawyer named Fred A. Colby. Fred plays the guitar and just finished Penn Law School. He has never worked on a case before and wants to prove himself.
Who Wrote This Book?
The character Otis Werner in the book is based on a real person. He is like Otis Turner, a director who worked on The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays and a film version of John Dough and the Cherub. In this book, L. Frank Baum also mentions himself. Uncle John talks about fairytale authors whose stories have been made into films. The book also has the only time Edith Van Dyne mentions herself in the series. She says that because she was not a pretty girl, her mother told her that beautiful people often have little else. Mrs. Van Dyne uses this to show the difference between her and Maud Stanton, who is both smart and beautiful.
The Stanton and Jones characters appear again in the next and last book in the Aunt Jane's Nieces series. That book is called Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross.
