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Private Notes
Derek Norris, the uncle of 11-year-old Chris Anderson, has been missing for the last seven years. By his instructions, Uncle Derek is presumed dead. He has willed the Coach House in the village of Herbertville to Chris for any worthwhile purpose. Chris, along with friends Lynne and Samantha (Sam), enter the Coach House and immediately sense things are not normal. The most welcome signs are from Uncle Derek's inventions: a talking video screen named Theta (which displays words on her screen) and a robotic typewriter named Otto. Both Otto and Theta give Chris a pre-programmed warning from Uncle Derek, who implores Chris with the task of uncovering a terrible conspiracy taking place in Herbertville.
Duncan O'Reagan, a security agent, enters the Coach House to ask Chris, Lynne and Sam a few questions. One of them gives a false explanation to validate the will: they tell O'Reagan that they will set up a newspaper. The idea becomes practicable to the kids. As reporters, no one will suspect they are trying to uncover the details of the conspiracy. But O'Reagan is picking up details of his own. As Chris and his friends are setting up their primitive equipment, Sam and Lynne are mysteriously whisked out of the Coach House. Theta must explain to Chris that the evil Duneedon has transported the girls to a different galaxy.
Lynne and Sam find themselves on a planet in the galaxy Trialviron. The galaxy's ruler, a mystic head named Duneedon, feigns an apology for whisking them away. He tells them to enter a chamber for retransport. Instead, Lynne and Sam find themselves in The Problem Pit. To escape, they have to solve a series of word puzzles. The last puzzle, which Lynne must solve herself, seeks five verbs that mean ""Move in circular orbit.""
Lynne and Sam return unharmed to the Coach House. Together with Chris, they decide the first edition of their newspaper should tell the girls' story as a science-fiction adventure. (This, despite a note transported to the Coach House that implores them not to mention Duneedon to anyone.)While Chris is off to run an errand for the paper, a story character magically transports itself to the Coach House. Stricken with amnesia, she demands Lynne and Sam to tell her who she is.
Chris, Lynne, and Sam feel they have enough material to launch what they call The Herbertville Chronicle. As a last-minute addition, Chris introduces a history section. His reference book is
Duncan O'Reagan commends the kids for a good first edition of The Herbertville Chronicle. Later, O'Reagan slips into the Coach House, where a message is transported to him. Chris and Sam interview O'Reagan in a successful attempt to steal that message. Back at the Coach House, they learn, from both the message and their interview notes, that O'Reagan is not a security guard after all. He is, in fact, one of several agents Duneedon has employed to carry out the conspiracy.
Ann Blake, a Herbertville Town Councillor, stops by the Coach House to commend the kids on The Herbertville Chronicle. Chris and Sam look with suspicion as Councillor Blake donates a copy of The Official History of Herbetville, 3rd Edition as an aid to their historical column. A more receptive Lynne wants to join the Councillor on her daily routine. Chris spends his spare time refining an advertisement for a less-than-spectacular blender that seeks exposure in The Chronicle.Sam approaches him with what appears to be a discrepancy: Their historical article on the Edwards family was based on Early Country Travels. But in The Official History of Herbetville, 3rd Edition, the family name is Don Eden.Councillor Blake tells Lynne about the recent controversy surrounding the ownership of King's Park, a principal gathering place in Herbertville. Before they part ways, Councillor Blake invites Lynne to see the Mayor. One look and Lynne recognizes that the Mayor of Herbertville is actuall
Chris, Lynne, and Sam reconvene at the Coach House to compare and review what they already know about the conspiracy and postulate reasons. While Sam is off on an errand, Lynne and Chris encounter Merlin the Magician, who has transported into the Coach House. He tells them of the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. When Chris and Lynne ask for Merlin's help to reach the galaxy Trialviron, he gives them a word clue, which turns into a star. Chris and Lynne trace the star's path and disappear.
Chris and Lynne materialize in The Poet's Pocket. Operating the word organ is a friendly poet, Dr. Crystal Couplet, who speaks entirely in rhyme. All three share in haiku writing. Once Chris and Lynne explain the nature of their visit, Dr. Couplet shows them where to go: The Place of Change. Within a hodgepodge of books is The Official History of Herbertville, 1st Edition. But to reach The Place of Change, Chris and Lynne must make up a limerick.
Lynne and Chris find themselves in The Place of Change. They discover that The Official History of Herbertville, 1st Edition credits the Edwards family as one of the founding families of Herbertville. But Duneedon has circled the name ""Edwards"" and included a note: ""Change this to Eden."" Duneedon then uses his powers to trap Lynne and Chris in the book. They escape when Sam, back in the Coach House, opens to the same page in the 3rd Edition.Sam informs the others that they can have the second edition of The Herbertville Chronicle published on a real printing press, but only if they finish quickly. Chris submits a second chapter to ""The Duneedon Adventure."" Lynne offers to provide the first line of a limerick and allow readers to flesh up the rest.
The second edition of the Chronicle is printed. Its cover story is about Duncan O'Regan, with the headline asking, ""Who Is This Detective Working For?"" While distributing the paper, Lynne encounters two stage performers at King's Park. They are among several raising the need to keep the park. To this end, they are holding a special performance. Lynne joins them in rehearsing a scene from The Wizard of Oz. Later on, Lynne encounters an octagenarian man, Mr. Walker, who remembers a fire in Herbertville that burned down the manor home of the Don Edwards family. Many people who have lived under Mayor Eden question Mr. Walker's memory, but Lynne knows he is telling the truth. What they lack is proof.
The kids know Duneedon is leading a conspiracy to change the history of Herbertville, but they have very little evidence to go by. And that very little evidence is lost soon after Captain Hook materializes in the Coach House. With Chris and Sam watching from afar, Duncan O'Reagan secretly returns to the Coach House to steal Early Country Travels, the kids' only proof of the conspiracy. Before leaving, O'Reagan is surprised to see Captain Hook, who questions the contract agreement Duneedon had drawn up with O'Reagan. Will he get his fair share once the conspiracy works?
Someone leaves the cover to The Official History of Herbertville, 1st Edition for Chris and Sam. A note gives them directions to find the contents of the book (or so it seems). Lynne returns to an empty Coach House on a mission. She has been asked to deliver a speech in favor of King's Park for the Herbertville Historical Society. Theta and Otto, maintaining their posts at the Coach House, coach Lynne as she strives to put her feelings down in an organized fashion. Chris and Sam, meanwhile, follow the directions to the letter. They wind up in an abandoned factory. No contents of the book are waiting for them, but Duneedon and his agents are. Chris and Sam learn that Duneedon has forged a document about the ownership of King's Park. It is instrumental to the conspiracy.
Lynne stops by the house of Mr. Walker, who shares his memories as a soldier and as a firefighter. Councillor Ann Blake is there as well, and it is at this moment that Lynne tells the truth about Duneedon and his spectacular conspiracy.Both Lynne and Councillor Blake go to the Town Hall to compare their records with an old newspaper article that Mr. Walker supplied about the Edwards family. Chris and Sam, who have escaped from the factory, join up with them in search of the forged document Duneedon slipped into the Town Hall records.At the Town Hall, Chris and Sam uncover the document. It states that King's Park had been donated by Don Eden to the Town of Herbertville, and that after 70 years, the park would revert to any living members of the Eden family, of which Duneedon poses in his guise as the Mayor. But why does Duneedon want King's Park?
While another edition of the Chronicle is prepared for publication, the kids devise what they think will be a failsafe plan. Duneedon, in the guise of the Mayor, must attend the Herbertville Historical Society meeting, at which Lynne will give her ""Save King's Park"" speech. While the meeting takes place, Chris makes a daring return to the abandoned factory to find the original document on King's Park.At the factory, Chris relays, through walkie-talkie to Sam at the Coach House, that King's Park was donated forever to Herbertville by Don Edwards. He is about to read another document, but Duneedon, made aware of Chris's presence at the factory, kidnaps him. Duneedon reveals to Chris that King's Park has a large quantity of veronium, the source of his power back on Trialviron.
Chris sends a message to Lynne and Sam, telling them he is trapped on Trialviron's Planet of Maze. Another book character – this time the Genie from Aladdin's lamp – helps the girls to Trialviron, but not bvefore mixing up a few basic homonyms.
Lynne and Sam revisit Trialviron, paying a visit to Dr. Crystal Couplet. She provides a map to the girls to help them through the Planet of Maze. Once on the Planet of Maze, Lynne finds a note from Chris. He has attempted to escape the Maze.
Chris has discovered his missing Uncle Derek in the Planet of Maze. They return to the starting point of the Maze just moments after Lynne and Sam arrive. With the map in hand, the kids pilot their space cart through the maze, answering a succession of word and story puzzles along the way.
Everyone is back at the Coach House. Uncle Derek, rescued at last, explained that he had introduced Duneedon to the people of Herbertville as ""Mr. Don Eden."" That made it harder for Duneedon to gain control of King's Park and the quantity of veronium needed to take over the Earth.An inspector from another village has begun to arrest those involved in the conspiracy. (One of these agents is tricked into transporting himself to Trialviron.) Mr. Walker's contemporaries have turned up other old books and newspapers that prove that the Edwards family, not Eden, settled Herbertville.The conspiracy is broken in a special edition of the Chronicle, with the large headline: ""DUNEEDON – THE TRUTH.""Only one question remains: Where is Duneedon?
A defeated Duneedon returns to the Coach House. He tries one more attack on those who had exposed the conspiracy, singling out Theta and Otto, before the kids return. It is apparent Duneedon wants to give them more than congratulations. ""We will meet again,"" he says, ""and next time I will not be defeated so easily!""Duneedon escapes to Trialviron, leaving the post of Herbertville mayor empty. Councillor Ann Blake has decided to run for the job. It is the vehicle that persuades Chris, Lynne, and Sam to continue publishing The Herbertville Chronicle.
It's been a year since The Herbertville Chronicle was first printed. Among the gifts Chris, Lynne, and Sam receive for the occasion is Uncle Derek's new invention: a two-way unit that projects words and stationary images. Chris and Sam go off to the countryside to try out this device when they hear strange noises. They spot a boy quavering, dropping something – and disappearing.
Chris and Sam rush to the place where a boy had just disappeared and discover interesting artifacts. One is a map of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). The other is a compass on which is inscribed ""To Tecumseh/From Brock."" When Chris and Sam point the compass north, the strange noises emerge again. Together they are transported to Fort George, a Canadian fort during the War of 1812, in the headquarters of Sir Isaac Brock.
Chris and Sam come face-to-face with General Brock. He has just won a major battle over the Americans in the War of 1812. Chris and Sam introduce themselves, explaining they are looking for a boy from their own time. General Brock explains the boy has been taken captive by another Canadian regiment.The General signs an order for the boy's release, which Chris and Sam take north to Queenston.
Lynne has been kept abreast of Chris and Sam's whereabouts through their two-way word-transmission system. She understands the plan to rescue the boy from the present day. An aide to Tecumseh leads Sam and Chris on the trek north towards Queenston. Along the journey, Chris loses General Brock's order for the boy's release. They devise a new plan involving another central Canadian figure in the war, Laura Secord.Lynne, meanwhile, has been researching the War of 1812 through books written by both Canadians and Americans. She tries to warn Chris and Sam that the Americans are planning to invade Queenston.
Chris and Sam carry out their new plan to rescue the boy from their own time. They escape just as the Battle of Queenston takes place. General Brock rides to them with his blessing. Chris and Sam, along with their newly-found friend, figure out how to return to their own time. They inform Lynne to go to the fields and turn the priceless compass to point south. Lynne does as instructed, and all of them are reunited in the present day. There, they learn what happened to General Brock at the Battle of Queenston.
Alex is now helping Lynne to prepare the next edition of The Herbertville Chronicle. It will feature stories on General Brock and other figures from the War of 1812. Before they are finished with the paper's layout, Alex and Lynne discover that the story of Cinderella is being erased. Cinderella calls out for Lynne and Alex to journey to Book World. After a trail of blank pages leads them to a crossroads, Lynne and Alex venture to where the villains roam.
Lynne and Alex encounter the Evil Queen and Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Both insist that the Book Destroyer is only after the villains. When Lynne and Alex argue that this doesn't make sense, the Evil Queen and Mirror launch into a song filled with words that hint to danger in stories. The Book Destroyer then erases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Once again, Lynne and Alex search for clues, this time in a forest. There they run into the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, who is apprently erased as well.
Alex and Lynne follow a trail to Dracula's castle. Once there, Dracula informs them that conflict is essential to a good story. The Book Destroyer erases Dracula, and in his wake, Lynne and Alex find a note from another book character. They follow that note to the Book Destroyer's cave.
Lynne and Alex encounter the Book Destroyer. She is bent on wiping out villains and conflict from all books. But Lynne suggests that the Book Destroyer herself is a character–a character from a most uneventful book. Confronted with the truth, Lynne and Alex offer the Book Destroyer a new life: The Herbertville Chronicle would run a contest in which readers would make a new plot for what had been a boring book. Once Alex and Lynne return to their world, they find Sam crestfallen. She and her family are leaving Herbertville.
Sam informs the others that she will be moving to Victoria, British Columbia, but they will not sell their house in Herbertville. The Herbertville Chronicle readies a want ad, informing that the house can be leased. Outside, a middle-aged author named Rita is trying to start a children's book. She is getting nowhere, prompting Sam to chide Rita for not understanding what problems children go through.
Chris and Lynne want to keep in touch with Sam, but Rita dissuades them from a preposterous scheme. Sam needs to make her own friends at her new home in Victoria, British Columbia.
Sam's departure is the lead story in The Herbertville Chronicle. Before she leaves, Sam receives a surprise: Rita has decided to write a children's book about a girl who must leave her friends. It is indeed a beginning, rather than an end. Later in the day, Rita suggests that a story idea Chris thought was his own, is based on The Shooting of Dan McGrew. (And I hope I've spelled that correctly. If not, you can enter the correct spelling by hitting ""Contribute"" on the Synopsis.)
Chris has returned from the library with many story poems. Using elements from all the books, he, Lynne, and Alex concoct a story of their own to fool Rita. While Chris and Lynne run off to tell their story, Alex daydreams a dramatization of The Shooting of Dan McGrew. (And I hope I've spelled that correctly. If not, you can enter the correct spelling by hitting ""Contribute"" on the Synopsis.)
It's August, and with Alex at summer camp, Lynne and Chris must run the Chronicle alone. Their biggest trouble is finding a lead story. But a ghost provides them with more than a lead story. The note which he leaves, advises Lynne and Chris to write a mystery story. Lynne and Chris have a mystery of their own: who is this ghost? After a bit of research, they discover he is Mr. Wetherby, former principal of a local elementary school. He has decided to move in with Lynne and Chris to help run the Chronicle.
Mr. Wetherby is posing a problem for Chris and Lynne. He wants to help them in every aspect of writing. Alone, he sings his disappointment on being alone during summer vacations. It's the pointer Chris and Lynne use to convince Mr. Wetherby he is needed at the school.
It's December, and the Chronicle staff receive a letter from Sam. She is expecting to visit Herbertville while her father is attending a meeting there. Sam provides Lynne, Chris, and Alex with a selection of poems that satirize famous styles of Carl Sandberg and others. But before long, a power surge rips through Otto and Theta, disabling them into reading and typing, ""Come with speed/Your help we need."" It's an urgent message from Dr. Couplet, who briefly informs Lynne and Chris that the Trialviron galaxy is about to explode.
Alex, Chris, and Lynne think of every possible contingency that could develop in their efforts to help the people of Trialviron. Alex and Chris are transported to The Poet's Pocket, where Dr. Couplet shows the sun revolving around the galaxy is about to explode. She warns them that the transporter in The Coach House must be turned on if the galaxy's populace is to escape. Alex and Chris tell Duneedon they will help, but they make certain demands. Most of all, they demand that Duneedon be the first to be transported to the unpopulated galaxy Zeberon. But that would mean having to negotiate with Tritan, the Emperor of the Galaxy Trivia and Duneedon's enemy.
Chris and Alex travel to the lair of Emperor Tritan, who seems to be speaking in antiquated language. To stay on good terms, Chris and Alex overuse clichés themselves, prompting Tritan to allow the people of Trialviron to pass through his galaxy en route to Zeberon. But Duneedon is not content to go anywhere except Earth. While he is alone, he instructs a duplicate to take his place at the transporter. Chris, Alex, and Lynne feel relieved when they learn the trek to Zeberon was a success. Little do they know…
Dr. Couplet does not want to leave her life's work on the doomed galaxy Trialviron, but Chris and Alex talk sense into her. They leave The Poet's Pocket in the nick of time. All the residents of Trialviron have transported to the Galaxy Zeberron, except one: Duneedon. He quickly traps Chris, Alex, and Lynne in a last-ditch effort to return to Earth. Before he is transported, though, Emperor Tritan sends a power surge that destroys Duneedon–and all the transporter equipment. It appears Alex, Chris, and Lynne are about to die as the countdown to Trialviron's destruction nears zero.
Chris, Lynne, and Alex resign themselves to their doom on Trialviron, which would occur but for two events. One is that the countdown to Trialviron's destruction passes before an explosion can occur. The other is Sam's return to The Coach House a few days ahead of time. Theta and Otto quickly tell Sam to activate the transporter, and she saves Alex, Lynne, and–just as the destruction of Trialviron is complete–Chris. The next day is not as comparatively peaceful as one would like. Everyone is arguing over which story should go where in the holiday edition of The Herbertville Chronicle. Theta and Otto inform everyone that order must serve the day. Thus Chris chairs a meeting at which everyone allows for his or her story to appear in an orderly fashion. As a final gesture, Sam shows everyone a copy of A New Beginning, which she co-wrote with Rita over the past five months.
