A Bible verse is included at the beginning of each story, hinting at the theme to be developed throughout the upcoming pages. In the first book, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel the provided verse is, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” from Psalm 23:1, and while Mandie doubts God’s love and provision for her at times, she comes to know His love and personal care for her by book's end.
While polite and respectful, Mandie is far from perfect. She has flaws, she stumbles, she makes mistakes, and she asks God for His forgiveness and help to do better. Mandie is a teachable young girl, and learns from her errors. She apologizes when she is untruthful or behaves inappropriately, and is quick to turn to prayer when encountering dangerous situations. Mandie is concerned when she learns that others do not know God and seeks to share His goodness and provision with them. Her humble example provides a sweet example for young girls.
One area of concern that parents may want to exercise discernment in is the matter of Mandie’s friend Joe. While their relationship is chaste, at the end of the first title Joe and Mandie become engaged, without parental input. As mentioned previously, Mandie is 12 at the time of this event, Joe slightly older. I chose to avoid reading the passages dealing with their romantic relationship, as our family believes that until a child is ready to marry these types of interactions are inappropriate.
Jealousy and strife also create sub-themes throughout future stories as minor characters develop an interest in either Joe or Mandie. Joe and Mandie both take their turns in feeling angry, jealous and even speaking poorly of their "competitors". If as parents you seek to guard your child’s heart from romantic involvement until they are prepared to marry this is a component of the series to keep in mind.
The children also spend long periods of time separated from adult care in the course of their adventures, and while nothing importune occurs you may not wish to encourage this behaviour in your children.
While some readers have misinterpreted Leppard’s work in this series as racist, they seem to be missing some key points. Mandie herself is one-quarter-Cherokee and suffers from persecution both from Native Americans and Caucasian’s due to her mixed background. Leppard herself has some Cherokee blood in her background, which is why she chose this people group to focus upon for the First Nations components of her stories.
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