Lady Clare goes missing just before Honey Bunch goes on another trip. Once again, it's Norman's fault. This time he borrowed the lovely black cat (without asking) and another animal he borrowed (asked first) frightened her. No, it wasn't a dog. He borrowed the animals for a make-believe circus he and the little boys who are his friends were putting on. Got a chuckle out of the box seats he had for the girls. The chase scene was pretty lively.

Honey Bunch's first ocean voyage is to Bermuda. Her best friend, Ida, gives her a party before they go. I liked the idea of the Jack Horner 'pie' full of gifts that was served at the party. It sounded like fun and there were no calories! (The invitation to the party gives Ida's address: 44 Grove Street. Because the Camps live across the street from the Mortons, the Mortons' address is probably in the forties, too.)

I'd read the term "steamer trunk" before, but until I read this book I didn't know they were long, thin trunks made to fit under a bed or berth in a ship's cabin. Honey Bunch thought Norman's great-grandmother had slept in one until her mother explained.

The Mortons take the train to New York City to catch their ship to Bermuda. The conductor is the same one as in the first book of the series. He remembers Honey Bunch and she remembers the granddaughter he told her about.

Aunt Julia, Mr. Morton's sister, is there to meet them. We get to see Uncle Paul and the twins, Bobby and Tess, too, not to mention the Turners' maid, Theresa, and Dorry, the African-American man who is the 'elevator boy' at the apartment house where the Turners live.

Lady Clare isn't the only missing item in this book, of course. The other is a gold token with a little diamond and a little sapphire in it that Tess got from her Grandmother Turner. The token had belonged to Uncle Paul's Grandmother Cox and it's over 100 years old. Tess was foolish enough to keep it in the same box she keeps the five-and-dime store jewelry she shows Honey Bunch. Our little heroine feels very bad because she was the last one holding it when one of Julie's strings of beads broke and the girls scrambled to gather them. Where could it have gone?

Still, Honey Bunch enjoys being aboard a ship. From one of the questions she asks her Daddy we learn that their hometown, Barham, has a water reservoir. The ship has something else.

The trip starts on the Hudson River. The ship passes the Statue of Liberty on the way. This book doesn't mention that the statue is green. That fact surprised the heck out of me when my 6th grade class took a day trip to New York City. I wonder if other kids who lived before color photos and TVs were very common got the same surprise I did.

Honey Bunch and her father tour the ship, which sounds pretty luxurious, including the engine room. She's expecting to find men shoveling in coal, but this ship burns oil. The engineer is kind and gives Honey Bunch a thrilling task.

Of course the little girl makes friends on board, including a girl named Bessie Markham. Bessie's brother, Bobby, suffers the sad fate one expects boasters to suffer in books like these. Still, he's not as bad off as two adult sisters who are terrified of thunderstorms. Luckily, Honey Bunch comes up with a solution for the fact there's no cellar for the ladies to hide in until the storm is over.

They don't arrive in Bermuda until chapter 13, which means there are only two more chapters in which to see the sights and solve the mysteries. The tour of the Sea Gardens particularly interested me because I didn't know a particular invention had been around before 1930.

While I don't consider Honey Bunch: Her First Trip on the Ocean to be one of the better books, it still has the charm of learning about what was like for the comfortably well-off during the 'Roaring Twenties, even though the Mortons don't go roaring. ( )