Spoilers kind of but not really??

The story lines are so much difference it would be too much to tell! But these Mandie books have been a childhood favorite of mine. Since my best friend turned me onto them when we were 9-11 years old. So it's frustrating to me because next to being a childhood favorite, I've always wanted to watch a movie version of Mandie Books but this isn't even the same author. It's like night and day and the "ghost writers" just completely ruined the experience for me.

Mandie and the secret tunnel, Mandie and the Cherokee legend, Mandie and the forgotten Christmas, movies so far, are unrecognizable compared to the books.

To name a few, Grandmother Taft, redeems herself in the books and was apologetic and in Mandie's life a lot and they had a good relationship. Etta Shaw remarried before Mandie left but they never visited John Shaw's house. Neither was there any Mr. & Mrs. Snow. There was a man and a woman and daughter totally unrelated to each other but coming to claim kinship to John to get entitled to his will. But must like most of the characters, details and names has been rewritten.

Details about how they search for the will was rewritten and how they found the will was rewritten. Mandie never called Elizabeth by her name it was always Mother once she found out who Elizabeth was. When Mandie went to the girls school and met Cecilia, Cecilia didn't hide in the attic hoping to attend the school, she was enrolled in by her parents. I forgot the exact details on Cecilia's Life. But she wasn't a smelly poor girl sneaking around in the attic. If I'm remembering correctly, her parents were quite rich. And all their adventures at the girls school have all been rewritten or twisted around.

A lot of things in the Cherokee legend had been rewritten. Mandie and her mom and friends never snuck on a train to follow her uncle John and Uncle Ned. There was no jumping off a train. No most wanted "man" with $1,000 reward on the loose. In the books Joe was in love with Mandie (as much as a 13 year old boy can be in love) and was much nicer to her than he seems to be in the movie. In the movie, he seems more interested in Polly but in the book there was no competition.

And I could go on because there was so much change it just bugs me! Who wrote this stuff? The book would have done so much better than the movie anyway.

I don't even recognize these stories anymore??

This movie has a rather beautiful and peaceful feel to it, a lot more than most movies. But it's also rather strange and a bit awkward at times, particularly when it shows scenes from a story Mandie had been told. Some of the characters are also a bit strange, and could've used some more explanations.

The movie is very notable in that it was the final role of Dean Jones. He was a wonderful Godly man who will always be missed. I would dare say that his character's kind nature, combined with the movie's peaceful feel made it a relatively fitting final role for him.