"The Moving Picture Girls" are the adventures of Ruth, age 17, and Alice DeVere, age 15, two young girls who live with their father, a widower and theater actor. In their fifth book, "The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch," they head out West by railroad to work on a project to contrast life in the West with life in the East. They are followed by spies from a rival film company who are trying to steal Mr. Pertell's ideas. They dodge a tornado and survive a train derailment. Finally, they arrive at Rocky Ranch, where it takes some adjustment to get used to ranch life. Mr. Pertell is taken aback when they discover a recently-hired cowhand has a moving picture camera. Has the rival picture company arrived at the ranch first? * * * * In "The Moving Picture Girls at Sea" the DeVeres head out with the Comet Film company to film a drama about a shipwreck. Old Jack Jepson, a sailor hired for the film, confides how he was unjustly accused of inciting a mutiny on a ship and was sentenced to prison by the British authorities. He escaped and has lived on the run for many years, but worries that the British authorities may discover his whereabouts. * * * * Alice sees that Jack seems to know Captain Brisco and one of the other sailors, Hen Lacomb. Jack appears to fall overboard while Brisco and Lacomb are standing near him. Later, Jack reveals that to Alice that Lacomb pushed him overboard. Jack refuses to elaborate any further, leaving a mystery for Alice to uncover. * * * * This is what it was like when Hollywood was still a dream-in-the-making, every stunt was performed live in front of a camera without computer-graphics, and there was no sound track! * * * * "The Moving Picture Girls" is one of the many juvenile series written in the early 20th Century by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. * * * * "The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch" and "The Moving Picture Girls at Sea" were published in 1914 and 1915, respectively. This volume includes the original frontispiece illustrations. * * * * Check out the other Laura Lee Hope children's and juvenile books published by Flying Chipmunk Publishing!