"Middle grade readers will love this fast-paced adventure with a touch of American history. Great for fans of Gertrude Chandler Warner's Boxcar Children series, Avi's Night Journeys." -- Publishers Weekly
"Entertaining....A delightful tale headlined by responsible tweens who just happen to be exceptional amateur detectives." -- Kirkus Reviews
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It is the start of a typical hot Richmond, Virginia summer; the first for 12 year-old Sally Corbett and her younger brother Andrew since losing their father the year before. Sally longs to do nothing but read all summer, but finds herself conscripted into her brother's ambitious lawn & pet care services that keeps him hustling all over town.
Everyone's bucolic summer routine is devastated when thieves break into the city's Fine Arts museum and steal part of a major new exhibit of antique American toys, assembled from all over the country. The colonial era toys, some owned by the Founding Fathers, are believed to have been used to communicate coded messages between spies in secret from the British before the American Revolution. As Sally and Andrew's mother is the exhibit's senior curator, and the theft seriously endangers the museum's reputation and therefore her job, Sally and Andrew are determined to find the toys and get every last one of them back. When the police and their parents tell them to stay out of it, naturally they go underground. As the fast-paced action scenes play out against the languid summer setting, the energetic and enterprising kids face all challenges with initiative, brains and determination, and in the end, serious guts.
Author Biography:
Patricia Hass is the author of four middle grade books for 8-12 year-olds: KATA, SON OF RED FANG, SWAMPFIRE, WINDSONG SUMMER, and the latest: THE SHOCKOE SLIP GANG: A MYSTERY. She has worked as well in television and film, writing the pilot script for the PBS series Ranger Rick, also the script for "The Magic Garbage Can," an environmental film for the Boy Scouts of America made by Explorer Scouts in New York City.. In addition, she wrote the National Geographic book, HOW THINGS ARE MADE, and wrote the educational film series "Life Cycles" for schools and libraries. She also wrote and produced the 30 minute film, "Read Your Way Up," for the District of Columbia's Public Library System reading campaign, starring Redskins MVP running back Larry Brown and members of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, which was picked up by the District's public school system and used in Middle School reading classes. Patricia feels that middle grade is the age when children can understand the value of responsibility and commitment, and of relying on their own brains, courage, and initiative; in other words, learning to think for themselves and act responsibly on that knowledge. She lives in Princeton, NJ where she speaks frequently at middle school and library reading events for children, as well as in many other parts of the country. Laura Corson lives in Richmond, Virginia, and enjoys using graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, colored pencils, and digital art programs to create her work. She is inspired by childhood cartoons, lifelike realism, and fantasy art.
