“Negativity has never been a friend to anyone.”
Twelve-year-old Emily’s family moves more frequently
than the average family. After all, her parents are on a quest to live in all
50 states for their blog. When they move to San Francisco, the home of Emily’s book
idol, Garrison Griswold, she is beyond excited to be in the city where her
favorite game Book Scavenger was created. She can’t believe it when she finds
out her idol has been attacked and is in the hospital. Who would do such a
thing? Her new neighbor, James, becomes fast friends with her after they
realize that they both love puzzles. James has never played Book Scavenger (a
game where people hide books in cities all over the country and leave clues
online leading the cleverest people to find them) and when he goes with Emily
and her older brother, Matthew, to look for a book they find a special one, The Gold-Bug. The book looks different
from any Emily has ever seen, and the weirdest part is even though it's written
by Edgar Allen Poe, it's full of mistakes. Are all the copies wrong? Are the
mistakes clues? Finding The Gold-Bug
makes Emily and James believe they may have stumbled on Garrison Griswold’s
latest game, one he never got to announce because he was attacked. Unfortunately,
the people who injured Mr. Griswold want the book that Emily has, and they will
stop at nothing to get it back. Will Emily and James be able to figure out what
the clues they find in The Gold-Bug mean?
Can the bad guys actually find Emily and James? Did Garrison Griswold create a
game he was never able to announce? Now that Emily has made her first real friend,
will she have to say goodbye before she gets to really know him? You'll have to read this fabulous literary adventure
in order to find out!
I didn’t
know anything about Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman when I
started reading. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the fun book scavenger
game that the story centers around, and I think it will appeal to a lot of kids
and adults. I also think Emily would be an interesting friend because she loves
books like I do and she has lived in a lot of places that I would like to talk
to her about. I think Emily’s friend, James, is funny and I appreciate that he
is comfortable being who he is and that he doesn’t try to impress others.
Reading about Emily and James’s friendship could help kids see that being a
friend means listening and doing things your friend likes to do too. The story also included many details about books,
the publishing industry, and Edgar Allen Poe’s works. I know this will be a
book that kids in fourth grade and up will get into (and people of any age
who love books). I look forward to reading the next book in the series!
Has
anyone else read Book Scavenger? Or have you read another book by Jennifer
Chambliss Bertman? We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Happy Reading!
~L
