Treasure HuntA Shenandoah Valley Mystery by Eunice Geil Smith |
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"A fast-paced story filled with mystery and intrigue that will have readers eagerly turning the pages to find the next clue. This first-time novelist is to be commended for her ability to take the ordinary events of family life in the 1950s and successfully wrap them around important information about the Civil War era. I look forward to more stories from this author." -- Naomi H. Kauffman, Past president, National Church and Synagogue Library Association
In the winter of 1959, 11-year old Maggie stumbles across an old syrup can in the cellar of her family's isolated farmhouse in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Inside the rusted container, she finds a diary written during the Civil War by her great grandfather, Joseph. Intrigued by fanciful hints in the diary, Maggie investigates a puzzling mystery in the old house and finds clues to a long-hidden family secret that Joseph had solved when he lived there as a boy nearly one hundred years before. For 10-to-13 year olds.
"The past is not as far away as Maggie Drive once thought. As she unravels the mysteries of a long-lost diary she learns not only about the challenges her great-grandfather faced in wartime, but also more about herself and how to live with parents, friends and teachers who don't always understand her. This story takes readers back to the difficult days of the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley and the ordinary choices of everyday life." --Steven M. Nolt, Goshen College
About the Author
Eunice Geil Smith has taught language arts and social studies to the sixth grade at Wilbur S. Pence Middle School in Dayton, Va., since 1993. Born in Lancaster, Pa., she later moved to Harrisonburg, Va. and graduated from Eastern Mennonite High School in 1969. After raising two children, she went to college at Eastern Mennonite University and earned a bachelor's degree and teaching certificate in 1993 and a master's in education in 2004. She is a member of Trissels Mennonite Church in Broadway, Va., where she serves as church historian. Treasure Hunt is her first novel.