By James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
4RBooks: 5/6, grades 4-8
Amazon rating: 4.8/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.38/5
Common Sense Media: not reviewed
421 pages
Synopsis:
The Kidd children are still on their own. Dad is still presumed dead. Mom is being held captive by criminals in Cyprus. They are in China to present the country with the Ming vases they found in the last book and not surprisingly find themselves in the middle of another treasure hunt. Can they help the Chinese government find a way into the secret hiding place of a great treasure? If they can, they will get to send one of the Ming vases to the criminals in Cyprus who hold their mother captive for a ransom.
Surprisingly, while they are on this adventure, they begin to get messages from their father that indicate he is not dead. He gives them clues to find the Chinese treasure, and more clues that tells them he needs their help on a different treasure hunt.
The children are captured by the world’s most evil, and foul-smelling, criminal, Dionysus Streckting. He also wants the treasure their father is looking for. Tommy, Storm, Bick and Beck with the help of a new friend Petra, must decipher their dad’s clues while outsmarting the evil mastermind, who is working with their Uncle Tommy. They will travel to Germany in hopes of discovering where the Nazi’s hid the precious and valuable art they stole during WWII.
Parental Guidance: medium
The Kidd family children (two teenagers and two 11-year-olds) are
navigating through most of the adventure without their parents.
The Kidds are held hostage at times.
The Kidds are in danger at times.
The Kidd’s mother is held as a hostage until a ransom is paid.
Recommendation:
This is the fourth book in the Treasure Hunters series that I’ve read and reviewed. Unknowingly I started with book 6. I thought it was good and looked forward to reading the series. I then went back to book 1 and was very disappointed, for a variety of reasons. Book 2 was better so I came back for book three.
All the books have their strengths. The children (and the reader) are traveling the world and learning great facts about the places they visit, in this book China and Germany. There is a lot of historical information, too: the Forbidden City, the Emperor’s soldiers, and the lost art of WWII, plundered by the Nazi’s. The narration by Bick, one of the twins, is engaging, and the illustrations by Beck, the other twin, are fun and detailed. The plot is action-filled, if sometimes a bit over-the-top.
Thankfully the meanness from books 1 and 2 was not there, but the “adventures” can still be tedious at times with one challenge after another to the point you just want to get to the end. Children with good attention spans should have no problem, and enjoy getting to the conclusion, but I could see some children getting bored and not finishing. The family relationship between the children is admirable and the characters are interesting.
I appreciate that the authors are trying to write stories that are educational and informative for children. I will look forward to reading books 5, 7, and 8, down the road. I hope books 1 and 2 were the outliers and 3 and 6 more indicative of the rest of the series.
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