Review: Emperor Norton’s Treasure Hunt by William Durkin and Shayne Durkin
★★★★★ 
In 1955, a year when the American Dream was fresh and alive, the San Francisco Chronicle had stiff competition to remain in business amidst the city’s infamous newspaper wars. Under tremendous pressure to succeed, an idea is born – like a diamond from coal: a treasure hunt. Not just any treasure hunt, but a treasure hunt of the ages. With clues to be given and real-life locations to visit, readers would fight tooth-and-nail across the city to find Emperor Norton’s lost prize… if it exists at all. With colorful characters both human and animal alike, follow along with this […]
The Fantastic Travels of William and the Monarch Butterfly: Fly, Fly Away on the Wings of a Monarch Butterfly by Christina Steiner is about a young boy named William, a born explorer, who one day meets a talking butterfly named Anka and shrinks down to her size, then flies away with her as she makes her migration down south from North Dakota. Their journey mimics the real migration of the Monarch butterfly, so kids will learn fascinating facts about butterflies as readers follow William and Anka on their series of adventures.
Olga, written by Ted Kelsey and illustrated by Dillon Samuelson, is an exciting novel for children that will captivate readers of all ages.
Puzzle Trees by Thom Mark Shepard is an entertaining coming of age novel with a bit of horror thrown into the mix. Joe Sheffield is an awkward but thoughtful high school freshman whose best friends move away. Entering high school is hard enough without having to tackle it alone. Joe begins looking for the principal’s missing cats in the area of the “puzzle trees,” a forbidding forest where it’s thought to be the home of strange aggressive primates. Along with his equally-tormented brother, Joe sets out to find the missing cats and locate the mysterious denizens of the Puzzle Trees, […]