The Lost Cipher
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Lucas has just lost his father in Afghanistan and to help him cope, his grandmother sends him to Camp Kawani. While there, he learns of the lost treasure of Thomas Jefferson Beale, a local legend of a hoard of gold buried in the mountains 200 years ago. The location is encrypted in a set of codes no one has ever been able to decipher. Lucas becomes obsessed with finding the gold to save his home and leads his newfound friends into a dangerous mission into the wilderness to uncover it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When 13-year-old Lucas Whitlatch, whose soldier father died in Afghanistan, arrives at Camp Kawani, a place for grieving children, he finds more than the camp's brochure promised. As legend has it, a trove of gold and silver is buried somewhere in the surrounding Blue Ridge mountains, but the details are hidden in coded messages known as the Beale ciphers (which are real, newcomer Oechsle explains in an author's note, though the story is fictional). Finding the treasure would provide more than enough money to fulfill Lucas's last promise to his father: to look after his grandparents and "take care of their mountain, too," which is in danger of being lost to strip mining. Along with the threat of Gideon Creech, an ill-tempered local rumored to shoot trespassers, Lucas and his new friends, goofy George and kind Alex, face panthers, copperheads, and a persistent camp bully while learning about themselves and finding unexpected ways to connect and heal. Occasional rough language ("bullcrap," "pissed"), graphic images, and strong emotions surrounding loss are balanced by plenty of humor and heart in this compelling adventure. Ages 9 12.
