Secret of the Three Treasures [Hardcover]

Janni Lee Simner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2006 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Tiernay Markowitz, pseudonym Tiernay West, is an adventurer. She moves with the stealth of a great cat of the African plains and can track a bicycle on dry pavement. She has no use for ballet, fancy dresses, her mother's new--and frankly very dull--boyfriend or his nerdy, computer obsessed son, Kevin. When Tiernay catches wind of possible buried treasure in her very own town, she's on the case. Little does she know where this will lead--was running for her life, scaling cliffs in the middle of the night, or getting trapped underground really part of the plan?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6–Elementary school student Tiernay West is a wonderfully eccentric character who is determined to find buried treasure, become a true adventurer, and right past wrongs. She knows that other kids think she's weird but she is confident that she is on the right track to becoming a world-renowned explorer. She is not adept socially but becomes friends with Kevin, the son of her mother's boyfriend, and they spy on a bully to try to find the Revolutionary War sword that was stolen from a local antique shop. Easily able to justify anything so long as it aids an investigation, Tiernay and Kevin are placed in real peril when she spies on nasty Daryll Jensen. Excerpts of Tiernay's internal monologue start many chapters. One cannot help but laugh at the melodrama inherent in the protagonist's determined personality. Tiernay is an irrepressible role model in her unwavering self-confidence, intellectual curiosity, and sense of humor. Like the waiter who remembers she likes her soda with lime, cherries, and lemon wedges, readers will not forget Tiernay West anytime soon.–B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. Irrepressible middle-grader Tiernay West longs for her divorced father, who travels the globe doing research for his adventure novels. Donning a straw hat that she fancies an adventurer would wear, she eavesdrops on her mother and their neighbors, eager to find a mystery. After overhearing rumors about Revolutionary War gold buried in their Connecticut town, she leaps into action, and with help from her mother's boyfriend's geeky son, she sets out to find treasure--discovering something about her family roots along the way. The plot's connections are a bit tenuous, and readers may lose interest in the story's genealogy angle. But Tiernay's fierce self-confidence and individuality will appeal to many readers, and veterans of clique warfare and bullying will cheer her on as she exposes the school's biggest creep. Simner tucks some lessons about responsibility, peer pressure, and accepting help into the story, so teachers may want to use this in character-education units. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 134 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House (April 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823419142
• ISBN-13: 978-0823419142
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,371,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

To learn more about Janni Lee Simner, please visit her web site at www.simner.com or her blog at janni.livejournal.com!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great fun for younger readers, May 4, 2006

By 

Life-long booklover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret of the Three Treasures (Hardcover)

Tiernay West is a marvelous character, overflowing with imagination, courage, and a love of adventure. Her sidekick in this adventure, Kevin, is your normal nerd-in-training, more comfortable with computers than a search for gold. Together they make a good team, cracking a mystery hundreds of years old even though the adults hardly even notice that there is a mystery. Tiernay's total faith in herself as an adventurer carries her through when anyone else would give up and go home to bed.

The best thing about this book, though, is its humor. I loved Tiernay's watch, given to her by her divorced, adventurer father. It shows the time in different cities around the world, and she's always reporting the time in Kabul or Toronto or Singapore, rather than in her home town. That's suits her just fine, because she lives more in her imagination than in the real world. The humor isn't mean; it doesn't make fun of anyone, and that's the best (and hardest) humor there is.

The great characters and humor easily carry the reader through a conclusion that is a bit pat and coincidental. All in all, though, a recommended read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun for even the armchair adventurer!, May 5, 2006

By 

Reader "Carrie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret of the Three Treasures (Hardcover)

Tiernay West, whose business card reads: "Professional Adventurer," isn't your average girl. When she hears about a mystery in her hometown, she's on the case, even if she would rather be riding the Orient Express or searching for a crumbling scroll in the lost library of Alexandria. Because when you begin an adventure, "you have to start somewhere." Indeed. With her sidekick, allergy-ridden Kevin (the son of her mother's boyfriend), Tiernay solves the mystery her way. This is a very funny book, about a girl whose imaginative inner life swamps her real one, and her determination to live on her own terms.

Fans of the Sammy Keyes series should love this one, and I hope to see more of Tiernay's adventures in print!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced mystery for adventurous young girls, September 1, 2007

By 

Steven Horton "Top Shelf Books" (Palatine, IL 60067) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret of the Three Treasures (Hardcover)

Great little young adult mystery. Especially for you curious types. The charaters are fun, the writing is well polished and the plot keeps pulling you along.

If you'ld like to find more of janni's stories, check out some of the young adult horror anthologies edited by bruce coville. ALSO, "GOTHIC! ten original dark tales" edited by deborah noyes. That anthology has a GREAT teen level horror/suspense story by Janni Lee Simner. Unfortunately it goesn't come up on the amazon search for simner.

Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales