I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles [Hardcover]

Jean Marzollo (Author), Walter Wick (Photographer)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: I Spy

With 24 million copies sold, the bestselling I Spy series is being relaunched with new designs and foil covers.

This bestselling book features riddles that send readers searching for hidden objects in 12 photographs with treasure hunt themes.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Can you spy "a tortoise, a hare, a tea bag, a key/ a clock, and a flag on a house in a tree"? It's not easy--but readers of all ages will have a whole lot of fun trying. With more than a dozen I Spy picture books under their belts, including I Spy Gold Challenger, the award-winning photographer/riddler team of Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo are masters of their art form. And in Treasure Hunt, they've outdone themselves. Readers search for subtly hidden objects on every beautifully composed and photographed page. At first glance the setting seems like any other quaint seaside town. Take a second look and discover that it's in fact a very realistic model, with giant pencil erasers filling truck beds and gargantuan pennies nestled among the boulders of an island. The result is stunning, a surrealistic adventure.

Children will love to pursue the mystery of the pirate's hidden treasure, narrowing their search with every delightfully cluttered page. Looking for an additional challenge? Try the extra-credit riddles. For the inspired reader, Wick and Marzollo also include pages on how to create I Spy riddles and pictures. (Ages 3 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-The "I Spy" legacy continues with Treasure Hunt, the 10th installment in this successful series. Marzollo's structured rhymes provide the clues while Wick's stunningly detailed miniature village provides the hidden answers for readers to seek out. Some of the pictures require a lot of searching to find all of the objects mentioned in the rhyme. For those readers who can solve the rhymes in record time, Marzollo concludes with two pages of "Extra Credit Riddles." In addition, instructions are offered on creating individual riddles in the series format. A background note explains how the sets for Treasure Hunt were built and photographed. This title is sure to be popular in libraries that experience heavy usage in their 793.73 section.
Lisa Gangemi Krapp, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; 1 edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439042445
• ISBN-13: 978-0439042444
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Social Skills
  • #30 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Games
  • #62 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Activity Books

More About the Author

When I was young I was a reluctant reader. It was hard for me to sit still and read a book. I preferred activities that got me moving, like neighborhood ball games, bike riding, skiing, sledding, skating, climbing trees, and exploring the woods in Connecticut where I grew up.

I taught also myself to draw. I became fascinated with shapes, shading, and trying to make the objects in my drawings appear to pop out in 3-D. Later I became interested in photography. I took pictures in the woods with my camera, tinkered with equipment in the darkroom, and experimented with artistic effects.

Much later I became the photographer of the I SPY books, in collaboration with writer Jean Marzollo. I did more than take the pictures. I thought of ideas, sketched ideas, collected props, made props, built sets, arranged objects, hid objects, adjusted lights, and took a picture. Then I rearranged objects and took another picture -- sometimes over and over again.

I write as well as illustrate my own books now. In A DROP OF WATER, I combine simple text with clear photographs to explain science secrets of the everyday world. In WALTER WICK'S OPTICAL TRICKS, the everyday world is turned upside down with impossible objects, phantom images, and other perplexing illusions. With the CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? series, I continue the picture-puzzle tradition, taking readers on ever more amazing adventures of the imagination in their quest for hidden objects.

Happy reading!

Walter Wick

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love these books!!!, March 21, 2001

By 

"intentaccess" (Boca Raton, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles (Hardcover)

I am a mother of three children and we own each " I spy " book and eagerly wait for a new arrival. My children are now, 10, 8, and 5. These books are truly our favorite and they are not just for the young. Each picture makes them think, explore, and problem solve all on their own in a very different way. Each night at story time they all pick a book mom reads and then a book they read, then we always end up doing an entire I Spy book together. We spend this great quality time together as a family group. Now that I write this review from far away at a conference with grown adults, overly stressed. I went back to my suitcase for the I Spy Treasure Hunt book, which is my favorite of them all. This has broken the ice and released the stress and I cannot get my book back!!! Thank you Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo for the many many hours of enjoyment you have allowed my family to experience!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These are wonderful books for all ages, April 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles (Hardcover)

I didn't pay much attention to the "I Spy" books until I bought one for my niece. I thought it was strictly a children's book, and I only bothered looking at it to make sure it contained nothing objectionable. Ten minutes later, *I* was hooked! So now I have several for my 3-year-old niece and several that I'm "holding" for her.

"Treasure Hunt" is my favorite "I Spy" because the pictures relate to each other and when followed tell a story. "Spooky Night" also does this. The rest just seem to contain pictures that follow the theme given in the title but don't relate to each other. The challenger books don't have original pictures; they use the pictures from the themed books and give them new, supposedly harder, riddles.

In my opinion, the earlier books are the easiest and the later books are quite a bit harder (and maybe more suitable for older "children").

I personally prefer the themed books to the challengers and the later books to the earlier, but I heartily recommend any, or even all, of the "I Spy" books.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, Wrong Age Range, February 10, 2007

By 

Kathy (NC, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Book of Picture Riddles (Hardcover)

I think the I Spy Series is Wonderful and Treasure Hunt has great pictures. My only negative is that the age range listed in Amazon is wrong, and even the 4-8 age range usually listed for this book should be a little higher, like 6-8. I have to admit that I have a hard time finding the pictures, so my 4 year old gets frustrated with this one.

I think the Picture Riddles is a great one for 4 year olds to start with.