A Treasure's Trove

Michael Stadther

With most of the actual treasure now found, Stadther's preface is going to get more important as time goes on; the book will have to be judged as a story rather than as a treasure hunting guide. Which leads one, of course, to the question of how the story is.

It's not a bad little story, as these things go. Good guy has to fight bad guy because bad guy is doing terrible things to the forest and its inhabitants. Sounds like a lot of fantasy stuff, right? Well, that's both the good point and the bad point; it's familiar because you've read it before, though usually in much greater detail. Probably a good jumping-off point to get kids who aren't old enough for Narnia or the Lord of the Rings reading fantasy, but it's possible they'll be put off by the rather saccharine tone of the whole thing.