Product Description

Sent to live with relatives in New Orleans during the War of 1812, eleven-year-old Elisabet determines to find a smuggler's treasure to ransom her imprisoned father.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149988 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 163 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Launching the History Mysteries series, this swiftly paced, light novel takes readers to Louisiana during the War of 1812. After Elisabet Holder's widower father, the wealthy London-born captain of a merchant ship, is captured by the British, the 11-year-old travels from their home in Boston to New Orleans to live with her aunt and uncle. Once there, Elisabet learns that the family has fallen on hard times and she is expected to work in the couple's bakery. Accustomed to servants, the girl initially scoffs at the idea of working but soon adapts to her new life and forms a friendship with her co-worker and roommate. When a shady character stops into the bakery and conveniently mentions a hidden treasure map, Elisabet sees a way to procure her father's ransom. As a mystery, this is lean on suspense and intrigue, yet Buckey conveys a credible sense of time and place. Taking a cue from the American Girls Collection books, the volume concludes with a section, "Looking Back: 1814," that describes the American political scene as well as the cultural and social climate of French-influenced New Orleans. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) FYI: Four additional titles, due out the same month, are: Hoofbeats of Danger, set in 1860, by Holly Hughes; The Night Flyers, a WWI novel by Elizabeth McDavid Jones; Secrets on 26th Street (1914), also by Jones; and Voices at Whisper Bend, a WWII novel by Katherine Ayres.

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

This book is action-packed and filled with mystery.
This book was really good! Elisabet Holder goes to live with her aunt and uncle in New Orleans, because her father is a captive on a British ship. Much to her surprise, Elisabet is expected to work in her late uncle's bakery shop with the other workers. When she discovers that a valuable map is hidden in the bakery, she and her friend, Marie, set out to find it and trade it in for Elisabet's father's freedom. I recommend it to anybody who likes mysteries!

An exciting story set during the War of 1812.
In 1814, after her father is captured by the British, eleven-year-old Elisabet Holder must leave Boston to live with her aunt and uncle in New Orleans. When she arrives, she learns her uncle is dead, her aunt has gone to Baton Rogue, and she is expected to work in her aunt's bakery like a servant. When Elisabet learns of a treasure her uncle hid before he died, she decides to search for it so she can ransom her father. But that's only the beginning of the story. THE SMUGGLER'S TREASURE is an exciting combination of mystery, adventure, and history. I immensely enjoyed it and look forward to future books in the HISTORY MYSTERIES series.

creative!
At first I was a little skeptic about this book; I thought it was slow in the beginning. But as soon as I got farther and farther into it, I realized it was really cool. It's informative and suspenseful. It's also unique... you barely read books where the main character works in a bakery!

Elisabet Holder's father is kidnapped by the British in the war of 1812. Because she has no other family members, she has to move to New Orleans and live with her Aunt and Uncle. When she arrives, she finds mystery... there's talk of pirates, smugglers, and treasure. If she finds it she could buy her father's freedom... will she find it before anyone else does? Will she be hurt or even killed in the process?

The Smuggler's Treasure is like a great invitation to the History Mysteries... after you read this you're compelled to read the others! I plan to collect the whole series (there are six more I need). The main characters of the stories are so clever and brave, you can really look up to them. It is nice that the authors make the girls seem realistic (with strengths and weaknesses) and not stuffy and perfect. Read them!