Treasure Hunters – Quest for the City of Gold

Quest for the City of Gold by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein is a jungle treasure hunt for 9 year olds that opens with hammerhead sharks and only gets busier.

What happens

The Kidd twins, Bick and Beck, have been left behind. Mum, Dad and big brother Tommy have gone ashore on Cocos Island to look for the long-lost Treasure of Lima. The twins and their sister Storm are meant to stay on the family's ship and guard the vault where the treasure maps are kept.

That doesn't last. Bick and Beck jump overboard and swim for it, which is when the sharks turn up. (Storm comes to the rescue on a jet ski, waving one of Dad's golf clubs, and she's FURIOUS with them afterwards.)

After that there's a jaguar, a snake pit and an old enemy with an eye patch. Worse, while everyone's ashore, pirates in a submarine help themselves to the map Dad paid a fortune for. It shows the way to Paititi, a lost Inca city hidden deep in the Amazon.

Luckily Storm never forgets anything she's seen. And Mum and Dad are after more than gold this time. If they find the city, they hope to save millions of acres of rainforest from the loggers.

The best thing about this one is the family. The four children don't much like being overruled by their parents. They hold a vote, win it four to two and STILL lose. Sound familiar? Most children will probably be firmly on Bick's side (parents get three votes each, Tommy reckons).

Bick tells it all in a jokey rush and Beck does the drawings. The pair of them bicker constantly and then forget why. Storm hands out facts whether anyone wants them or not.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Storm likes her history gory. Pirates slit throats, the Incas sacrificed people (children included, she points out) and a king loses his head. A villain also points a pistol at the family and threatens to shoot the children one at a time. It's quick and jokey, but a sensitive reader might not laugh. A child who likes their history gruesome will probably be delighted.

It's the fifth Treasure Hunters book and Bick lets slip how earlier ones ended, so it's best read in order.

What to read next

For another family on the trail of a lost Inca city, try Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Dora's parents are archaeologists searching the jungle for Parapata, and they're very clear that nobody gets to keep the gold.